“If you loved Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, put this thriller on the top of your list…you won’t be sure “whodunit” until the very (shocking) end.” –Today *Named one of “50 Best Books for the Beach” by Coastal Living *Named one of “7 Books You Won’t Be Able to Put Down This Month” by InStyle *Named one of “6 Books to Cure Your Little Big Lies Withdrawal” by Elle.com *Named one of “20 … Your Little Big Lies Withdrawal” by Elle.com
*Named one of “20 Must-Read Books for Spring 2017” by Redbook
*Named one of “8 Thrillers You Will Devour This Summer” by BuzzFeed
Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny first met as college roommates and soon became inseparable, despite being as different as three women can be. Kate was beautiful, wild, wealthy, and damaged. Aubrey, on financial aid, came from a broken home, and wanted more than anything to distance herself from her past. And Jenny was a striver–brilliant, ambitious, and determined to succeed. As an unlikely friendship formed, the three of them swore they would always be there for each other.
But twenty years later, one of them is standing at the edge of a bridge, and someone is urging her to jump.
How did it come to this?
Kate married the gorgeous party boy, Aubrey married up, and Jenny married the boy next door. But how can these three women love and hate each other? Can feelings this strong lead to murder? When one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, will everyone assume, as is often the case, that it’s always the husband?
A suspenseful, absorbing novel that examines the complexities of friendship, It’s Always the Husband will keep readers guessing right up to its shocking conclusion.
Praise for It’s Always the Husband:
“A page-turning whodunnit that will speak to anyone who’s ever had a frenemy.” -Ruth Ware, bestselling author of The Woman in Cabin Ten
“This book is perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies.” –Redbook Magazine
“Fans of Ruth Ware and Gillian Flynn meet your next obsession.” –BuzzFeed
“In the tradition of Big Little Lies comes the excellently titled It’s Always the Husband, a thriller about three friends-frenemies, really-who met as college roommates.” –New York Post
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Excellent suspense. Love the characters and their relationships. Who was murdered and by whom? Read it in a day.
Such a fun book that kept me guessing until the end!
While I do agree with other reviewers that the 3 main characters, and most of the secondary characters were not very likable (I mean, Chief Rizzo? What a dick.), I very much enjoyed this book. True, these women (girls, really, when the story begins) are not likable, and maybe not even that relatable, but I still wanted to know what happened to them and why. More often than not, I found myself feeling pity for the men in their lives. And, honestly, Kate was SUCH a terrible person that I ended up feeling like she deserved what she got.
Yes, there were portions that made me literally roll my eyes, but in my opinion did not take away from the story. The second half of the story is more fast-paced, however that slower-paced first half is necessary so that the reader can more clearly understand the characters’ motives and personalities, and how they all fit (or clash, as the case may be) together.
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT:
I truly did not think it would end up being the husband, despite (or perhaps because of) the title. There were several points in the story where I was 100% convinced either Aubrey or Jenny had killed Kate. Well done, Ms. Campbell, you got me!
3 out of 5 stars to It’s Always the Husband, a new thriller and suspense novel set to release to the public on May 16, 2017, by Michele Campbell. It’s a quick-read with a few slow spot, but keeps you guessing all throughout the chapters, almost playing a bit of Russian Roulette with who’s behind the whole plot.
Why This Book
I saw it pop up on a few Goodreads reviews. I looked on NetGalley and thought it sounded like a strong psychological thriller. I was awarded the book in lieu of a fair and honest review, which is always the case with me. And who wouldn’t be curious about a book with this title?
Overview of Story
Kate, Jenny and Aubrey were roommates their freshmen year in a New England college. Each girl came from a different background: Kate was a rich NY trust fund girl. Jenny was a townie who wanted to get out badly. Aubrey came from Vegas with little support from her family. Somehow, they form a bond and remain friends over the course of 22 years. The book alternates between when they were 18 and when they turned 40, covering different boys they date, men they marry and the secrets they keep from each other. During that freshmen year, something awful happened, which sent Kate running out of the country. But when they all re-connect years later, the details of the night begin to unravel, especially when someone else ends up dead. This is the story of friendship and enemies, love and hate, secrets and revenge.
Approach & Style
The book is told in third-person limited omniscient, carefully navigating from character to character, telling the events as they were unfolding or did so in the past. It covers two distinct time periods: when they were 18 and freshmen and when they’re about to turn 40. It’s always clear which time period you’re in, but not in an overt way.
The book starts off with someone taking a walk on a bridge. You soon learn this person is being forced off the bridge. And then something happens, but your not sure what it is. Then the real story begins, describing how the girls meet and the subsequent events that occur throughout their lives. You never re-visit that scene in the present time, rather re-live in through each character who was involved via memories and dialogue, explaining what they thought happened.
But in the end, you will clearly piece it all back together — you know who was behind the entire situation. Cleverly told in small pieces, you learn just enough to keep your mind guessing… and when you tie in the title, you’ll keep asking yourself which husband killed someone, but you’re not entirely sure as there are many of them it could have been.
Strengths
1. Each of the 3 girls are very clear and distinct. You can picture them, you understand their motivation and you know what is likely going to be their downfall.
2. The men are less important, mostly as catalysts to help propel the relationship growing between the women. But as background characters, they all have a certain appeal, be it positive or negative. You get a sense of real people with real problems in most cases.
3. The suspense and timing is strong. The bounce back between periods keeps your mind guessing, even up until the very end when you have 3 pages left and are still waiting to figure out exactly what happened that final night for the victim.
