The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

  

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Women's Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary Fiction
Content: Strong language, Off page sex, Infidelity

 

At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that is not meant to be read...

My darling Cecilia,
If you’re reading this, then I’ve died...

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret—something with the potential to destroy not only the life you have built together, but the lives of others as well. And then imagine that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive…

Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all—she’s an incredibly successful businesswoman, a pillar of her small community, a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything—and not just for her. There are other women who barely know Cecilia—or each other—but they, too, are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

 

Years ago I read What Alice Forgot for a book club I was in. I ended up really loving it, and decided I wanted to read more from this author. Somehow that never happened. It's possible it never happened because, although I loved that book, and it resonated with me at the time, it was still not exactly the type of book I usually read. Sure there was an element of mystery to it, but it also very much read like a regular contemporary fiction book marketed to women. So I mostly forgot about this author until I was in a book store and heard someone talking about this book, or at least what I thought was this book. Now that I've read it, I'm not so sure. Anyway, I found a used paperback copy and decided to give it a try. 

Going in, I was reminded of the things that I didn't like about this author's writing style. There's a lot of inner dialog that at times seems relatable, but at other times seems overwrought, and unrealistic. I don't think some of these thoughts would occur to the characters as quickly as they do. It was slow going at first, but as the story went on, it eventually hooked me, and I remembered all the things that resonated with me about What Alice Forgot. The characters, although not always likable, are so very well drawn and real and relatable in many ways. The dilemmas they face are not easy, and there are lots of moral questions. 

My biggest complaint about this book is that I guessed what was in the letter almost from the beginning, and I even saw the thing that happens at the end coming from a mile away. I knew how things would end up for the characters in the end, what choices they were going to make about their dilemmas—everything. Some of the reason behind that was because I had read What Alice Forgot and could see similar patterns unfolding in this book. Some of it was just because it was very predictable. I also didn't care for the infidelity in the book, but at the same time I could see how this woman got there after feeling unwanted. It was a poor choice on her part though. The 4 stars are for the characters, the moral dilemmas, and how relatable it all is, even though most of us won't ever have to deal with the kind of thing that was in the letter, there are still lots of things in this book that everyday people do deal with. A couple of things I liked in particular were, the gift that's Tess's father sends her, and the advice her mother gives her about not making hasty decisions. A lot of this book is about the choices we make and how they affect our lives, and the lives of those around us, and the things we keep to ourselves, and never tell anyone else. In the end, I was sad that certain things would never come to light, especially the thing about Janie.

“None of us ever know all the possible courses our lives could have and maybe should have taken. It's probably just as well. Some secrets are meant to stay secret forever.” 

 

 

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