There's a saying that no good deed goes unpunished. In NOT SO PERFECT STRANGERS, L.S. Stratton takes that adage to the max by showing how Tasha Jenkins suffers from the good deed she performs late one night.

Tasha has been planning to leave D.C. and her husband, Kordell. She is staying in a hotel with her teenage son, Ghalen, just prior to getting on a plane and going back South, where she has family, to live. Kordell’s abusive tendencies have kept her basically a prisoner in her own home. To "punish" her, he took away her car keys, phone and credit cards. And he hasn't let her work. So when she finally decides that now is the right time to get away, she is shocked when Ghalen disappears and she finds a note in their hotel room that he doesn't want to be separated from his dad or his girlfriend.

"[W]hat Stratton does is take our assumptions and turn them upside down. NOT SO PERFECT STRANGERS is a thrilling read with much to consider about marriage, prejudice, abuse and parenting."

Tasha can't leave Ghalen to the machinations of Kordell, even though he is 17 and almost a man. So she cancels her plans and is on her way back home when a woman runs after her, begging for a ride. Madison Gingell is trying to escape her husband, who is irate and chasing her. So Tasha impulsively gives Madison a ride to a safe place. Little does she know that opening her car door to this stranger will in turn open the door to a dark episode in her life, thus changing her life forever.

When Madison finds out that Tasha's husband is also abusive, she decides that they can help each other. While Tasha's response is not definitive, Madison believes (or wants to believe) that they have a deal. Madison acts upon that misunderstanding and then expects Tasha to reciprocate, but Tasha wants nothing to do with their supposed agreement. Tasha then learns that Madison is not someone who takes defeat well.

But unlike the childless Madison, Tasha has a son. And no one is stronger than she is when it comes to protecting him. Not only does Tasha turn out to be different from what we expect, the situations presented in the novel are not what we think they are. Stratton's ability to misdirect us is as impressive as any magician. We are looking in one direction while the action is somewhere else.

Stratton forces us to consider the differences between a wealthy white woman like Madison and a not-so-wealthy Black woman like Tasha in terms of how they are looked upon by the police. Tasha, with her admittedly unlikely story, is viewed as a lunatic, but Madison --- who we know is almost completely lacking in morals, blonde, well-dressed and driving a Mercedes --- is treated with the utmost respect and attentiveness. It's not surprising that with those trappings, no one wants to believe the worst of her.

Because of the manner in which Stratton shares this information, with some chapters taking place "now" and others "before," we think we are getting one picture of what happened the night that a house burned down with two victims inside (one managed to survive, while the other died). But what Stratton does is take our assumptions and turn them upside down. NOT SO PERFECT STRANGERS is a thrilling read with much to consider about marriage, prejudice, abuse and parenting.