Open Questions & Concerns
1. These girls did not like each other and I don’t buy their friendship. For one thing, Kate was an uptight trust fund baby who tried to play it off like she wasn’t. But she was. There is no way Jenny would be friends with her. Jenny even sparred with her the first few scenes and chapters, to the point where you question why they stayed together as roommates and then as friends. I struggled to believe they would help each other. Aubrey was definitely the glue, and given where she came from, she needed both of them to help propel her life forward. But I really think they would have had other people in their lives to prevent the disaster of their relationship as a triad.
2. The story with the new cop seemed to come from nowhere and go nowhere. He wasn’t very likable. He had no connections except to Kate, which was very unclear. Felt like extra fluff, just to cause readers to not guess the actual mystery.
3. Something is just missing from this story. It’s got lots of good parts. Some of it felt a little disconnected. And I was waiting for a bigger surprise payoff. I was surprised with the final overall explanation. I guessed part of it about 50% thru the book. But it felt like so much time was spent throwing readers off from guessing the details, when a little more should have been spent tying things together a little more closely with some additional emotions, connections and struggles.
Author & Other Similar Books
It’s in the vain of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. It’s a bit more about the friendships between the 3 girls rather than a focus entirely on problems between a husband and wife; although, that does play a significant role given the number of affairs happening over the course of the 22 year period.
Final Thoughts
As for thrillers and suspense, it certainly has some. The biggest issue was that the 3 girls weren’t all that likable… too much dependency on drugs and alcohol which made me really question why I cared who died and who was the killer. I’m all for drugs and alcohol in books, to match the realities of life, and to help propel the plot… but it felt like 80% of the characters relied on it to move the day forward rather than a background to the emotional and mental drama brewing within the extended group of friends. And that’s how I felt about the book. Too much extraneous and not enough focus on the missing years. So much could have happened and caused the tensions when they turned 40, but little of it was ever front and center.
That said, it’s a quick read… 4 hours, and has some great character development and intrigue as far as which person died, who is hiding what and how will this all end. You only know parts of the final death scene in the beginning and that’s what keeps you holding on throughout the rest of the book.
Good book
This book started out slow to me, but when it picked up the pace, it kept it up. Great read. Once the suspense started, I couldn’t put it down.
A sometimes shocking but always surprising mystery with unpredictable turns throughout the book. Three young women meet at a small elite college on the first day of school as roommates in a dorm suite. Kate is from a wealthy background and steers the others down her twisted selfish road. Jenny from a working-class family is driven to succeed at any cost, and Aubrey on a scholarship is trying and doing desperate things to fit in. The story moves from college to adulthood with Kate returning to the Ivy League college town where Jenny is now Mayor and Aubrey also lives. Needless to say, Kate’s return to the past does not bode well for any of them.
This book wasn’t as suspenseful as I think I was hoping it would be, but it really was a good book, and I wasn’t disappointed in the ending either. I would recommend it.
If I could give 4.5 stars I would! I really enjoyed the way this book was written, the characters were compelling and the style appealed to me. A lot of thrillers that take place in the present but hint at past events often lead the reader to deduce from flashbacks or memories, but much of this book actually took place at the time of the original “crime,” which I liked. I wish there had been a little more suspense involved toward the end, it seemed to wrap up very quickly, but otherwise this was a great summer read! Would recommend.
In many ways I felt like I was reading two very different stories. The first half of the book starts with three different girls becoming roommates at an Ivy League School. The girls are dramatically different and yet somehow manage to create a somewhat flawed, but unbreakable bond. Kate, the snotty rich girl, is the character that everyone fawns over. All recognize that she is not a good person, but yet all want to be her best friend. Jenny is the rather straight laced one of the bunch. She seems to be level-headed and often tries to steer the other girls in the right direction. Then there’s Aubrey. She’s poor and has had a tough upbringing. She’s fragile and eager to please Kate at all times. The three girls manage to get tangled up over boys and that’s when trouble starts.
Flash forward 20 years for the second half of the book. Aubrey is married and a successful yoga instructor. Jenny has become the mayor of the college town she graduated from. Kate has been out of touch for a long time but suddenly returns to their lives. Once she does, old wounds are opened and trouble ensues once again.
At the heart of the story is the deaths of two characters and the impacts these deaths have on everyone else. In the first half, the reader is told the truth behind the death. In the second half, the cause of death is unknown. There are several characters who could be responsible or the character could’ve been suicidal. I have to be honest, by the end I didn’t care!
My problem with this book was that I disliked all the characters. There was no one to root for. They were all shallow and self-centered. Unfortunately, my dislike shadowed the murder mystery. With that said, there had to be some redeeming qualities in the story because I read to the end and had to know who was responsible.
I know this book received a lot of great reviews. I just couldn’t get past how so many people were willing to do practically anything to be friends with a girl/woman who was all about herself (especially when the characters repeatedly told the reader that Kate was not a good woman!). Furthermore, there were just way too many coincidences for me. The tangled web of relationships scattered throughout didn’t seem realistic to me and I doubted many of the scenarios would have played out the way they did in real life.
Mixed review for me: I finished it, but I also couldn’t wait to do so.
I saw some reviews that said it wasn’t very good but I did enjoy it. It is really about 3 girls and they have very different lives when they become freshman roommates. Each has a different way of dealing with good and bad things. It takes you from them as young adults to older adults and how their lives have changed and how they deal with things now.