It's Always the Husband
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Author:
Genres: Literature & Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
Helpful Score: 1
This uneven novel suffers from a lack of focus. It can't seem to decide whether it's about toxic friendships, obsessive behavior, or whodunit and how.
Three young women, assigned as roommates at a small private college in New Hampshire, develop a complex interdependency that still exists decades later when one of them stands on a crumbling bridge in the middle of the night, being urged to jump. Campbell attempts to hide the identity of the potential suicide (or murder victim?), but most readers will figure out early on who is the most likely candidate. She does a better job of keeping the enabler/accomplice (killer?) under wraps.
This is where things go off the rails, as a big-town cop turned small-town police chief hijacks the tale for about 100 pages, wanting to pull out all the stops in his investigation, while townspeople (specifically the mayor) want the whole thing to be simply swept under the rug, for a variety of reasons. There's apparently an off-page confrontation, since passing reference is made to the police chief having been replaced by a more malleable character; the investigation loses momentum and is eventually abandoned as a plot thread. The Ultimate Revelation of exactly what happened on that bridge and who was involved is saved for a two-years-later epilogue, by which point most readers no longer care.
Because frankly, none of these three women is particularly likeable. Kate is the poor-little-rich-girl, who wants to buy affection via her money, sex appeal, and access to drugs and alcohol, but who routinely dismisses her friends' preferences and needs; Aubrey is the poor-little-poor girl on scholarship, crushing on the glamorous Kate and willing to accept whatever crumbs fall her way; Jenna is the blue-collar striver who turns out to be just as ruthless and manipulative as Kate, but in a more subtle and devious way. Jenna starts out being the most sympathetic of the three, but eventually allows her drive for power to set own moral compass spinning.
None of this adds up to anything more than a mediocre read with Aubrey, in particular, given an inconsistent, unbelievable character arc. The reader looking for something non-taxing to fill a couple of afternoons can find many more satisfying selections without much effort.
Three young women, assigned as roommates at a small private college in New Hampshire, develop a complex interdependency that still exists decades later when one of them stands on a crumbling bridge in the middle of the night, being urged to jump. Campbell attempts to hide the identity of the potential suicide (or murder victim?), but most readers will figure out early on who is the most likely candidate. She does a better job of keeping the enabler/accomplice (killer?) under wraps.
This is where things go off the rails, as a big-town cop turned small-town police chief hijacks the tale for about 100 pages, wanting to pull out all the stops in his investigation, while townspeople (specifically the mayor) want the whole thing to be simply swept under the rug, for a variety of reasons. There's apparently an off-page confrontation, since passing reference is made to the police chief having been replaced by a more malleable character; the investigation loses momentum and is eventually abandoned as a plot thread. The Ultimate Revelation of exactly what happened on that bridge and who was involved is saved for a two-years-later epilogue, by which point most readers no longer care.
Because frankly, none of these three women is particularly likeable. Kate is the poor-little-rich-girl, who wants to buy affection via her money, sex appeal, and access to drugs and alcohol, but who routinely dismisses her friends' preferences and needs; Aubrey is the poor-little-poor girl on scholarship, crushing on the glamorous Kate and willing to accept whatever crumbs fall her way; Jenna is the blue-collar striver who turns out to be just as ruthless and manipulative as Kate, but in a more subtle and devious way. Jenna starts out being the most sympathetic of the three, but eventually allows her drive for power to set own moral compass spinning.
None of this adds up to anything more than a mediocre read with Aubrey, in particular, given an inconsistent, unbelievable character arc. The reader looking for something non-taxing to fill a couple of afternoons can find many more satisfying selections without much effort.
