What Makes A Good Marriage?

- July 16, 2020

Hi Friends!

July has definitely been the month where I have been craving and loving all things thriller! I have been flying through each thriller that I have been picking up lately, and my latest read is no exception.

A Good Marriage follows our main character Lizzie who is an attorney who had once been happy as a federal prosecutor. One day she gets a call from an acquaintance from law school who tells her that he has been sentenced to Rikers for assaulting a police officer and is suspected to have killed his wife Amanda, who was found dead in their home. Lizzie soon gets into the secrets of Amanda and Zach's past but also gets to know Amanda's closest friends in Park Slope and that those "perfect" friends may not be so perfect after all.

I love a good legal thriller. The legal jargon can be confusing, but there is something about watching/reading about a court case and how things are handled that excites me. Sometimes I think maybe I should have went to law school but I hate conflict and arguing, so I would have made a terrible lawyer.

Damn this book was good. I can honestly say that I did not suspect the killer and there were several times, at least three, where I would shout "I know who did it!" only to be proven wrong three chapters later. When the killer was revealed in the last twenty pages of the book, I literally had no idea, which makes this a good thriller.

This book jumps between Amanda's POV leading up to her murder and Lizzie's POV which is present day. What tripped me out is the July dates matched the days of the year in real life (for example, this party is described to happen on Thursday July 2nd, which is accurate of 2020 time), but yet when a statement is signed at the end, the year 2019 is written. It was interesting to see Amanda's thoughts before her death and what she was experiencing. You later find out that Amanda may not be the most reliable narrator, which I also was not expecting. There are some inserts too of emails about a data breach at the school that all these adults are connected through and Grand Jury Testimonies as well of other party goers. It adds so much depth to the story and makes it seem even more realistic, and shows how much more these characters connect in ways you would not expect.

Zach was a douche. You cannot convince me otherwise. He seemed sweet at first but then you realize he is a Narcissistic Asshole and when Lizzie finally puts him in his place, I was cheering. He was literally unbearable. I almost wanted him to just die in Rikers because he was that awful and cocky.

The book is a slow burn at first, but it quickly captures your attention. The slow burn is great because it really builds up the characters and their personalities. It provides so much more sustenance to the story and each supporting character really does play a major role in this story and the solving of this crime. You don't see too many thrillers that are heavily character focused, but it made for a much nicer pace and I thought it was interesting. It allowed me to have different guesses on who the culprit was.

Overall, this story was a really great legal thriller. I thoroughly enjoyed it and did not want to put it down. I would be eager to start it each day after work when I would finally be allowed to sit down, relax, and open this story.

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Casting Call:

Lizzie Kitsakis: Emma Watson