by Fiona Barton
First published 2016
Jean Taylor spent years playing the perfect wife. When police questioned her husband about a crime, she transformed herself into someone who could endure the suspicious stares and anonymous threats. She stood by him through every accusation, keeping quiet about what she knew. Now her husband is dead. The woman Jean became to survive those years can finally disappear. People want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with a man suspected of terrible things. Jean can finally speak about the secrets that lurked in their marriage. Everyone says they want the truth. But Jean has learned something important during her years of silence. She discovered she possesses a particular talent for making people believe whatever version of events she chooses to tell them. The question becomes whether Jean will use this power to reveal what really happened, or whether she has her own reasons for shaping the story to her advantage.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, contemporary, psychological-thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, secrets, unreliable-narrator
324 pages · Hardcover · Berkley
Content warnings: abuse, domestic-violence, emotional-abuse