The Man I Married by Elena Wilkes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Expected publication date: August 26th, 2020
Synopsis:
Overall, I would give this book three stars and a recommendation. I think it would be a perfect book for a book club selection!
The first third of this book was mostly building backstory. We meet Lucy, an overworked probation officer. She’s recently gotten out of a terrible relationship, and one night she meets a man at a bar. He’s Dr. Paul Webb, a psychiatrist who works with the same prisoners and parolees as Lucy.
Weird stuff starts happening to Lucy. Disturbing calls about a kidnapped girl (possibly from a parolee), a rose on her doorstep, a woman following her. Meanwhile, she falls for Paul and they get married in a whirlwind. Lucy is put on leave from work, as nobody believes her about the phone calls.
Crossing into the second third of the book, this book ramped up like a roller coaster. Now that Lucy is isolated, Paul becomes a totally different person.
Honestly, I was a little confused by the end of the book. I read it and re-read it, and I went back to the beginning, and I could never figure out what happened with Simon. There were some unanswered questions left at the end.
Overall, I really enjoyed the main characters, and the pacing in the latter two thirds of the book. The story was gripping and thrilling. I’m giving 3 stars, only because I was annoyed with having unanswered questions, and the pacing in the first third of the book.
Thanks to NetGalley and Hera Publishers for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review!
Possible Spoilers! Read at your own risk!!
I really enjoyed this book, even though it was pretty predictable as far as Paul's metamorphosis from wonderful, doting man to creepy, controlling abuser. However, the background of his family (which, SPOILER: he killed his wife and two daughters, then changed his name) was pretty unexpected. It begs the question of why Lucy was so willing to overlook his craziness.
Lucy is assigned a parolee, Simon, who is far more than the ultimate creep. He has trafficked children. But he's being released anyway. He taunts Lucy with his "reformation" but after his release, she gets strange calls from an unknown number that she believes is Simon. Then a young girl goes missing, and Lucy is convinced it was his doing. But the facts don't line up, and she's acting crazy, so she's sent home from work for leave. TWICE. Simon is actually sort of how Paul and Lucy end up talking after bumping into each other in the bar.
Around the second third of the book, Lucy notices a woman texting Paul. And she notices a woman hanging around their house. And this woman looks exactly like a picture of the former girlfriend Paul's told Lucy about, Caitlin, who he tells her multiple differing stories about. Except then he got rid of the picture and attempted to gaslight Lucy into believing it never existed at all. Lucy doesn't totally believe Paul, but she doesn't want to start a fight, so she just kind of goes along with it.
It turns out that that woman is not Paul's girlfriend or wife, Caitlin, but actually her sister Moire. Moire warns Lucy about how dangerous Paul is, and that he actually murdered his family and Caitlin, then changed his name (how did he continue to practice psychiatry?). Paul commits Lucy to a mental institution where he has friends. Lucy is of course too scared to tell them the truth- that Paul is a monster. Moire helps Lucy break out, and they go back to Lucy and Paul's house to get Lucy's papers and whatever else you'd need if you were running from an abusive husband.
But of course, Paul knows this and ambushes them at the house. He attacks Moire, and in turn, Lucy attacks Paul and stabs him to death, relieved that there will be fewer Pauls and Simons in the world.
Then Lucy envisions his dead children and his wife? Not sure what was going on there in the last pages. The ending lacked satisfaction for me.
We never did find out if Simon kidnapped the little girl, and if he was really the one who was sending creepy messages and phone calls to Lucy. We only know that he didn't send the roses.
Excerpts:
Blood has a smell. I look around me. I’m sitting on a bench. It comes again. It’s visceral, like meat.
I knew he’d be out on the street again, scoping out the children’s homes, sniffing round the runaway kids on the street, having a laugh, giving out the bits of dope and the sweets, making them feel wanted and special. I saw the bait going down and the ultimate snap of the trap. They’d been bought and sold and didn’t even know there was a market – Such was the lure of wanting to be loved.
I’m a woman, full-stop: that makes us all fair game.
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