I totally thought that The Marriage Counselor was going to go in a different direction than Dea Poirier actually took it. I like it when a psych thriller author can do that.
However, there were times when the direction shifts (and yes, that’s plural) made it feel like I was reading an entirely different book – almost like the author couldn’t exactly decide which way the plot should actually go.
That doesn’t mean it wasn’t enjoyable though, because it was. And all of those switches had me turning pages to try and figure out what was going on.
Adele struggles with ghosts of her past, especially her parents who were tv personas. Following in their footsteps in a more practical way, she is the marriage counselor – and has built a steady business. Everything seems fine.
Until it isn’t.
Her husband disappears. She learns there may be more to the accident that claimed her parent’s lives. Her ex-boyfriend is an officer working on her husband’s missing person case. Lucas, her husband’s ex-business partner is…angry. Her assistant is angrier.
It all turns into a big mess. But what is really going on with her husband? How many lies has she built her life around? Who is responsible for events that make her feel hunted?
While it mostly works, there are a few things that I think got short shrift. The ex-business partner plotline feels more like a red herring than a legitimate thread. It didn’t feel complete. The same goes for the secrets about her parents. The impact of that was “blink and you’ll miss it” making it feel more like a device than an actual storyline.
The whole arc with her assistant, Emma, felt disjointed to me. I was left wondering how I was really supposed to feel about it…especially in light of the biggest twist of all – literally in the last pages. There were simply some holes that should have been filled.
But I’m not going to give anything away. You’ll have to read it for yourself to find out what I’m talking about.
In spite of what I mentioned, I did like The Marriage Counselor. There was enough psych to keep the psych thriller aspect, and there’s that aforementioned last-minute twist that had me wondering if I’d read everything the “right” way. It was certainly enough to make me look forward to the next novel by Dea Poirier.
