The Wife by Alafair Burke: A review

I didn't much like any of the characters in this book with the possible exception of the kid Spencer, and that at first made it hard for me to get "into" the story. But at some point along the way, the plot grabbed me and I was all in for the rest of the ride through all of its twists and turns.

The unreliable narrator has become so prevalent, especially in the psychological thriller genre, that it is almost a cliche. Alafair Burke uses the technique quite skillfully in this novel. It is impossible to tell at first whether we are being lied to or not. Is this person trustworthy? Can we rely on what she is telling us? In fact, can we rely on any of these characters? Are they all hiding secrets that they will say anything to keep hidden?

Burke is certainly a talented storyteller and once she had hooked me, I loved following her character-driven plot right up until that final twist at the end. I never really saw it coming.

Angela and Jason Powell have been married for six years and live in Manhattan when we meet them. Jason is a popular economics professor at NYU. He is also a bestselling author and has a growing media and consulting career, all of which have been parlayed into considerable wealth. The Powells live a comfortable and charmed life. Angela is a stay-at-home mom to Spencer. The only seeming blemish on the perfect picture has been the attempt to have a child of their own. Angela suffered three miscarriages in the attempts.

Spencer had been born before their marriage and is part of the deep, dark secret of Angela's past that she assiduously hides.

Angela was a bit of a wild child as a teenager and when she was sixteen and walking along a dark road at night after a party, she was kidnapped. She was held and brutalized and raped for three years by her captor. For the last couple of years, another girl was held along with her. Finally, neighbors got suspicious and contacted the police, but the kidnapper escaped with his victims, including a baby who had been born during their ordeal. When the cops caught up to them, the kidnapper was shot and killed, but not before he had shot and killed the second girl.

Angela's parents took her and the baby home and hid the fact of her kidnapping from neighbors. Their story was that she had simply run away from home and now she had returned.

Angela eventually found work with a caterer and it was at one of the parties that they served that she met Jason. A couple of years later they were married and living that charmed life in New York. Then it all fell apart.

An intern at NYU accused Jason of sexual harassment. When that news became public, another woman named Kelly Lynch, a consulting client of his, accused him of raping her. While all of this was being litigated, Kelly disappeared. When her dead body was found, Jason was arrested for her murder.

Burke skillfully builds the tension and she does play fair in that there are clues throughout the narrative, but they were well camouflaged and I was only able to see them in retrospect as I neared the end and things became more explicit. This book confirmed me as a Burke convert. I'll be looking for more of her work.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters! Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...

The Nature of Things

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