by Katie,
This book was given to me by a coworker. I have had very few colleague recommendations that I did not enjoy. It is called a psychological thriller in the San Francisco book review. Have you ever read another psychological thriller? How does this book compare or hold up to the genre name?
This month’s book is a novel about a couple who seem to be too perfect but we are led to believe appearances are deceiving. Have you ever met a couple like Jack and Grace who seem perfect in every way? The copy of my book has some book club questions that I thought we might like to think about.
When did you begin to suspect that something was off in Jack and Grace’s marriage?
None of Jack and Grace’s other friends and colleagues seem to think anything is wrong in their marriage, and everyone Grace tries to reach out to readily believes Jack’s explanations. Do you think that is because we are inclined to believe the best of people? Or to believe men over women? Or to believe the least-extreme situation?
Did you find the ending satisfying? Did you fine it just? Even though only a few people know the truth?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Hello Ladies
ReplyDeleteA very happy 2020 to you and your families. I hope you all had an excellent Christmas. Katie, Christmas must have seemed to come so soon after hosting Thanksgiving. I do hope you’ve had time to wind down from all this celebrating. We spent much of our day with Mum and Dad in the care home. Dad simply refuses to leave his room so it’s impossible to be more adventurous. Mercifully, it’s the best care home I have ever set foot in. The carers themselves are a joy. We probably all benefitted from their humour and energy.
Nancy, you and Ivars were going to travel by road to Melbourne and then on to Brisbane. Were you able to do that? The film coming out of Australia is tragic, horrific, sad . . . I hope you, your family, your property, are all safe.
Clearly, this month’s book is one where I hadn’t read many pages before I went to the end to make sure all ended well. You do wonder what impact writing such a book has on the author. To live with Jack for the length of time it must take to write a novel can’t have been fun. However, it’s a very relevant novel. Certainly, at least in this country, newspapers tell us this type of relationship is more common than one would like to think. Ms. Paris was clever in placing her story in an upper middle-income society. It gave Jack a lot of scope for his activities.
But while the plot and characterization were gripping, the ever-present threat of sadistic violence was awful - to the point that when Jay came in just now to remind me we are going to my parents this afternoon, I looked at him with some apprehension. (After 31 years of marriage, I can vouch for Jay’s humane approach to life!)
I have read other psychological thrillers, by Nikki French (actually a married couple) and Minette Walters for example. Clearly there’s lots of excellent writing within the genre, and very cleverly developed plots. One could just wish that human psychology offered a little less in the way of deviousness, cruelty and violence. Clearly, age is beginning to tell! I’ll be censoring fairy tales next.
In answer to your questions, Katie, the book cover immediately raised suspicions about Jack and Grace’s marriage, so I just accepted there was a problem from the get-go. I’m afraid perhaps it’s human nature not to want your own life disturbed by someone else’s difficulties, not to want to believe evil is so close. We just accept things at face value. It’s easier. Interviewed about a murder in the house next door, people always say the family was quiet, they were pleasant neighbours. Knowing Jack’s fate made the book easier to read. Never mind that only a few people knew the truth, it was the important people.
Thank you, Katie, for recommending the novel. Another one I would never have read but which gave me lots to think about.
Again, happy 2020 ladies.
Much love to you both.
Hello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteHappy New year to you too! Christmas was a whorl wind of celebrating. The kids enjoyed it all very much. I am glad to hear your parents’ care home is well maintained. I have gotten some patients from care homes in deplorable states. I hope Christmas was enjoyable. Nancy, I hope you and Ivars are safe! Sue describes the filming on point. If you have any good recommendations for helping, please let me know.
While reading this book I was sorely tempted to do as you did, Sue. I was terrified that the ending would not be in Grace’s favor. But I stayed strong and didn’t skip to the end. It takes the element of surprise away from the book but I was extremely tempted out of pure fear. I am unsure if I have ever read a psychological thriller previous and I am not sure I will be able to again. While the book was a page turner, I could only read for short periods at a time. It gave me such anxiety while reading. I desperately wanted to know what would happen to Grace and Millie but simultaneously I was completely affected by the seemingly hopelessness of Grace’s situation.
