Author: Darby Kane
Narrator: Xe Sands
Publisher: Harper Audio
Publication Date: December 2020
Genre: Mystery / Suspense / Thriller
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: Debut author Darby Kane thrills with this twisty domestic suspense novel that asks one central question: shouldn’t a dead husband stay dead?
Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems. A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it’s discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth….
With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She’s definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it’s gone.
My Thoughts: Pretty much from the beginning of the book, the reader is made aware that Lila’s marriage is terrible. The fairy-tale ending that Lila was hoping for when she and Aaron got married is far from the reality. He’s abusive and controlling. Their conversations are layered with contempt and hostility and he’s dead. Lila should know because she’s the last one to see his body. The problem is now that Aaron’s body is no longer in the place she left it. She left it in a very public place, hoping it would be discovered as well as the evidence of the atrocities he had committed. But, no, the body is gone and instead of the police investigating an assumed suicide, they are now investigating a missing persons case and logically wondering why Lila doesn’t seem upset about her husband’s disappearance.
The provocative questions I had at the start were did she kill him? If so, why? Where is he? Is he really dead? Lila is not a likable character but as I got to know her, I began to respect her ability to survive and think fast on her feet. I didn’t agree with a lot of the choices she makes, but by the end of the book I had a lot of admiration for what she has gone through and survived and come out on the other side with scars and damage she keeps neatly hidden.
Finding out you’re married to a monster is pretty bad, but better the monster you know, right? Lila has experience dealing with monsters. She’s been dealing with them her whole life. It took me a long time to figure out who the current monsters were and what they had planned, but though I found this book good, it really didn’t really knock my socks off. The ending was well played and I had to hand it to Lila. I can’t decide whether she’s a true victim and survivor or if she is another monster but I was impressed with her determination to not only survive, but win.
I chose the unabridged audio format for this story. Xe Sands’ performance was quite good blending the tension, suspense and emotions of the characters together making their behavior, decisions and actions believable.
My Final Verdict: I recommend this story to fans of mysteries, thrillers and domestic suspense novels. Some of the subject matter may be hard to read as it may be triggering.
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