Author: Samantha Downing
Narrator: David Putti
Playback: 10hrs 13m
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Genre: Mystery Thriller
First Published: March 26, 2019
Book description: A couple's fifteen-year marriage has finally gotten too interesting...
Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.
We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.
We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive.
Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.
Review:
This is a reread for me. I seem to enjoy it more the second time around. All characters are unlikable, but I think they are meant to be. The main characters the married couple, are just two monsters who one should not be together and two definitely shouldn't have chosen to procreate just for the sake of the mental health of those unlucky children.
This is a book that really took me out of my comfort zone. It's definitely unconventional, with some of the most disturbing characters I've ever encountered. I won't spoil much, but let's just say that the author doesn't shy away from exploring the dark corners of the human psyche. It's definitely not a book for everyone, but if you're looking for something that will challenge you and make you question your own assumptions about what's morally acceptable, then this is definitely worth checking out.
Welcome aboard!
So, you're headed to a suburban town to meet a family of four - a real estate agent wife, a tennis instructor husband, and their two smart and beautiful kids. That sounds like a pretty normal setup, right? Well, hold onto your hat because things are about to get crazy. This family might seem picture-perfect from the outside, but trust me, they've got some serious dysfunction going on behind closed doors.
They are suffering from their midlife standstill point. You can imagine their inside voices saying something like:
"It's tough to keep up with the daily grind of bills, kids, and work. Sometimes it can feel like we're just going through the motions without any real satisfaction. It's hard to find time for ourselves and each other amidst all the responsibilities of marriage. It can be overwhelming at times and we're drifting apart as a couple."
The solution? Oh this is where it starts to get crazy. The hobby they picked to share as a couple is not your typical gardening or board games. They organize murders of young women as part of the process of rekindling the flame of their romance.
The twists in the book were executed brilliantly and the dark humor used to develop the characters was both unsettling and captivating. And yes, the conclusion definitely caught me off guard, you need to suspend your disbelief a bit otherwise it's very unrealistic, but that alone did not dampen my enjoyment. It's always refreshing to come across a book that defies expectations and keeps you on your toes until the very end.
Samantha Downing's debut novel was absolutely incredible and left me eagerly anticipating her next work. The way she crafted the story was truly masterful. As for her character development, I am not too sure, but she has a lot of promise and she can only get better, that alone is enticing enough. Can't wait to see where she takes us next!
This was used for the challenges:
#AYearAThon: For May month long theme was to Reread.
Again a nice way to double them up, as I have a year-long goal of rereading
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