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141 reviews for:
A Marriage of Lies : An unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist
Amanda McKinney
3.69 AVERAGE
141 reviews for:
A Marriage of Lies : An unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist
Amanda McKinney
3.69 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
slow-paced
I had to DNF it about halfway through. It had zero character development and was painful to listen to (audiobook). At one point I thought it was a YA book because of adult themes (not graphic but implied). It was bad.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I don't understand how authors can spend so much time crafting and developing a book, laying out the plot and devising their "perfect" mystery, only for them to force an ending with alarming and unsatisfying speed.
McKinney starts with an intriguing concept--a detective working a brutal murder turned serial murder of prominent women that have, to some level, aided child abusers. Early on, the detectives find a connection between the strange symbols left behind and the adage see-no-evil/speak-no-evil. This gives them the direction for the case. This in itself is a fascinating direction for the story to go! It's an idea that I genuinely thought intriguing and was excited to see pursued.The first woman witnessed child abuse and did nothing, so she has the letter "X" carved into her eyes. The second victim stole money from a child abuse relief organization, so her hands are marked with the letter. One of the issues of the novel stems from this--it is so damn predictable. The author is not subtle about the way the killer is connected to these issues of child abuse. She may change/adjust the initials, which is meant to be a shocking revelation that a character we know uses another version of their name as an adult, but between the pronouns used and the fact that no other character comes to light with a similar backstory / emotional connection to child abuse, there is nothing surprising about the "big reveal." There are no characters that serve as potential suspects, no one to draw your attention away and make you wonder. I don't even recall there being any legitimate, reasonable suspects for the murder because the detective is too busy trying to figure out who her husband is sleeping with.
When it comes down to it, the only shocking plot twist dealt more with the affair than with the murder!I know I was meant to suspect that Emma, the teacher friend, was sleeping with Shephard, so I shouldn't have been surprised that it was Amanda, the therapist, but this did catch me. Again, it was arguably the only thing about the book that did.
McKinney had such an amazing concept to flesh out, and she wasted it. There were no investigations; we didn't get to discover evidence alongside the detectives; there were no "ah-hah!" moments. Instead, a side character gives a report on how the women could be connected and that's all we really get to know.
The characters weren't loveable--I didn't feel any sense of connection to them or care about their marriages. We barely know anything of depth about the detective's partner, Amanda lacks redeeming qualities, the protagonist is boring and illogical.
All of which leads to my biggest disappointment! THE ENDING!
No spoilers because it's in the synopsis--she confesses to the murders we know she didn't commit. Once that happens, one might think, "Huh, I can't wait to see the direction this goes! How is this going to ramp up? How are we going to work in the shocking twist of the 'whodunnit'?"
In the dumbest way possible is how.
Like I mentioned in the first paragraph of my word-vomit rant. The author suddenly seemed to get bored of writing the book and ended it with as little effort as possible.
Kelly is arrested, so what does she do? Accept it. Plead guilty, go to court, go to jail, be in jail. She doesn't fight back, she doesn't respond. Okay fine, sure, IF you DO SOMETHING with that! If you use it for something! McKinney doesn't. Our protagonist stays in jail long enough for the therapist to get engaged to and impregnated by Shephard. It's only once she gets the news about the baby that she cares to do anything. Now, the idea of trauma bonding is interesting, and it could have been a good twist if it had been done with care and intention while also remembering the key points of a good mystery. But again, I don't care about Kelly and Shephard at this point. I don't care about their wellbeing or their relationship. He gave her his homework in the child home and suddenly he is someone that needs protecting after murdering several women? Yeah, no.
Mind you, Kelly has a guy to fight for that she loves and cares about; she has a life. I understand losing hope, but we don't even get to go through the internal struggle and battle WITH her. We don't get to see her thoughts and experience her turmoil. We are just told months after that it happened.
And once she is pulled from the hopelessness following the news of the baby, now she acts! Okay, exciting! Does she regain her sense of self and solve it? Put her mind to work? Again, no. She tells her boyfriend where to find the evidence she stored, and the big reveal is that she knew who the killer was the whole time, Shephard, the disturbed, cheating husband with the history of child abuser (shocker). Not only did she know, she helped him get away with it. So what was the point of her investigation? What was any of it worth? ALSO, she HELPED HIM commit the crimes, though indirectly. She ALLOWED him to. She knew when they were happening, she took pictures even, and she never alerted the authorities to protect these women. I get the trauma bonding and protecting him out of a sense of loyalty and responsibility, but you cannot seriously try to tell me she would have been in no additional trouble for this.
