Day: June 24, 2021

This book definitely grabbed my attention and held it – I read it in one sitting, which is very unusual for me these days.

I don’t know exactly how to classify it. The tag says it’s a psychological thriller, but I found it to be more of a mystery thriller – almost a whodunit and why. That being said, there were certainly a lot of mind games being played – and that goes for a majority of the characters.

First and foremost were Daniel and Tansy. They were both really pieces of work. In some ways, I felt that they actually deserved each other. Their lack of morals certainly fed into each other, and they were the epitome of “like attracts like.”

And Tansy was so well-written that I found myself having visceral reactions to her. Like I wanted to be able to slam her on social media.

Which was weird in a good kind of way.

I liked how the author broke everything into sections. We got to see things from different characters’ points of view. This added to the depth of the plot line and gave important backstory without it feeling like we were being told. It was all in the action.

And there was a lot of that. The juxtaposition of the idyllic beach resort and the horrible events that occurred were effective. Trouble in paradise, indeed.

I thought that the conceit of Pippa’s situation was interesting but didn’t exactly do anything for the plot itself. It seemed more like a mechanism for propelling her into the thick of the story. But it didn’t bother me. I did like how Daniel’s side of the story mirrored Pippa’s own experiences to an extent.

The way all the information rolled out was completely natural and made sense. There was never anything that was jarring or seemed out of place. Even the switches in point of view were smooth. It was all well-crafted into an intricate spider web of lies and deceit – from many angles.

The author also includes some very astute commentary on social media. None of it is particularly overt per se, but the meaning is crystal clear: social media allows for people to lie through their teeth and often get away with it.

To paraphrase Daniel’s observation, influencers are led to believe they are important simply because people believe whatever they have to say, and those same people often don’t see through the fakeness. I don’t know if that’s more of an indictment of influencers or their followers. But it was searingly accurate.

I did think the wrap up was a bit on the weaker side and kind of felt like the author didn’t exactly know what to do with Pippa and Jim. But that didn’t really bother me either. I still enjoyed the book immensely and would highly recommend it.

One side note: The original title for the book was Happily Ever After. I actually think that was a much better title than this one. There is actually only one wife in the book (well, technically two), but it isn’t solely about her.

“Happily Ever After” covered more of the characters and their situations, and the sarcasm in it (given those situations) was effective. This is one case where I wish they had left the original title in place.  

Author Bio:

Born in the Cotswolds, Alison spent most of her formative years abroad. She studied languages at Oxford, then became a journalist and author, returning to university after her two children to take a law degree. After a three-year stint as a criminal paralegal, Alison worked as a commercial copywriter and then a TV storyliner, before coming full circle to write fiction again.