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Nine people book into a health resort, Tranquillum House, ready to be transformed into a better, thinner, healthier version of their former self. Stereotyping is a problem with other characters as well. The book’s single gay character stops on his way to the spa to buy a case of really good wine and dreams of having a child who's a mini-me. The book’s only minority character is relegated to the thankless role of boss-worshiping flunkey. There is also nonstop gratuitous bashing of women who have body image issues (she really doesn’t need to lose weight! she just thinks she does), women who choose to have plastic surgery, and women who devote time to social media. The brief validation these characters get at the novel’s conclusion in no way compensates for the repeated scolding they weather throughout the rest of the book. Not to mention the fact that these aren’t solely women’s issues.

Marsha, the head of Tranquillum an extremely controlling and yet intelligent seeming woman who definitely commands everyone’s attention. She constantly talks to her group of guests, monitoring them often and having individual sessions with them. As I was making my way through the last half of the book, I was thinking, "Oh my God. I'm going to have to go on Goodreads and give Liane Moriarty a 3-star rating. Oh my God." This group dynamic is pure dynamite as we slowly get to know this motley crew and their inner selves and life influences. Throw into the mix a fanatical health nut and all bets are off. Nine Complete Strangers is wildly entertaining, extraordinarily thought provoking and beautifully written. You'll find your favourite (mine was undoubtedly Francis, a woman after my own heart) and get entirely caught up in their attempts to heal, their growing relationship with each other and the rather unexpected challenges they'll all face together. Overall: An extremely enjoyable & entertaining read that had me totally engrossed from start to finish! Would highly recommend! I also struggled with the novel’s perspective on reviewers – a negative reviewer for the main character’s most recent novel is arguably the book’s most personal villain. This aspect is minor and sort of dumb.Yes, there is a small Complaint Board. You know I didn’t like the one over-the-top scene. But there are three more nits: I had high hopes for Nine Perfect Strangers given how much I enjoyed some of Liane Moriarty's previous books, including Big Little Lies and The Husband's Secret. But this one never took off for me; in fact, the pacing was so slow it felt like I was reading it for 10 days, as long as these characters were planning to be at the health resort! Frances can’t open the gate to the Wellness Resort. She entered the correct code several times - but it still won’t open. Twenty frustrating minutes go by and new guests arrive. But, I must warn you. This book is not like Moriarty’s previous novels, which usually centered around the family unit, providing a taut element of suspense, blended with humor and sarcasm. This novel has the humor, sarcasm and the suspense, but the setting is not at all domestic, as you will see. That's what is bringing nine people to Tranquillum House, an exclusive health resort in a remote part of Australia. They're coming to lose weight, to detox a bit from the alcohol they've become fond of, to get lots of spa treatments and massages, and to get a jump on the problems that have been plaguing them. In 10 days, the resort promises, they'll feel totally changed.

She was a terrible winker; she found it hard to close only one eye and had been told that her attempt looked like an extraordinary facial spasm.”Finally, the last word in the novel is devoted to trashing book reviewers, a move that comes across as petty and weird, especially coming from a novelist who's basically become critic-proof. Will those strangers find what they are looking for in their lives or is something more sinister happening behind the close doors of this place push them escape sooner before it’s too late! There’s an epilogue, which I ordinarily find to be unnecessary but in this case I appreciated it. There are transformations, although not necessarily the ones the guests expected. On his third day out he meets a middle-age woman who had fallen out of a chair. Obviously a heavy smoker - some overworked bigwig - who paid little attention to her personal health. Masha was soon having a full blown cardiac arrest.