25 May 2017

Review: THE HUSBAND'S SECRET, Liane Moriarty

  • first published 2013, Pan Macmillan Australia
  • ISBN 978-1-74261-394-9
  • 402 pages
  • Author website
Synopsis ( Author website)



At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read…

My Darling Cecilia, if you’re reading this, then I’ve died…

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret – something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others too.

Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive…

Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all – she’s an incredibly successful business woman, a pillar of her small community and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home.
But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia – or each other – but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

My Take

I have had many people recommend this author to me, and particularly urging me to read  THE HUSBAND'S SECRET and BIG LITTLE LIES which I aim to read sometime soon.

There are 3 intertwined stories in THE HUSBAND'S SECRET. The connections are not obvious at first and I felt initially that I was having to work hard to get the names and the families straight in my head. The main setting is Sydney, Australia, but I didn't think the setting actually mattered. I could see that the stories would appeal to an American audience too.

I've talked with people about whether this is really crime fiction. Certainly a crime was committed and the plot reaches back nearly four decades. But in reality the book is not so much about the crime but about relationships and family. In some ways it is a lot less noir than my usual reading, but there is a strong element of psychological exploration, and the dilemma about what to do with the secret.

So, I'm not going to tell you any more, other than the book was extremely readable, and that this is an author worth following.

My rating: 4.6

About the author

A new-to-me Australian author who has recently become hugely successful
Three Wishes (2003)
The Last Anniversary (2005)
What Alice Forgot (2010)
The Hypnotist's Love Story (2012)
The Husband's Secret (2013)
Big Little Lies (2014)
     aka Little Lies
Truly Madly Guilty (2016)

1 comment:

Shalet Jimmy said...

By all means, the introduction has everything that can make it a mystery...

The way you have introduced the story just lures any mystery reader to read the book.

Wonderful post

Regards
Shalet Jimmy ( www.shaletrjimmy.blogspot.com)

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