Perfect Marriage or Perfect Revenge?!?

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

Started: 12/29/2021

Finished: 01/01/2022

Rating: 5/5

Favorite Quotes: "That’s the funny thing about dreams. You always eventually wake up from them"

Did I expect that plot twist ending? No, not at all. We find out who the killer is at the very end and to be honest, I NEVER suspected this person to be the murderer. This book was very well written, it was a page turner. I know a book is good when I get upset every time, I have to put it down to do something else. It is definitely a book you can binge in one day if you have the time and no distractions.

Synopsis:

Sarah Morgan is a successful defense attorney in Washington D.C. A partner at her firm, life is going exactly as she envisioned. Adam on the other hand is a struggling writer who's had little successful in his career and is tired of Sarah constantly choosing work over him and their relationship.

The couple's lake house off the coast of Lake Manassas, Adam engages in a passionate affair with local woman Kelly Summers. The Morgan's life changes the morning Kelly is found brutally stabbed to death. Sarah must take on her hardest case to date, defending her own husband, a man accused of murdering his mistress.

SPOILER ALERT: Please do not read any further if you have not finished the book, and/or you don't want any spoilers.

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The book starts off where we meet the Morgan's, Sarah and Adam. Sarah a high-profile lawyer, workaholic and sole breadwinner. Adam a writer in a career rut, spending many days in their cabin on Lake Manassas, staring at a blank word document. Sarah always chooses work instead of spending time with Adam, which caused Adam to find comfort in a local native named Kelly Summers. Adam and Sarah's 10-year anniversary weekend comes, and Sarah chooses work instead of spending the weekend at the cabin with her husband. Adam invites Kelly over to spend a nice intimate night together. Around midnight, Adam wakes up with Kelly beside him in bed, still alive or so he thought. Adam decides he needs to go home and be with his wife. Adam writes a note to Kelly, professing his love for her and heads back to D.C.

Adam has always wanted to start a family with his wife. Sarah has never wanted kids, but at 33 years old she has an epiphany that she wants a family, and she wants to do it with Adam. Adam is over the moon, and when he finally gets what he wants, his mistress is found stabbed to death in their bed at the cabin. Adam was the last person to see her alive, and according to local law enforcement he is the one and only murder suspect.

This book goes through all the interrogations, trial and chaos in between. The story is told through alternating perspective of Adam and Sarah. Sarah has to set aside her feelings as Adam's wife and become the defense attorney Adam needs.

Towards the end of the book, I am still trying to figure out who killed Kelly. Was it Adam the innocent writer just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Scott the erratic and violent husband who knew all about Kelly's past? Is the killer hiding in plain sight, like Nicholas Robert Miller (Bob) who was Kelly's first husbands brother, and still has some pent up animosity towards Kelly. Or Anne the assistant obsessed with being her boss, would she really do anything for Sarah? The author did a great job of making the audience think that Sarah and Bob's relationship was built on the fact they despised each other.

Sarah and Nicholas Robert Miller (the brother of Kelly's first husband) aka Bob, decide to kill Kelly and frame Adam for her murder. With the help of Sarah's assistant, Anne. They were able to get blackmail evidence against Adam and threaten to spill his secret if he doesn't end the affair. Clearly Adam doesn't take the threat seriously and continues his affair. Sarah having the upper hand when Adam is charged and put on house arrest, is able to continue her plan by making Adam believe he is innocent while at the same time making sure he is found guilty. Little did I think Sarah was defending her husband to make sure he never made it out alive. This was a whole strategic plan to send Adam to death row for a crime he never committed.

The ending is still replaying in my head. Sarah is the one that stabbed Kelly Summers 37 times while her husband slept peacefully beside her. Sarah watched her husband go crazy trying to prove his innocence and was there when the lethal ejection took his life for a crime he never committed. Once Adam is finally out of the picture, Sarah rides off into the sunset with her soon to be husband Nicholas Robert Miller and daughter. In the end, all Sarah was concerned about was that if Adam and her were to divorce he would get half of everything she worked so hard to achieve.

Would you be able to devise a plan to kill your significant other, instead of filing for divorce and sharing half of your assets?

Final thoughts: This was a quick read for me, I was always going back and picking it up to see what happens next. Highly recommend this book to anyone that loves mysteries, thrillers and psychological thrillers. My jaw almost hit the floor when I got to the end to realize this was all a set up and an innocent man's life was taken. AND the fact that Sarah comforted Adam's mom while the lethal injection was happening, KNOWING she was the responsible for it all.

Off to my next read...

Kelly Green