"[A] compelling domestic thriller."-Buzzfeed"You need to check outxa0The Marriage Lie.xa0This domestic thriller will keep you reading into the wee hours of thexa0night to find out how it all ends." -Redbook"This delicious, serpentine thriller starts from a simple premise: what if your husband was not who you thought he was.... A good, old-fashioned page-turner, with a poisonous sting in the tail."-Daily Mail"Fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train will eat up Kimberly Belle's latest novel. The pace is relentless, and the plot never runs in a straight line.... Beware, The Marriage Lie might very well undermine your confidence, your convictions, and your trust in loved ones. This one is a true brain twister!"-Bookreporter.com"After a plane crash claims herxa0husband's life, questions aboutxa0his death surface as Iris Griffithxa0follows a trail of cryptic clues toxa0discover if Will was the man shexa0thought she knew.xa0Taut andxa0briskly told, The Marriage Lie is axa0smart mystery that takes readersxa0on a wild ride.xa0Fans of domesticxa0suspense will adore Kimberlyxa0Belle." -Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl and Pretty Baby"Belle harnesses her heroine's grief, disbelief, anger, and love to fuel this domestic thriller, splicing in modern technology for a ripped-from-the-headlines feel. Belle's taut pacing drives the story forward, and the relatability of the Griffiths will hit readers close to home. With plot twists around every corner, Belle isn't afraid to keep her readers guessing until the very last page of this heart-pounding story of one woman's desperate search for answers."-Booklist"The suspense builds rapidly... A compelling adventure."-Kirkus Reviews"A surprising and fast-paced read."-Publishers Weekly"The Marriage Lie is the definition of a page-turner. Every chapter ends perfectly hooked, every emotion is laid bare to experience along with Iris. We feel every one of Will's carefully crafted lies. We don't know who to trust, who to root for, who is dangerous, and the effect is dizzying. A pulse-pounding good book." -Katie Moretti, New York Times-bestselling author of The Vanishing Act"Unimaginable loss leads to shocking revelations in this suspenseful, layered and emotionally gripping novel. Belle steers a twisting course that will have readers breathlessly turning the pages." -Sophie Littlefield, bestselling author of The Guilty One Kimberly Belle is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of five novels of suspense. Her third, The Marriage Lie , was a semifinalist in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Mystery & Thriller, and has been translated into a dozen languages. Before turning to fiction, Kimberly worked in marketing and nonprofit fundraising.
Features & Highlights
Bestselling author Kimberly Belle is back with a “domestic thriller [that] will keep you reading into the wee hours of the night.” —
Redbook
"Fans of
Gone Girl
and
The Girl on the Train
will eat up Kimberly Belle's latest novel."—Bookreporter.com
Everyone has secrets…
Iris and Will have been married for seven years, and life is as close to perfect as it can be. But on the morning Will flies out for a business trip to Florida, Iris's happy world comes to an abrupt halt: another plane headed for Seattle has crashed into a field, killing everyone on board and, according to the airline, Will was one of the passengers.
Grief stricken and confused, Iris is convinced it all must be a huge misunderstanding. Why did Will lie about where he was going? And what else has he lied about? As Iris sets off on a desperate quest to uncover what her husband was keeping from her, the answers she finds shock her to her very core.
Customer Reviews
Rating Breakdown
★★★★★
30%
(10.4K)
★★★★
25%
(8.7K)
★★★
15%
(5.2K)
★★
7%
(2.4K)
★
23%
(8K)
Most Helpful Reviews
★★★★★
3.0
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If You Hate Romantic Suspense, Run Away, Run Away
Iris and Will have a perfect marriage. They are in love. They are each other's favorite person (a phrase they exchange instead of "I love you"). They live in a perfect house (which they can't really afford) and have perfect jobs. Iris is a beloved psychologist at a private school. Will is a genius computer scientist at an up-and-coming company. To add to the idyllic bliss, they are trying to get pregnant (which is described in abundant detail). Will, about to leave for a three-day conference in Florida, has a special anniversary gift for Iris: a Cartier Infinity Ring, which is WAY more than they can afford.
Then, glowing with love, Will departs for his conference and Iris heads to school. The day is interrupted with news of a terrible Seattle-bound airplane crash with no survivors. Iris, while feeling compassion for the victims and their families, is relieved that this can't be Will's Florida-bound plane.
