July 2013

There is an expression that no one outside a marriage really knows what goes on inside a marriage. There are times we wonder how people can be together. There are other seemingly perfect marriages that have their fractures.

In THE SILENT WIFE, a debut novel by the late A. S. A. Harrison (she passed away in April), readers quickly learn that the Jodi and Todd, the idyllic couple, we first meet are in a bad place in their marriage. There are risks for them both in what is going on. For Todd, he can’t be discovered. For Jodi, it could be the end of the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago.

They are set up like pieces on a chessboard racing to be the last one standing --- and with the keys to the good life. He cheats. She plots. He justifies. She digs in. As he plays for the win, she, with nothing left to lose, plays her own game.

I devoured --- and loved --- it. This slim novel about a relationship headed for dissolution and the wife's plan for revenge --- which is told in alternating chapters of "Him" and "Her" --- is so well-crafted. It should be a book talked about all summer!

By the way, many are comparing THE SILENT WIFE to Gillian Flynn’s bestselling psychological thriller, GONE GIRL. For a summer pairing, may we suggest you read both GONE GIRL and THE SILENT WIFE, and do some comparing and contrasting?