Thriller novels told from an unreliable point of view have been all the rage of late, but they would have to go to some lengths to top THE LOVING HUSBAND, which takes the plot device to new heights. One needs to take a step or two back to see what author Christobel Kent has created so well here, which is a tale full of folks who lie their posteriors off and, just for grins and giggles, engage in some self-deception as well. The result is a mystery that almost can’t be sorted out, but for a confession that may not be forthcoming.

THE LOVING HUSBAND centers on Fran Hall, wife of Nathan and mother of four-year-old Emme and three-month-old Ben. Fran is a hot mess. We meet her as she is awakened in the wee hours of a Sunday morning by a half-awake, somewhat fleeting (to say the least) encounter with her husband in the bedroom. In just a couple of hours, her life is turned upside down and blown up when she discovers Nathan lying dead and gutted by the edge of their farm property in rural England. She calls the police immediately, and the officers assigned to the case suspect her of the deed, and not totally without reason. For one thing, it’s always the spouse; for another, the times just don’t add up.

"If you like your mysteries served up with a main course of unreliability and a side of deception, you will love this story."

Fran does not tell the officers about her abrupt encounter, and in fact goes out of her way to hide the evidence of it. This creates a problem, given that she does tell them he had arrived home and was in the house at a certain time. The challenge for law enforcement is that the autopsy indicates that Nathan was murdered and lying by the road well before the time Fran reported him to have come home. Fran won’t change her story, even as she comes to the realization that Nathan could not have slipped into bed behind her. She wonders if she imagined things. If only. The answer is far worse, and it sends her into a tailspin, which is explained gradually over the course of THE LOVING HUSBAND.

It develops that Fran and Nathan had somewhat of a whirlwind courtship, with it being implied, though certainly not expressed, that Fran picked up Nathan on the rebound from a prior relationship. Though Fran had a glamorous job that she loved with a magazine in London, Nathan was able to convince her after the birth of their first child to move back to Oakenham, his childhood hometown in rural England. They purchase a large farmhouse with a bit of a history, but that isn’t the worst of it. Nathan is remembered in town, though he was known as “Alan.” Some other residents have long memories, many of them centering on a notorious deserted building where Nathan and his friends “squatted” for a period of time.

It turns out that Fran had questions and doubts about Nathan before they moved to Oakenham. After his murder, though, what she learns is far worse. The police investigation into the crime uncovers all sorts of secrets about Nathan. The office where he worked wasn’t really an office. He was all but a stranger at the tavern he supposedly was frequenting two nights a week. What Nathan had been up to was astronomically worse than Fran could’ve imagined, though she has a couple of secrets of her own. There are revelations, twists and turns galore, and they are still being unravelled practically up to the last page of the book.

THE LOVING HUSBAND is unrelentingly grim, even as Kent, against all odds, somehow manages to end the proceedings on a reasonably upbeat note. This dark book is primarily a mystery, populated by unusual and unpleasant characters, most of whom are not what they seem to be. If you like your mysteries served up with a main course of unreliability and a side of deception, you will love this story.