Synopsis:
The wedding vows are exchanged, then the nightmare begins…
It was supposed to be the happiest day of her life…
Alice Tandy has dreamed of her wedding since she was a little girl. The perfect venue, the perfect dress, the perfect groom. It’s all going exactly to plan.
But then her whole world comes tumbling down. Just as she and her new husband Ben are cutting their wedding cake, three policemen storm in and arrest Ben. Alice looks on in horror, unable to comprehend what is happening. Did they say murder?
The next day, Ben is released on bail, but for Alice, the nightmare is only just beginning. And as more details about the murder of Kerry Valentine emerge she starts to realise that everyone around her is keeping secrets. Can she trust anyone? And who really killed Kerry?
Review:
This book might not be the kind of thriller that leaves you completely breathless, but the writing itself might be the best that I’ve encountered in a while. Don’t get me wrong, there’s mystery and tension and I did appreciate the scenario. I’m just saying that the way the author dug into the characters minds and relations simply eclipsed everything else. And in no way this is an issue.
What we know from the synopsis and from the first pages of the book is that on their wedding day, Ben, the groom, is taken by the police and accused of murder.
So naturally, this introduction already makes you imagine that Alice, the bride, which will start doubting her new husband as soon as she finds out the details that led to this terrible situation. This is what would happen in any good thriller, right? But if you think about it, this wouldn’t happen in real life. In reality, if you’re choosing a person to be your lifelong partner, you will trust that person to the deepest. And this was the most surprising part for me. That Stephen Edger chose to work with a more realistic version of the characters’ reactions rather than the one you’d expect from a book and that would probably increase the suspense even more. I absolutely loved the trust between the two main characters, the way they cling to each other at any given time and don’t let go easily, no matter how difficult the situations might be, no matter how many doubts and questions their minds would create. Because every new detail that shows up during the development of the investigation, every new untold truth that comes up later has a high potential of destroying their relationship. And despite that, Alice doesn’t end up giving up on Ben, she doesn’t share her fears with anybody else outside of their new family, she keeps fighting every urge to feel uncertain about him. And with all the lies that unclock day by day, that’s a really tough thing to do.
As I said earlier, the whole story is definitely gonna keep you hooked from the beginning till the explosive ending, even if it’s not really the kind of book that makes you forget to eat and sleep just to get another chapter done. The rhythm is not rushed, some chapters are slow paced, but overall, you will die of curiosity to find out what really happened. But definitely, the best and most amazing part of the book is the way the characters deal with the nightmare they woke up into.
My Weekly Book 