A Good Marriage
By Kimberly McCreight
Harper, 9780062367686, May 5, 2020, 400pp.

The Short of It:

A woman is found dead at the bottom of the stairs. Her husband has been arrested for the crime, but everyone is lying.

The Rest of It:

*No Spoilers*

Zach is married to beautiful Amanda but their marriage is riddled with secrets. After dragging Zach to a party that he does not want to attend, Amanda returns home alone and is murdered shortly thereafter.

When Zach finds himself accused of her murder, he contacts an old lawyer friend, Lizzie to defend him even though she’s never defended anyone in a criminal trial. As Lizzie goes through the motions to discover the truth, she slowly realizes that anyone could have killed Amanda and that Amanda’s past was haunting her the entire time.

A Good Marriage is getting a lot of buzz. The author keeps you guessing the entire time. I thought I knew who the killer was numerous times and was wrong every time. Structurally, it’s tightly written and is an absolute a page turner (read it in one sitting) but I did not care about any of these characters, even Amanda. I don’t think you have to love the characters to like a story but in a murder mystery, I find it’s helpful to at least care about the victim. I felt nothing for her. Everything felt a little too detached for me. The relationships were somewhat shallow, or appeared to be which made it difficult to feel anything for these people.

I’ve read McCreight before. You may remember Reconstructing Amelia. That one had a lot of drama but I remember feeling empathy for the characters. That is the only thing I felt was missing here. In the end, I appreciated how quickly the story was told and for the author’s skill at keeping the big reveal a secret right until the end but had I felt a little more for these characters I think I would have enjoyed it even more.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
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