Do You Trust Your Spouse?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  How many lives has Jessica Strawser changed? As editor in chief of Writers Digest, she's encouraged authors to work hard and be authentic and do their best. And as a result, readers get the benefits of the books that result!

And now she's taking her own advice--and hitting it out of the ball park with novels of her own.

So now-- take a look at that person sitting across the breakfast table from you. Or across the table of your best friend. How--reliable is that spouse?  

It may be a disturbing question. But it sure makes for a great novel.

(And we're giving a copy of ALMOST MISSED YOU to one lucky commenter!) 

Why Bad Husbands Make for Good Suspense

  by Jessica Strawser

On the page as in life, there’s just something irresistible—from the outside, of course—about a marriage gone completely off the rails. The best suspense writers are skilled at tapping into our worst fears, and (death and public speaking aside) this one drives deep: It’s that horrifying idea that you might have missed some crucial undesirable something about the person you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your life with.

The person who shares your bank account, your address, your bed … maybe even your children.

My own 2017 novel, Almost Missed You, features a husband who makes some choices we’ll refer to as … questionable. Finn packs up and leaves his unsuspecting wife in the middle of a family vacation, and kidnaps their 3-year-old in the process. No note, no apology, no trace of where he’s gone.

The story that follows takes us, in alternate turns, back to when they met—through tangled years of fate, missed connections, and all that seemed meant to be—and forward to how she might find him now. And while I won’t hint at what happens, I will say this: The “bad” husband of my making isn’t all bad. I have a soft spot for the guy, I confess. I can’t even call him bad without using quotation marks!

Of course, not everybody feels the same about poor Finn, and that’s what’s great about fiction—just as we don’t all dole out forgiveness in equal measure in real life, in novels we’re bound to meet characters whose merits (or lack thereof) are ripe for debate. One reviewer wrote passionately about how badly she wanted to punch Finn in the face—so eloquently I had no doubt she’d do it if presented with the chance! Her visceral response, in my view, means I did my job: In her mind, he’d become real.

You’re probably thinking by now of Gone Girl—the quintessential battle of the bad spouses. Some think, not without grounds, that the book’s success spawned a rash of domestic suspense novels, but it’s also true that fraught marriages are nothing new on the shelf. And they don’t have to go so far as to involve psychotic murder setups to be compelling.

Shades of gray, after all, can be more interesting than black and white. I prefer them in my fiction and in my closet. And I’m not alone. My favorite trade review of Almost Missed You came from Booklist, which called it:

“Perfect for readers looking for something new after all of the ‘Girl’ thrillers … Gritty, witty, and a worthy addition to the recent slate of domestic dramas.”

Here are six others that have kept me good company, ranked on a sliding scale from it’s complicated to get out while the gettin’s good.

• The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty: This one is a few years old now, but I feel compelled to mention it because these days so many people cite Big Little Lies as their favorite Moriarty book. This is mine. Her titular husband is in the same camp as Almost Missed You’s Finn—well meaning, to a point. The end is especially unforgettable in the way that the readers come to know more than the characters ever will. 

• The Blackbird Season by Katie Moretti: Alicia’s husband is a popular teacher and coach, perhaps a bit too well liked by his female students in particular … you can guess where this is going. Alicia and the other characters come to think they can, too—but jumping to conclusions can be just as dangerous as looking the other way.

• It’s Always the Husband by Michele Campbell: The title says it all—or does it? Revealed almost entirely in flashbacks, this story’s largely unlikeable victim casts shades of doubt over every plot turn, turning friends into frenemies and bonds into betrayals.

• The Good Widow by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke: Imagine: Your husband was having an affair, which you learned only when he and his mistress met an untimely end. You allow yourself to be convinced that recreating their final days might somehow be healing. What could possibly go wrong?

• The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle: The abrupt end to a perfect relationship—when a husband goes down with a plane he wasn’t supposed to be on—is the beginning of this psychological thrill ride with twists to spare.

• Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris: At the far end of the spectrum, if you prefer your bad husbands really, unequivocally, sickeningly bad, I’m not sure you’ll find one much worse than this creep.

My TBR pile wants to know: What’s your favorite book featuring a suspiciously secretive spouse, or a marriage in turmoil? And what was it about the suspense that hooked you and wouldn’t let go?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Whoa. Behind Closed Doors was so creepy! Truly disturbing. And I just read an excerpt of The Marriage Pact. Which seems interesting. (My new book TRUST ME, is about husbands, too. Just saying.)

And I will confess: there’s an arc of NOT THAT I COULD TELL on my nightstand. Lucky me. :-) 

So—marriage books?   Girl on the Train? Anna Karenina?   The other day someone mentioned Blood and Money.  (And do you think the spouses of the authors begin to get suspicious?)

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Jessica Strawser  is editor-at-large of Writer’s Digest, where she served as editorial director for nearly a decade. Her debut novel, Almost Missed You, was named to Barnes & Noble’s Best New Fiction shortlist upon its March 2017 release and will be new in paperback Feb. 6, 2018. Her second, Not That I Could Tell, is forthcoming in March. Connect with her on Twitter @jessicastrawser and on Facebook @jessicastrawserauthor.