★★★★
Read : January 2014
"A chilling psychological thriller portraying the disintegration of a relationship down to the deadliest point when murdering your husband makes perfect sense.
Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose."
Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife delves into a world of secrets and revenge within the marriage of Todd an Jodi. He is an unchanging cheat and she has come to accept this so as not to 'rock the boat'...that is, until something huge happens that ripples through both of their worlds to the very core.
I enjoyed The Silent Wife but I doubt I would have described it as a 'psychological thriller' as Harrison has. To me, it was more of an intimate insight into the dying years and breakdown of a marriage..although there were some tense moments. I wasn't too keen on the writing style; it kept me hooked for the majority of the novel but I found Harrison's writing lacking a descriptive edge that it needed for me to really picture the characters and their lives.
Todd and Jodi were rather unlikeable which made it somewhat tricky to read and I'll admit they both made me want to rant and rage about them at times. Todd came across as a cocky, advantage-taking cheat whilst Jodi became a too-forgiving, too-lenient doormat. The storyline was cleverly put together though and I often found myself siding with Jodi a lot of the time, especially towards the end of the book.
I found The Silent Wife lost me a little in the middle but it soon picked up again and I was dragged into the book at the end and at key events. I enjoyed the ending where Jodi wrestles with her thoughts and her conscience and it's at this point that the story begins to get a little dark. It's just a shame that the rest of the book didn't quite captivate me as much as it should have. Saying that, I did enjoy it and would recommend it. It's not going to be the psychological thriller that you're promised but it is a good, interesting and reasonably easy read.
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