2.5

Strange and kind of all over the place.

Not quite what I was expecting, but good nonetheless. I do have a couple takeaways that I kept thinking about the whole time (no spoilers, I promise).

1) I've never been a proponent of cheating, but I certainly don't understand why you would do it when you're part of a perfectly happy and drama-free relationship. Like they say, you don't know what you've got til its gone.

2) I understand people who are either "against" marriage or just don't want to complicate things by putting a label on it. However, if you fall into this category, read this book. It will shed light on reasons why you SHOULD get married to someone; legally, financially, etc. Common law doesn't protect you.

That is all.

Jodi has always known that her partner Todd has been having affairs in their almost twenty years of living together, but she has never been the kind to confront him and make a scene and make his other women's lives a living hell. She likes to think she is a much classier, more controlled and more secure woman to resort to that kind of humiliation.

So when Todd tells her one day that he is leaving her for Natasha, his best friend's twenty-year-old daughter, who also happens to be pregnant with his son, Jodi cannot believe that he will be that stupid enough to give up the beautiful home and the comfortable life they built together.

Jodi then realizes what will become of her as soon as Todd marries Natasha. She will lose her home, her financial status, her self-esteem, and she will be written off in Todd's will in favor of the new legitimate wife.

A good friend offers to arrange for all her problems "to go away" and then she can get her life back. Jodi finds herself saying yes, comes up with the money, books a flight to Florida for a fool proof alibi, and waits for the repercussions of her actions to come flooding in.

I can understand why people compare this book to Gillian Flynn's "Gone Girl", but the only similarity I found is that they are both told from the perspectives of the man and the woman. It was a wicked pleasure to read. Gripping, chilling and dark. Two truths: A woman scorned is a force to be reckoned with, and revenge is truly best served cold.

A psychological thriller, this one is often billed as this years Gone Girl.
It's not really.
There are some similarities....a marriage in trouble, a wife who is a little crazy (although in Gone Girl she was a full-on raging nutjob), a philandering husband...it has mostly the same ingredients but it doesn't add up to the same dish.

Todd, the husband, is possibly the stupidest, most self absorbed idiot I've ever seen. he can't imagine why, after he cheats on his wife, impregnates AND leases an apartment with his 20 yr old girlfriend, the wife in question might be a little upset. He's at a loss as to why his best friend from childhood is peeved that Todd is sleeping with and impregnating his 20 year old daughter.

Jodi is at once both a complex and cold, distant character but by the end I was glad she "won"...that may be because I'm a woman. I'd be interested in seeing how men felt about this one.