The Woman Inside

November 5, 2018
Set in a Real Housewifes-esque swathe of Long Island, N.Y., this dizzyingly plotted, miniseries-ready domestic thriller from the pseudonymous Scott (a screenwriter and a publishing professional team) centers on self-medicated to the gills pharma rep Rebecca, whose opiate addiction threatens to cost her her job—and her drug pipeline. At the same time, Rebecca starts to suspect that her husband of 20 years, Paul, a contractor turned real estate broker, may be straying—possibly with her loathsome boss’s Botox Barbie wife, Sasha, who was Paul’s high school sweetheart. Sasha has just disappeared, as will the dysfunctional couple’s sexy neighbor, Sheila. For maximal misdirection, Scott exploits multiple narrators, most of whom are unreliable save for a pair of wisecracking detectives, during the devious, deadly, and occasionally downright preposterous proceedings that set up an unexpected finale. Fortunately, this outcome is less disturbing than it might otherwise be, since the only truly sympathetic character is Duff, Rebecca and Paul’s dog. Those looking for slick entertainment will hope to see more from Scott. Agent: Christopher Schelling, Selectric Artists.

November 1, 2018
A marital thriller aspiring to the Gone Girl model offers some dark surprises.Scott is a pen name for two collaborators, one a publishing professional, the other a screenwriter, and they seem to have done their homework. The book, already optioned for a TV series, is squarely aimed at a slot in the growing list of he-said, she-said mysteries. The novel focuses on spouses Paul and Rebecca, whose almost two-decade-long marriage flounders after his contracting business fails. She's thriving as a pharmaceutical sales rep--a convenient job for a woman with Rebecca's raging opioid addiction. They are not a likable pair. Both are inveterate liars, Paul about his adultery, Rebecca about her drug abuse. They swing wildly between intricate, amoral scheming and profound naiveté--at several points, the only thing more incredible than one character's lies is that the other believes them so readily. Paul's affair with an unhappy neighbor goes sideways about the same time Rebecca's boss faces legal problems and the disappearance of his beautiful wife, whom Rebecca detests. Someone ends up dead, of course, and Paul and Rebecca must dispose of a body. But when a hidden corpse is found, it's not the one they buried. The book has multiple first-person narrators and a plot that weaves strands through various timelines; through its middle portion it bogs down under the weight of all that but tightens up for a fast-paced final third that accelerates past some less than believable elements.Although it's as shallow as the grave an inconvenient body is buried in, this thriller does offer some nastily entertaining twists.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2018
Rebecca and Paul Campbell, both victims of childhood trauma, weather ups and downs over nearly 20 years of marriage. His contracting business fails when the housing bubble bursts, leaving him anxious and depressed before he discovers a talent for real-estate sales. Meanwhile, her career soars as a top drug rep until her increasing use of her company's samples affects her performance and she's let go. Each also has learned to lie skillfully to the other, as their alternating narratives show. During his down period, Paul starts bedding Sheila, a married woman who lives nearby, but Rebecca discovers the affair after she's fired, when she also finds that Paul has drained their joint bank account. As Rebecca's knowledge of Paul's activities grows, she makes plans to protect herself, and, all the while, manipulative, obsessive Sheila has plans of her own. This debut by a pseudonymous duo builds tension with twists and turns to the very end; as Paul's lies mount up, Rebecca becomes increasingly addicted and paranoid, and Sheila's vengeful presence looms. Nonstop tension keeps readers turning pages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

November 1, 2018
A marital thriller aspiring to the Gone Girl model offers some dark surprises.Scott is a pen name for two collaborators, one a publishing professional, the other a screenwriter, and they seem to have done their homework. The book, already optioned for a TV series, is squarely aimed at a slot in the growing list of he-said, she-said mysteries. The novel focuses on spouses Paul and Rebecca, whose almost two-decade-long marriage flounders after his contracting business fails. She's thriving as a pharmaceutical sales rep--a convenient job for a woman with Rebecca's raging opioid addiction. They are not a likable pair. Both are inveterate liars, Paul about his adultery, Rebecca about her drug abuse. They swing wildly between intricate, amoral scheming and profound naivet�--at several points, the only thing more incredible than one character's lies is that the other believes them so readily. Paul's affair with an unhappy neighbor goes sideways about the same time Rebecca's boss faces legal problems and the disappearance of his beautiful wife, whom Rebecca detests. Someone ends up dead, of course, and Paul and Rebecca must dispose of a body. But when a hidden corpse is found, it's not the one they buried. The book has multiple first-person narrators and a plot that weaves strands through various timelines; through its middle portion it bogs down under the weight of all that but tightens up for a fast-paced final third that accelerates past some less than believable elements.Although it's as shallow as the grave an inconvenient body is buried in, this thriller does offer some nastily entertaining twists.

COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.