THE RESILIENCE OF RED THREAD

In Marshall-Smith’s thriller, a young mother and her daughter flee an abusive husband, only to wind up in an even more dangerous predicament.

Twenty-one-year-old Emily Miller runs a small day care for preschoolers while hiding out from her violent husband, Lee. After he puts Emily in the hospital for the second time, she obtains a restraining order against him. At this point, Emily’s mother, a successful real estate agent, sets her up rent-free in a small duplex, where Emily and her 4-year-old daughter, Jenna, should be safe from Lee. One day, Emily is with Jenna in the backyard when Jenna is stung by a hornet (unbeknownst to them, a large nest is hanging next to the house). Emily calls AAA Exterminators, and 30-something Jake Clayton arrives shortly afterward. Emily’s first impression is that Jake “looks like a robot version of a cowboy trying to be classy—blown dry hair and cologne.” But she’s intrigued, and there’s an immediate mutual attraction between them. When Jake returns in the evening to “neutralize” the hornet’s nest, Lee suddenly appears, banging on the locked door. Jake then must help Emily and Jenna escape, knowing the unhinged Lee will be in hot pursuit. These unexpected events usher in a new and consistently chaotic life for Emily, Jenna, and Jake. Emily and Jake alternate narrating Marshall-Smith’s disturbing thriller about a woman trying to escape a codependent and increasingly abusive relationship. Jake and Emily are presented as two lost souls struggling against their individual demons. In Emily’s case, she needs alcohol to calm her constant fears, while Jake struggles to suppress his past proclivity for violence. Readers will find it chilling to witness Jake’s psyche gradually deteriorate as he morphs from Emily’s protector into her controlling captor. The descriptive prose contains enough excitement to keep the pages turning, although repeated references to Emily’s daughter being overweight are puzzling, disconcerting distractions.

An attention-grabbing novel, but one that’s likely too dark and dispiriting for mainstream audiences.