Together for many years, but never married, Todd and Jodi appear to be a perfect couple. Jodi looks after Todd - which goes as far as overlooking his many affairs. However, their relationship begins to crumble when one Todd's current squeeze has some life changing news. Putting Jodi's life into chaos, events begin to take a dark turn.
Comparable to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, what with the alternating narrative of a couple in trouble, but A. S. A. Harrison's The Silent Wife is inferior in every way. This book left me wanting so much more from the almost two-dimensional characters. I wanted Todd to be an equal to Jodi; not just a selfish guy going through a mid-life crisis, who always thought that the grass was greener on the other side. I wanted Jodi to be more aware of her actions and the consequences. There are sparks, when she enacts tiny acts of revenge on Todd, but as the plot progresses she loses ownership and becomes passive to events unfurling around her. Normally I like unreliable and unlike-able characters, but not this time. Both Jodie and Todd seemed to drift through a cookie cutter plot, with neither of them taking ownership of their actions.
Admittedly, The Silent Wife is easy to read, and I did like the ambiguous ending. However, I can't think of it as more than a book that could be taken on holiday and forgotten soon after.
