First published 2016
Donald works as an optician in suburban Boston and believes his life with wife Viv is predictable and secure. Viv works at local stables while they raise their two children together. Everything shifts when Mercury arrives at the stables. The beautiful racehorse belonged to Hilary's brother, who died under strange circumstances while riding Mercury one afternoon. The horse came back to the stables without its rider. Hilary decides to board Mercury at Viv's workplace, where everyone admires the thoroughbred's striking appearance and athletic ability. Viv feels particularly drawn to Mercury and begins riding him regularly. She starts fantasizing about competing with the horse and reclaiming the ambitious dreams she abandoned when she moved to the suburbs. Her innocent daydreams transform into something much darker and more consuming. By the time Donald recognizes how drastically his wife has changed, the damage cannot be undone. Both Donald and Viv have set forces in motion that will devastate their family.
Genres: literary-fiction, domestic-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Boston, Suburbs
Period: Contemporary
336 pages · Paperback · HarperCollins Publishers