Instead of getting this comeback where they unravel the mystery and piece things together, there is pure exposition telling us the reveal instead of, well, revealing it. Everything about the ending was unsatisfying.
Ultimately, the ending was rushed and sloppy.
McKinney starts with an intriguing concept--a detective working a brutal murder turned serial murder of prominent women that have, to some level, aided child abusers. Early on, the detectives find a connection between the strange symbols left behind and the adage see-no-evil/speak-no-evil. This gives them the direction for the case. This in itself is a fascinating direction for the story to go! It's an idea that I genuinely thought intriguing and was excited to see pursued.
When it comes down to it, the only shocking plot twist dealt more with the affair than with the murder!
McKinney had such an amazing concept to flesh out, and she wasted it. There were no investigations; we didn't get to discover evidence alongside the detectives; there were no "ah-hah!" moments. Instead, a side character gives a report on how the women could be connected and that's all we really get to know.
The characters weren't loveable--I didn't feel any sense of connection to them or care about their marriages. We barely know anything of depth about the detective's partner, Amanda lacks redeeming qualities, the protagonist is boring and illogical.
All of which leads to my biggest disappointment! THE ENDING!
No spoilers because it's in the synopsis--she confesses to the murders we know she didn't commit. Once that happens, one might think, "Huh, I can't wait to see the direction this goes! How is this going to ramp up? How are we going to work in the shocking twist of the 'whodunnit'?"
In the dumbest way possible is how.
Like I mentioned in the first paragraph of my word-vomit rant. The author suddenly seemed to get bored of writing the book and ended it with as little effort as possible.
Mind you, Kelly has a guy to fight for that she loves and cares about; she has a life. I understand losing hope, but we don't even get to go through the internal struggle and battle WITH her. We don't get to see her thoughts and experience her turmoil. We are just told months after that it happened.
And once she is pulled from the hopelessness following the news of the baby, now she acts! Okay, exciting! Does she regain her sense of self and solve it? Put her mind to work? Again, no. She tells her boyfriend where to find the evidence she stored, and the big reveal is that she knew who the killer was the whole time, Shephard, the disturbed, cheating husband with the history of child abuser (shocker). Not only did she know, she helped him get away with it. So what was the point of her investigation? What was any of it worth? ALSO, she HELPED HIM commit the crimes, though indirectly. She ALLOWED him to. She knew when they were happening, she took pictures even, and she never alerted the authorities to protect these women. I get the trauma bonding and protecting him out of a sense of loyalty and responsibility, but you cannot seriously try to tell me she would have been in no additional trouble for this.
Instead of getting this comeback where they unravel the mystery and piece things together, there is pure exposition telling us the reveal instead of, well, revealing it. Everything about the ending was unsatisfying.
Ultimately, the ending was rushed and sloppy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Murder
Minor: Child abuse
slow-paced
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
<b>Read Completed 6/3/24 |</b> 2.75 stars
A MARRIAGE OF LIES was decently entertaining but ultimately pretty predictable. The previous on Hoopla promised "GONE GIRL like twists" and I guess I can see it, but when people read GONE GIRL, they didn't see it coming. This didn't really surprise me in any way and I felt like a lot was pretty obvious. There was one thing I didn't pick up on, but I figured out a piece of it before the whole was revealed.
The writing style was just average! It wasn't horrible but it felt a little unpolished. Maybe this just isn't my style, the same way I don't enjoy Freida McFadden's writing style, so maybe fans of FM will like this more than I did! I has a very good rating and plenty of fans. I just felt like it was pretty forgettable and followed a ton of thriller tropes and concepts that I've already read many times before. This wasn't breaking any boundaries and didn't really have anything that will stick with me, but I don't regret my time reading it either. I'm sure it'll just fade into the background, though, sadly.
A MARRIAGE OF LIES was decently entertaining but ultimately pretty predictable. The previous on Hoopla promised "GONE GIRL like twists" and I guess I can see it, but when people read GONE GIRL, they didn't see it coming. This didn't really surprise me in any way and I felt like a lot was pretty obvious. There was one thing I didn't pick up on, but I figured out a piece of it before the whole was revealed.
The writing style was just average! It wasn't horrible but it felt a little unpolished. Maybe this just isn't my style, the same way I don't enjoy Freida McFadden's writing style, so maybe fans of FM will like this more than I did! I has a very good rating and plenty of fans. I just felt like it was pretty forgettable and followed a ton of thriller tropes and concepts that I've already read many times before. This wasn't breaking any boundaries and didn't really have anything that will stick with me, but I don't regret my time reading it either. I'm sure it'll just fade into the background, though, sadly.
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes