“When police arrive, how will I explain the dead bodies in the house? Only one dead body would be easier to explain. People die after all – circle of life, etc., etc. But more than one becomes trickier.”
Thus begins bestselling author Freida McFadden’s latest twisty domestic noir thriller, The Divorce. McFadden’s ability to churn out smoothly flowing, twist-laden thrillers based around relationships has made her one of the most popular authors of the past decade. And she is in peak form in The Divorce. There is no Housemaid here (from her popular series), but the book is classic McFadden, which means you will race through in a few feverish, page-turning sessions and put down feeling slightly shaken at all the twists that you did not quite see coming.
All is well…and then it isn’t!
Like all McFadden’s books, The Divorce’s main story (after that extremely dead-body-laden preface) gets underway in a seemingly routine setting replete with domestic bliss. You come back home, after picking up your five-year-old son from school. Your husband, who totally adores you, tells you that he has a surprise for you – he has planned to get the whole house redesigned. While the workers get everything in place, he asks you to relocate to his parents’ house, which has been unoccupied since they passed away. Being the kind, considerate person he is, he has even packed your bags for you. It is just for a short time, and then you can move back to your new, designed, improved, better-than-ever-before home and resume your happy life with your family. After all, you have been happily married for more than five years, your handsome husband loves you and your toddler thinks the world of you.
An AI-generated representation of the scene.
What could go wrong?
Well, this being a Freida McFadden book, just about everything. The wife, Naomi, feels something is not quite in place even as she sets out for the house of her husband Jeremy’s parents – he seems a little distant, and does not kiss her when she drives away, as he usually does, but reassures herself (“This is not a big deal. It’s just a quick renovation, and then our lives will be back to normal”), and tries to settle into her temporary residence and get into some sort of routine. But things keep getting more odd, and then Jeremy finally admits that he actually wants a divorce.
Going mental, and into different minds
Naomi’s whole world seems to collapse at this demand. She struggles to figure out what has happened and is shocked by the sudden change in Jeremy, who she had always seen as being devoted to her and their only child, Teddy. McFadden takes us through the mind of Naomi: how rattled she gets by the decision and how she initially refuses to accept it, as well as the challenges she faces (can she earn enough, what does her mum say), her concern about retaining custody of Teddy, her changed relationships with her friends who had always seen her as happily settled, and so much more. This is McFadden at her best, putting us firmly in the mind of a character as the bewildered Naomi tries to get to grips with what is happening to her. Her narration is sharp and swift, and she captures Naomi’s confusion, embarrassment and rage brilliantly.
And then she throws a twist into the plot. And another. We cannot tell you more without spilling some of the beans that make The Divorce a compelling read. Suffice to say, other narrators and characters enter the equation, including one who narrates just a single chapter but turns everything on its head. As one comes to the end of the 320-page book, one is literally shaken and stirred by being in many minds and from having seen multiple perspectives.
Macabre marital madness
As ever so often, McFadden relies on narrative tension rather than dramatic action to keep the reader riveted. The Divorce is not packed with brave or stunning characters with exceptional intelligence or courage, or even villainy. It is a story about normal people, complete with flaws, egos and eccentricities, dealing with complicated relationships – so complicated that people die.
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The book’s plot is not watertight (some might find the husband packing off his wife to another place at the very beginning, with so little resistance, to be a little unreal) and depends on some rather odd coincidences, such as people being able to track down others rather too conveniently after years, but McFadden’s narration and her ability to convincingly speak for different characters keeps one riveted. So much so that as we came towards the end of the book, we did not quite know what or whom to believe.
All of which makes The Divorce a perfect read for those who love psychological thrillers and domestic noir in general and want their minds muddled with marital madness in particular. Suspense, multiple narrators, timelines that go back and forth…it has got them all, and is easy to read, and very difficult to put down.
The Divorce by Freida McFadden
320 pp
Source Books
Rs 550
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