Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty *****

In Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty, Masha Dmitrichenko runs Tranquillum House, a health resort. Her nine guests have a range of expectations from weight loss to relaxation, but Masha has other ideas. She grew up in the Soviet Union and believes the deprivation and terror of her childhood made her a better person. She intends to transform her clients by reproducing these conditions and more. The resulting novel is full of twists and turns as the author pulls the reader through a similar ordeal as Masha’s victims. Well worth the ride.

Comfort zone? We don’t need no stinking comfort zones!

From Wikipedia:

Tranquillum House staff:

Masha: Russian woman who runs the Tranquillum House

Yao and Delilah: her dedicated employees

The nine strangers:

Frances: a romance novelist

Tony: an ex-athlete

Jessica: a plastic-surgery obsessed lottery winner

Ben: Jessica's car-obsessed husband

Carmel: a single mother of four daughters who was left by her husband for a younger woman

Lars: a spa-junkie divorce lawyer

Heather and Napoleon: a married couple who lost a twin son

Zoe: Heather and Napoleon's 20-year-old twin daughter

While the book includes point-of-view scenes from the staff and the strangers, the main character is Frances Welty, a best-selling author of formulaic romance novels. However, the market has changed. Her most recent novel has been rejected and her agent is encouraging her to change her style. When Masha promises to transform her life, she wonders, “Perhaps her transformed self would go home and write a thriller or an old-fashioned murder mystery featuring a cast of colorful characters with secrets and a delightfully improbable villain.” In addition to her failing writing career, Frances bemoans how sad it is to be “childless and single in your fifties.”

A minor part of the book is a send-up of health spas, toxic cleanses, meditations, and the people who attend these places. The author’s intent is far beyond this.

Two more fundamental questions are about Stockholm Syndrome the transformational benefits of trauma. Is Masha a deranged sociopath or a brilliant therapist?

In addition to making sense of Masha, the reader can wonder if this is the novel written by the transformed Frances.

Note: The book deals with LSD micro-dosing, Silicon Valley, and Steve Jobs.

So many great characters.

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