Title: A GOOD MARRIAGE
Author: Kimberly McCreight
Read: July 2020
Expected publication: out now
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2
Book Description:
Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.
No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s
marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes.
The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking
for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his
wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn
brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect.
As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that
Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit
group of fellow parents at the exclusive Grace Hall private school, might be
protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end, she’s left wondering not
only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good
marriage in the first place.
What attracted me to this book:
Bookstagram has done it again – it’s
always a treat when you get a recommendation for a book that wasn’t even on
your radar, and it delivers everything you love in a good thriller! I read this
one as a buddy read and it made for some interesting theories and discussion
points.
My musings:
We learn very early on in the book that a young
woman (Amanda) has died, and her husband (Zach) is awaiting trial for her
murder. Calling in a favour from his old university friend Lizzie Kitsakis, who
is working for a prestigious law firm, Zach vehemently protests his innocence.
But the more Lizzie looks into the couple’s troubled marriage, the more
questions she has regarding what really happened to Amanda that fateful night.
From here on, A GOOD MARRIAGE rolls
out in two separate POVs, one exploring the few days leading up to Amanda’s
death through Amanda’s own voice, the other following Lizzie’s investigation. My
biggest struggle was that I bonded very quickly with Amanda and truly felt for
her, feeling devastated knowing that she would die!
Each and every character in this
book had something to hide, and it was interesting to see it all unravel and
fall into place. McCreight has constructed a multi-layered thriller here, which
not only kept me guessing but also had me eager to find out more, and loathe to
put the book down before I had answers. I did about 100,00 steps that day
listening to the audio version and finding excuses to keep walking because I
couldn’t tear myself away. I am now contemplating listening to the author’s
backlist books in order to train for an upcoming iron woman competition (only
half kidding). BTW, the audio version of this book was fantastic, with multiple narrators who all gave personality to their characters.
Summary:
A GOOD MARRIAGE was the type of story I love –
carried forward by two enigmatic flawed female characters, the tale of lies and
omissions slowly unravelled until each twisted strand fell beautifully into
place. I had a lot of theories as the story progressed, and yet did not see
half of the twists coming. As my heart ached for Amanda, who is soon fated to
die, I rooted for Lizzie to find out the truth – and she did not disappoint.
The book made for a perfect group read, as each of us were trying to form our
own theories – and yet few could resist reading right to the end once we had
started, which is always the sign of a great book. I loved McCreight’s writing
style and the way she built suspense in that languid, slow burning style I love
in a mystery, and I will definitely read all her other books now!
Thank
you to #thechestnutgals for another great group read!
Great review, it’s on my TBR :)
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