You’re right, Sue. The cover is rather ominous and certainly a novel about a perfect couple wouldn’t be a very popular or interesting one. And I agree again with your assessment of humans accepting things at face value. I feel that in a situation like Grace and Jack, it would be much easier for people to believe Grace had mental health issues rather than that Jack was a psychopath.
I don’t know about the current mentality in England but I do feel that Americans are pretty quick to believe a woman is being abused. I have been asked so many times in medical exams if I fear Franklin or am being abused by him. It is almost a routine part of any checkup. I don’t know what would be the following steps if I was in such a situation and said yes. Here it seems we are less inclined to believe men who are in abusive situations. I had a male patient who told my colleagues that he was afraid of his wife. He was a stroke victim and therefore unable to defend himself from abuse. Unfortunately they brushed him off as being “crazy”. When I met him for the first time and he voiced the same fears, I immediately reported the situation to my superiors.
I did appreciate Jack meeting his end in the same manner as Maggie. That felt like some poetic justice. While part of me would want Jack to be exposed as the monster he was, I know that Grace would never have gotten away with his death if she told everyone the truth about Jack. Esther’s willingness to collaborate with Grace’s story is surprising. I understand doing the right thing but simultaneously Esther risks a lot for someone she hardly knows.
A very thrilling book!
Much love!
Katie
Hello Ladies,
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear your Christmas’ went well. It is such fun time when little ones are around. Sue, such a blessing you are happy with your parents care home. It can be such a worry.
All is well here in my little patch, sadly I cannot say the same for much of Australia. We have only recently returned from our Melbourne road trip and spent much of the 3000 odd kilometres in heavy smoke. We thankfully were in no danger and all went well with the move and Gracie is now at home safe with us for a couple of weeks. There has been such devastation to everything, people ,wildlife, stock, industry, it is overwhelming. There has also been such community spirit and amazing bravery by so many ordinary Australians. The outpouring of help we are seeing Fromm all over the world is incredible. It is difficult to know how to help in such times, and sadly there has been reports of scammers soliciting money. I’ve seen that Leo DiCaprio’s earth alliance is doing good work. Mostly here we are contributing to the Red Cross or the Rural Fire Service. Of course our politicians are as frustrating as usual trying to score pollie points with their aid announcements and obviously avoiding any major policy changes or even in some cases not acknowledging the impact of man induced climate change at all.
Once I picked up our book for this month I hardly put it down until I finished it. I was like you Katie and resisted the urge to check if Jack got what was coming to him. Hence why I kept reading and also it helped to get over my anxiousness for Grace and Millie more quickly.
I have read thrillers like this before, just not as believable, which makes this one even scarier. Before I Go To Sleep by Rowan Joffre was made into a film starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth, I preferred our story to this . I haven’t read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, but Gracie assure me it is an excellent example of the genre.
I have to say I was very satisfied with the ending of Jack, as you say Katie, it would have been very difficult for Grace to have gotten away with Jack’s death had she told anyone about his abuse. I loved the character of Millie and how hard she fought for her sisters freedom also. Esther seemed very astute in her observations of Jack and Graces behaviours, maybe some people are more empathetic and others too involved in their own lives to pay much attention. And perhaps unwilling to believe such despicable things of their friends.
I have never been asked by any medical professional if I am being hurt in any way by Ivars, it is so interesting what you’ve said Katie about it being common in the US.
On a different note Sue, you mentioned censoring Fairy Tales, I am reading a great novel by on Australian writer at the moment called The Bee and the Orange Tree by Melissa Ashley. It is about a woman who writes fairytales to express her frustrations with the societal restrictions and weaves into her stories strong feminist characters! So maybe had the constabulary found out for sure they would have been censored.
Love to you both,
Nancy