Book Blurb:
Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then, suddenly, it all fell apart. No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes. The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect. As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Grace Hall private school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place.
My Review: 4 stars
A Good Marriage was one thrill of a suspenseful ride. Part legal drama, part detective work and part ‘key-partying’ parents left me winded from this edgy story.
You may remember this author from her very popular, Reconstructing Amelia, which came out in 2013. I enjoyed that book yet this one is even better. Both of these books took place in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, known as an upscale family neighborhood. I got a good feel for the brownstone homes, the area and the kind of schools the kids went to.
McCreight did a great job at developing characters and gave us just enough seedy information on each person so that any of them could be suspected of murder. Murder in a neighborhood like Park Slope was unheard of, especially because it happened after an annual 1970’s style swingers party. Like in all good thrillers, there were a lot of convoluted relationships, secrets and red herrings for the reader to follow.
I loved the parts of the book that focused on Lizzie, the lawyer who is defending the prime suspect, which happens to be the victim’s husband. Her search for answers were the sections I liked best. The clues and leads started in a knot and slowly unraveled as she dug deeper. The ending was perfect and surprising. Awesome summer thriller – creative, fast-paced and riddled with tension.
Quotes I liked:
That’s the hardest part about marriage, isn’t it?” Zach went on. “Somebody else’s problems become your own. It doesn’t always feel fair.”
“And in the end, wasn’t that the key to marriage? Learning to pretend that a few unspoiled things could make up for all the broken ones.”
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