Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - The Husbands

Honestly, I don’t think I am the right demographic to read this book. Like I am not a wife nor a mother, nor am I in my late 30s so although I generally sympathize with what mothers and wives go through, it is constantly emphasized throughout the book to the point it gets repetitive. Nevertheless, I still appreciate the book for shedding light on a subject like that.

Unfortunately, this fell flat for me, especially the ending. It was anticlimactic; it left me dissatisfied. Not to mention, for a book that is marketed as a thriller novel, its contents touches more on the feminist aspect and how “miserable and trapped” women are because their husbands are incompetent. Although that premise is connected to the thriller plot, I expected the story to focus mainly on the housefire case rather than thoroughly exploring Nora’s (the MC) family and work life. I also don’t know if I should like Nora because as I progressed through the book, she was becoming unbearable 😭 so if that wasn’t the goal, then the author is doing a bad job of making me feel bad for her.

Anyway, take this review with a grain of salt because, like I said, I feel like I am not the target demographic for this.

Content Warnings

frogglin's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

The topic of mental load on women is one that is currently in constant discussion, and this novel takes a detailed and gritty look at that as Nora, mum to one and expecting a second child, grapples with parenting and a high pressure job. Trying to balance the two while also managing her husband as so many women do leads her to feel torn between her family and her job, and resentful of her husband.

Meanwhile, a small community of happy families has a house available for sale should someone meet the high requirements of the HOA to purchase it. Nora is drawn in not just by the promise of a perfect suburban life in a beautiful home, but by a recent death in the community. As a lawyer, she finds herself promising to uncover the truth of what happened to Richard, and how he could have died in the housefire that left his wife grieving and living in a pool house.

The high powered community includes women working in medicine, psychology, real estate, charity - each one of them married to a doting and adoring husband and each husband more than taking on his fair share of the house hold chores and mental load.

It sounds like a dream, but there's a deep river of discomfort running through this novel.

Much like the Stepford Wives, the men of this community are under manipulation and mind control, orchestrated by the wives who each dabble in an area that may help. Each husband has been turned into the perfect man, at the cost of their personality and humanity, with the ending being a nasty tangle of horrors. It's sad and horrifying in equal parts.

Content Warnings

ohsnapsabrina93_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I didn't like how she ended the story then had an epilogue of 2 years later as if what she had gone through 2 years prior was nothing.

Content Warnings

evawondergem's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Content Warnings

martieliz's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

katiejohns's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Content Warnings

sarah984's review

Go to review page

dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Very boring book with a ridiculously stupid main character and mostly bland side characters. Very early on you can guess the entire plot including how reveals are going to be handled and you're exactly correct - no surprises. Strange social media themed interludes between chapters that basically just list the book's themes (this is so common and I don't get it - authors of the world I PROMISE that women are capable of understanding themes without interludes or footnotes or characters just listing them). There's also a secret that hangs over the main character for a lot of the book that turns out to be boring and revealed in a really anti climactic way.

Content Warnings

jesscoast's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

An interesting premise, but it lacked the “juiciness “ or “meatiness” I expected. I got impatient waiting for the twist, and would have preferred to have explored some of the dark

secret society/cult

aspects in way more detail than to have so much build up. Overall fun and entertaining though. Felt a little too American for my taste, relying on extremely regionally specific tropes and references and a deeply privileged outlook on feminism.

Content Warnings

More...