Synopsis
Mother of three and wife of John-Paul, Cecilia discovers an old envelope in the attic. Written in her husband's hand, it says: to be opened only in the event of my death.
Curious, she opens it - and time stops.
John-Paul's letter confesses to a terrible mistake which, if revealed, would wreck their family as well as the lives of others.
Cecilia - betrayed, angry and distraught - wants to do the right thing, but right for who? If she protects her family by staying silent, the truth will worm through her heart. But if she reveals her husband's secret, she will hurt those she loves most . . .
I once watched a film, The Women. It was a laborious bore from start to finish. This is exactly how I felt whilst reading the Husband's Secret. I should say that the first two chapters of this book are gripping and funny however the rest of the book slides into tedium. The cover is beautiful, I had very high expectation from Moriarty and it failed to deliver.I was unsure what the author was trying to achieve, did she want the serious style atmospheric thriller or is she attempting a a Marian Keyes with wit and humor.
This book falls between the two. Jodi Picoult is the queen of moral dilemmas and intertwining characters and she does this very well. Moriarty fails to do this, the end result being that The Husband's secret is an overly long bore. The end is also predictable and could have been shorter by a couple of chapters. It suffers from The Dorothy Koomson syndrome, there are too many characters and way too much of everything. It is also as believable as Prince Harry marrying a Katie Price.
There were too many women competing for my attention and unfortunately not a single voice deserved my time. Now I know how George Clooney feels.
No comments:
Post a Comment