Only, according to the airline, Will is among the victims.
Which opens a great big can of worms. What would Will be doing on a plane to Seattle? What was he doing? Why had he lied to Iris? What else had he lied about?
Things get more and more complicated.
Iris is forced to undertake her own investigation to find the truth.
Kimberly Belle writes a convincing portrait of grief. Iris' pain is tangible. The storyline is involving, full of deception and surprises, twists and turns.
Beyond that, I should point out that I am not the target audience for this book. I don't read cozies. I don't read romantic suspense. If you do, read no further in this review. Enjoy the book. It's full of twists and surprises.
If you are like me, you won't be thrilled with this thriller. All of Kimberly Belle's great storyline is smothered in, what was to me, an assaultively overwritten style. Iris doesn't cry. Tears prick her eyes. She doesn't get angry. Rage coils in her belly. She doesn't get frustrated, Helplessness presses down on her hard enough to make her breathless. And while I wouldn't object to these descriptions being liberally sprinkled throughout the book, they crowd the pages. The other descriptions that crowd the pages are descriptions of Iris' and Will's bodies fitting together, their warmth, the frequency of their lovemaking, their smells, their tender moments...
I'm gonna need a good serial killer to get the taste out of my mouth.
882 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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Don't read it for the writing
I am angry with myself for finishing this book. I purchased it after reading the Kindle sample because despite some over-flowery language, it seemed interesting, and I wanted to know what happened. From there, things got much worse. But I'll start with a few positives:
PROs:
-Other than a few places where I skipped ridiculously wordy descriptions, the pacing was fast.
-It had some unexpected elements to it. I couldn't predict everything from the beginning.
-(I'm having a hard time coming up with others)
Honestly, there is just so much I didn't like. For one, the writing wasn't great. Not only was the language over the top (e.g. "My house is a hulking black shadow against the nighttime sky, despite the lights casting a golden glow down at the street."), but it was also somewhat repetitive (the main character lifts or hikes her shoulders to her ears a half dozen times throughout the book--just shrug!).
I also left the book feeling very offended by the stereotypes presented, racially, ethnically, and related to sexual-orientation. When someone is gay, they don't just mention it in conversation all of the time ("If there's one thing you can count on from an urban, sophisticated gay man, it's good pharmaceuticals."). Just by peppering things in about how people are presenting themselves stereotypically doesn't excuse this ("she is every cliché you've ever heard about Eastern European mail-order brides"), it's just lazy.
Listen, I like your good romance book, thriller, or suspense as much as the next guy, but this book was not worth the $8 I paid for it. Seriously, I'm really angry that I paid anything at all, but especially more than $2. Ugh!
170 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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How is this book getting good reviews??
I’m still trying to figure out how this book got ANY good reviews. I’m an avid reader and Amazon user and I’ve never written a review before. But like another reviewer said, this book was so irritating, I felt compelled to. The main character was so poorly developed and awful that I couldn’t stand her. The author repeats many literary concepts over and over and uses the exact same descriptive phrases SO many times (how many “spiky balls” of nausea/fear/anger does she swallow in one week?). If I had a penny for every time the main character described her nausea and vomiting, I could pay myself back for this terrible purchase. I’ll leave out any spoilers for those who still feel the need to read this and waste some time and 12 bucks. But I will NEVER read another book by this author. And I have serious questions about trusting any reviews on here if so many people would give this garbage 4 stars or more.
162 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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Disappointing
I read a lot, and am always looking for a good read. But this book was not it. I was hopeful, given all the great reviews, but the more I got into the book, the more disappointed I was. The characters were not really developed and none were very likeable, so it was difficult to care about any of them. It was much more predictable than I had anticipated, based on the reviews. The author seemed to be trying too hard to make it exciting and interesting, but I just don't feel she succeeded. The writing was very cliché and repetitive at times. I finished the book, because I don't like starting a book and not finishing it, but it took some effort. I'm not sure I would read anything else by this author.
29 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
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Not Very Original
Meh. I read this book in one sitting primarily because I had time that I usually don't have to gulp down a novel in one day. But throughout most of the first half I was bored. There were a lot of plot twists which kept me going but the story did not feel original. The characters were well fleshed-out but around halfway through I figured out most of the ending so it became more of a read to just see if I guessed right. Had I not been recovering from an outpatient surgery I may have skimmed a lot of the second half. Let's just say the suspense was underwhelming.
