In her current case, Jade Ashworth has been murdered, and
seven years ago, Samantha disappeared. At first glance--nothing appears to connect the two women. Yet as Gina and her team investigate, the connections appear.
A suspenseful plot with several twists. My main problem is with the number of controlling men and the women who allow the control. It isn't that I don't realize that this sort of thing can happen, but this book has way too many women who are easily dominated by the men in their lives.
The plot involves a wife-swapping group, and most of the women don't want to take part, but are pressured by their husbands or partners. Of course, the women have to have been habituated to that kind of pressure even before the "parties," but it is discouraging to read about so many women in unequal relationships, who feel it so necessary to have a man in their lives that they give up their own autonomy.
The reviews of this one are overwhelmingly positive, and it is suspenseful and the guilty party unexpected, but it was depressing.
Read in May. Blog review scheduled for June 28.
NetGalley/Bookouture
Crime/Police Procedural. July 2, 2019. Print length: 337 pages.
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Behavioral scientist Paul Dolan "analyzed data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS)" that indicates single women without children are happiest: Unmarried Women Are the Happiest and Healthiest. The same survey is also in The Guardian and The Independent. Interesting and taking in several factors that make sense, and yet....
This might be true if there were no pressure to marry and have children, but there is tremendous social pressure to have a partner and few women can resist it. A bit of a conundrum. "Despite the benefits of a single, childless lifestyle for women, Dolan believes that the existing narrative that marriage and children were signs of success meant that the stigma could lead some single women to feel unhappy."
It is interesting that I read these articles after reading The Liar's House which already had me curious about why so many women find such unsuitable partners--women who are willing to sacrifice their own beliefs and who choose partners who make them miserable.
Not sure about this book though some of the plot intrigues me. I can understand a bit why some women fall into the trap of a demeaning relationship, because I married into one as soon as I turned 21. It's long ago and ancient history but the untangling of such a suffocating relationship is not easy to do. I can see why single women without children can be very happy, as long as they have a support system of family or good friends. Everybody needs somebody...
ReplyDeleteThe plot kept my interest and was suspenseful. What bothered me about the book was how many of the women were in or had been in these controlling relationships. Almost every female character in the book was in or had been in a relationship with a control freak including DI Gina Harte.
DeleteThe concept of the book might have worked better if it were set in the past maybe? Like the 1970s when key parties were kind of a thing? (or is that urban legend...)
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question as to why both men and women stay in unhappy, unsatisfying relationships. In my personal experience, all the people I know who have left such relationships ask themselves why they waited so long to do it...but it does take courage to make that first step, for sure.
If it had been only one or two female characters in the book in a controlling situation, I might not have been as interested in Dolan's study. But the study does raise interesting questions about the controlling influence of society's norms that we are all subject to, even if subconsciously.
DeleteThe blurb sounds intriguing but I'm not sure about the demeaning relationship, though. It does sound depressing.
ReplyDeleteI did find it depressing, but it was gripping, and it took me a while to determine the bad guy.
DeleteI just DNF-ed a book that got some great reviews, but honestly, it just depressed me reading it. The two women in it were just surrounded by characters I hated, and they stayed too. I don't know if I could make it through a book like this with women who do this -- and you're right, it's not about not understanding that there are women like this out there, but it's hard not to let it affect you as well.
ReplyDeleteIt is especially depressing with all the current news. Maybe that's why we love those kick-ass women, fantasy or not, who take charge and often take revenge. :)
DeleteExactly!
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