A Good Marriage
Kimberly McCreight, 2020
HarperCollins
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062367686
Summary
A riveting novel from the bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia, in which a woman’s brutal murder reveals the perilous compromises some couples make—and the secrets they keep—in order to stay together.
Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call.
Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted.
And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.
No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes.
The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone.
And Zach’s the primary suspect.
As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Brooklyn Country Day school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own.
In the end, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Kimberly McCreight attended Vassar College and graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. After several years as a litigation associate at some of New York City’s biggest law firms, she left the practice of law to write full-time.
Her work has appeared in such publications as Antietam Review, Oxford Magazine, Babble, and New York Magazine online. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with her husband and two daughters. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
The characters look as if their lives are perfect, but their greatest skill is their ability to conceal the adultery, substance abuse and financial ruin percolating underneath…. McCreight is particularly adept at parsing the small but telling details of life among Park Slope’s elite.
New York Times Book Review
A murder mystery filled with dirty secrets and moneyed mayhem.
People
(Starred review) [E]xpertly blends domestic drama with a gripping murder mystery.… McCreight’s page-turner presses readers to question everything they think makes a “good” marriage. This will stay with the reader long after the finish.
Publishers Weekly
[W]ill make you question the very concept of marriage and how even the most insignificant secret could tear down the walls that couples put up to keep their secrets…. [W]hat could have been a standard mystery [is elevated]… to top-notch thriller status.
Bookreporter.com
McCreight expertly weaves multiple plot threads with a few sly red herrings, paving the way to a series of surprising, and satisfying, reveals. A smartly plotted and altogether successful union of legal thriller and domestic suspense.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. What makes a good marriage
2. What does being "happily married" mean?
3. Do you believe in white lies?
4. Do you thin you ever completely know a person?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)