In “Between Two Strangers,” Kate White creates a protagonist, Skyler Moore, whose life had been derailed decades previously when her family experienced a tragic loss. The first person narrative doesn’t share that right away, though. The story begins rather innocuously with a phone call from a strange number. What Skyler learns when she answers the call is that she has been left an inheritance from someone she doesn’t know.

From that point, the story is told in “Now” and “Then,” as we learn about Skyler’s life now and what transpired in the past in Boston, while Skyler was in graduate school. The weekend that changed her life. She attended a party with her sister, Chloe, who wanted to leave early, but when Skyler said she wanted to stay a bit longer, Chloe disappeared. And when Skyler went to look for her, she couldn’t find her. Later that weekend, a friend who worked for a Boston hotel asked if Skyler wanted a complementary room, which is something she did occasionally. The events from that weekend will prove to have lasting effects on Skyler’s life. When Skyler realizes that she does, in fact, know the person who left her the money, she is more confused than ever. She literally knew this man for less than 12 hours. But as she starts to delve into why he decided to do this, bypassing his wife and two children, strange things start to happen.

Collages she created that were to be shown in a gallery opening were defaced the afternoon before the show. Someone broke into her house but took nothing. Vaguely threatening messages were slipped into her tote bag. Someone tried to get into her art studio, but she wasn’t there. There are several suspects, but White doesn’t reveal what ties it all together until the end.

And then it makes perfect sense. White’s ability to juggle the two time periods creates tension and makes this a hard-to-stop-reading novel. The “then” is interrupted with the “now,” but we want to know more about what happened in the past because we sense that the key to what is unfolding is what happened that weekend. Skyler is an eminently likable character, and we respect her decisiveness as she decides to have a baby, even though she’d be a single mother. She is a perfect imperfect character who has qualities that all of us can relate to, including her insecurities. This is a lovely story and a perfect escape novel.

Please note: This review is based on the finished book provided by the publisher, Harper Paperbacks, for review purposes.