25 people found this helpful
★★★★★
5.0
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Holy Cow What A Book!!!!!!!!!!!!
My first thought when I finished was holy cow what a book! Second thought was to go reread the last chapter 3 times and make sure I read what I read!!!! What an amazing thrilling book!!! So many twists and turns and you will keep reading because you NEED to find out what is going to happen next. I loved Iris and thought she was could be anyone of us in the face of great upheaval! With the love and support of her family she faced the challenges ahead of her and came out on the other side. I loved this book and would recommend it to anyone wanting to read and amazing thrilling book!!!
22 people found this helpful
★★★★★
2.0
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Not my favorite....
I really wanted to like this book, but I found the protagonist, and nearly every single character in this book for that matter, so utterly annoying it was difficult to overlook. Iris is a woman consumed with grief after her husband, Will, is killed in a plane crash. She makes a point of telling the reader how much she loved her husband and how their marriage was like a fairytale. However, as she starts to investigate his past and reconstruct the events leading up to the crash, it becomes clear that Will had a few skeletons in his closet, and she should have been questioning things all along. One could almost forgive her for being blinded by love, but once she starts to uncover the truth, including the strong possibility Will may have set a fire that killed his mother and two children, she is STILL pining for him. What? Now we’re into Lifetime movie style crazy. She is whiny and needy throughout most of the novel, and all of the other characters continually run to her aid, including her parents, who treat her like she’s 12, rather than a 30-something-year-old married professional. Also, she is a psychologist, yet doesn’t know enough not to ask an Alzheimer’s patient repeatedly if he remembers something? I could go on and on. On the positive side, the book held my interest for the most part. The plot was predictable and far-fetched, but you expect this with a domestic thriller.
20 people found this helpful
★★★★★
3.0
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A Quick Read
The premise of the book was interesting, if implausible. The story started out strong and was compulsively readable. It was well-paced, but I was able to anticipate where many of the twists and turns would lead. I initially liked the character of Iris, and then she began to grate on my nerves as the book progressed. She is supposed to be a psychologist, but many of her actions seemed immature. I found that I disliked some of the author's word choices and descriptions, which became distracting. Was dismayed by the ending, and did not feel that it fit with the overall tone of the book. It seemed tacked on only to create an element of surprise.
20 people found this helpful
★★★★★
1.0
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Compelling premise, but...
...the story itself was disjointed, poorly written, unrealistic, and predictable. The "twist" was dumb and something that I began expecting about a third of the way in. Reading this felt like a chore, but I was determined to finish because I had already wasted so much time on it. This could have been so good, but it really fell flat. Don't waste your money.
14 people found this helpful
★★★★★
4.0
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Compelling domestic thriller
Imagine your husband of 7 years boards a plane to Seattle when he was supposed to be in Florida for a work conference. And then the unfathomable happens- the plane crashes and leaves you a widow. You’re left to pick up the pieces and uncover the lies, leading you on a cross country chase in pursuit of the truth- who really WAS your husband?
Overall, I enjoyed this novel. It had a nice pace and the writing style allows you to truly immerse yourself in the story. I think it’s a brilliant plot. It does have a twist, well, a couple of twists. By halfway through the novel I was pretty confident I had the twists figured out, and I was correct. That doesn’t take away from the enjoyment and suspense. While you can see it coming, you’re never 100% sure, and then a new lie or drama pops up, and you’re throughly committed to getting to the finish line.
I will say some parts of the story are not very believable, and the main reason I didn’t give this a 5 star rating. The ENTIRE BASIS of the story and husband’s lies are based on such a SILLY, MINUSCULE notion. The entire drama of the book could’ve easily been prevented if people used common sense. I mean, instead of a minor inconvenience, the husband chooses to go a much worse and tumultuous path, and the reasoning doesn’t quite add up. It’s frustrating. You’ll understand once you read it. The entire thing holding the story up is a bit pathetic and it ruined the ending for me, kind of.
The ending is also a bit open ended. If you loathe that kind of thing, beware. I think it’s summed up nicely but that doesn’t mean every loose end is dealt with. 6.5/10
Edit: after reading some reviews, I want to mention this book is not racist. To think this book as racist, you must be unhinged. It’s such a stretch and you really have to be looking for things to complain about. Please don’t let unhinged reviewers prevent you from trying this book.
