Imperfect Strangers by Stuart Woods is one of those books that has a decent enough premise, but takes a completely wrong turn.

Sandy is our sort-of-good-guy.  You'll see in a moment why I call him that.  Peter is our bad guy.  The two strangers meet on a plane and start chit-chatting.  Come to find out that they're both in unhappy marriages.  In both cases, a great deal of money hangs in the balance, and their lives would simply be easier, if their wives were suddenly out of the picture.  You've heard this story before, right?  The two strike a deal - each will murder the other's wife.  Both husbands will have perfect alibis for their wives' murders, and each will go happily about his life.

Sandy gets cold feet and wants to cancel the plan at the last minute.  Peter doesn't want to cancel.   This does not bode well for Sandy's poor wife.  And now Peter wants Sandy to live up to his end of the bargain...

That's the portion of the plot that was interesting and kept me turning the pages.  It's when it gets beyond this point that Woods starts getting really silly.

Like building absolutely ridiculous coincidences.  The worst one being the connection that ends up linking Peter and Sandy, two supposed strangers from opposite coasts.  The odds of two people meeting on a plane, and later discovering a connection such as the one Woods hands us are astronomical.  I kept waiting for the punch line to be made clear as surely this was a set up.  But, no, we're just supposed to believe it was all coincidence - no pre-staged funny business. 

Then there was the time that Sandy wanted to access something hidden away in someone's safe.  And wouldn't you know it - he's able to obtain the combination in the blink of an eye.  Not only that, he's given perfect opportunity to snoop, and there are no cameras to avoid!  Why doesn't that ever happen to me!?!?

And then there are some very silly characters whom I didn't understand at all.  Like the young man who doesn't seem to care one bit that his mother was just killed.  Or his grandfather who died a week prior.  Or, if he did care, then I'll just say that the kid certainly has a bizarre way of showing his grief. 

As if all of this weren't enough, there's a really awful subplot having to do with some forged art.  As well as a thread of that story that was left completely dangling.  

Finally, the ending was one of the worst I've read in a long time.  When characters that had been reasonable and rational throughout the story suddenly do crazy things, just so that a story can wrap up quickly, that's the final straw for me!

So - yes, the premise was interesting.  And, yes, I did want to know how it would all turn out.  But I was very disappointed with the turns the book took after the initial set up.  And, overall, it is not worthy of a recommendation.


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