Sordid marital drama makes for a searing tale of deceit and manipulation.
A 30-something’s seemingly perfect marriage hides secrets and simmering hostility in Sway’s thriller.
Newlywed Linley Gunn happily leaves her job at a New York publishing house to live in LA with her husband, Dorian. He’s a mega-rich former Wall Streeter who’s now working in the wellness industry. He also has a prenup stipulating that the marriage will be terminated with a $2 million settlement if Linley doesn’t bear a child within four years. Three years in, she still isn’t pregnant and not sure if she wants to be; Dorian has turned cold and now apparently prefers porn to his wife. He also has his eyes glued to Ana, the young, newly hired maid. Linley wants out of the marriage, but she feels that $2 million isn’t enough; she wants to help her parents, who lost their fortune to a shady investor. While she’s already convinced that Dorian’s porn-watching constitutes cheating, an affair with Ana would, per the prenup, leave Linley with much more. It’s not long before things turn exceedingly complicated—and homicidal. Sway masterfully takes readers into the mindset of an unhappy housewife—nonconfrontational Linley believably alternates between quietly stewing over Dorian’s callousness and sadly blaming herself for being unable to conceive. With pithy writing, the author gleefully layers on the melodrama, from the murky pasts of Dorian, Linley, and Ana to intrigues involving Ana’s physically abusive boyfriend Hector and Jarrad, the handsome gardener whom Linley fancies. Linley, however, isn’t easy to relate to; she comes from wealth, knowingly signed a ridiculous prenup, and scoffs at Dorian for “perving” over Ana as she herself ogles Jarrad throughout the story (“Speaking of wild, that’s how my hormones are reacting to seeing Jarrad shirtless”). Still, the novel’s latter half picks up considerably and offers compelling insights into Ana and Jarrad, who occasionally take the narrative reins. Shocking turns beget an unforgettable ending, promising a sequel to follow.
Sordid marital drama makes for a searing tale of deceit and manipulation.Pub Date: March 16, 2025
ISBN: 9798314296295
Page Count: 225
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.
A woman accused of shooting her husband six times in the face refuses to speak.
"Alicia Berenson was thirty-three years old when she killed her husband. They had been married for seven years. They were both artists—Alicia was a painter, and Gabriel was a well-known fashion photographer." Michaelides' debut is narrated in the voice of psychotherapist Theo Faber, who applies for a job at the institution where Alicia is incarcerated because he's fascinated with her case and believes he will be able to get her to talk. The narration of the increasingly unrealistic events that follow is interwoven with excerpts from Alicia's diary. Ah, yes, the old interwoven diary trick. When you read Alicia's diary you'll conclude the woman could well have been a novelist instead of a painter because it contains page after page of detailed dialogue, scenes, and conversations quite unlike those in any journal you've ever seen. " 'What's the matter?' 'I can't talk about it on the phone, I need to see you.' 'It's just—I'm not sure I can make it up to Cambridge at the minute.' 'I'll come to you. This afternoon. Okay?' Something in Paul's voice made me agree without thinking about it. He sounded desperate. 'Okay. Are you sure you can't tell me about it now?' 'I'll see you later.' Paul hung up." Wouldn't all this appear in a diary as "Paul wouldn't tell me what was wrong"? An even more improbable entry is the one that pins the tail on the killer. While much of the book is clumsy, contrived, and silly, it is while reading passages of the diary that one may actually find oneself laughing out loud.
Amateurish, with a twist savvy readers will see coming from a mile away.Pub Date: Feb. 5, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-30169-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Nov. 3, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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