The Silent Wife
By A.S.A. Harrison
Four stars
Read June 2014
On the first page of this novel, Harrison tells readers that her protagonist, successful 40-something psychologist Jodi Brett, will soon become a killer, and she proceeds to show exactly how that happens step by fascinating step. Along the way she carefully doles out the backstory of Jodi and her partner of 20-plus years, Todd Gilbert. Neither of these characters is very likeable, but that didn’t matter to me because they are so believable and deftly drawn. Outwardly, they are an attractive and successful couple with busy lives and many friends, but inwardly, they are a matched pair: cold, selfish, amoral, and clueless about who and what they really are. When Todd’s latest fling turns into fatherhood and he decides wants paternity more than he wants Jodi, both of their lives begin to spin out of control. Layer by layer, Harrison peels away every last bit of Jodi’s and Todd’s facades, and what would have been incomprehensible at the start of the book — Jodi a killer? — comes to be inevitable. In the end, you understand that it couldn’t have turned out any other way, but Harrison’s great skill means you have to finish the final page to learn why.