Book Review No 16: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty

I am a big fan of Liane Moriarty and having especially loved her last book (The Hypnotists Love Story), I was really looking forward to The Husband's Secret. Within the first few pages I was hooked and knew that I would definitely not be disappointed.

The three main characters Cecilia, Tess and Rachel are introduced in separate small chapters and at first seem to have little in common except a vague tie in to The Biggest Loser being on TV at a particular moment in time. However it soon becomes clear they are all part of the St Angela's Primary School community in Sydney and like six degrees of separation their lives already have and will continue to overlap in many ways.

Each of the women is facing a huge life challenge - Tess's husband and her cousin have just announced they are in love, Rachel (who is still struggling to cope with her daughter's murder) has just found out her son is moving to New York and taking her beloved grandson with him and Cecilia has just come across a letter written by her husband that bears the chilling instruction "Only to be opened in the event of my death". Although he pleads with her to not open it, Cecilia caves and in doing so discovers something horrifying that cannot ever be fixed.

I really love Liane Moriarty's writing style - it is very easy to read and so full of observations of everyday suburban life. Words, sentences and paragraphs capture perfectly how life is and the voices of her characters add to this reality. While there is a lot of sad and difficult subject matter covered, Liane still manages to insert little snatches of humour that had me chuckling out loud many times. I also loved her recollections of the seventies and eighties - her mention of the march past at a school sports carnival reminded me of something I have not thought about for years and in doing so took me easily to that time and place. Ditto for the TV show Sons and Daughters.

The sense of suspense in The Husband's Secret is intense until the contents of the letter are revealed. Of course I had a few of my own theories but they were completely off the mark. This secret really is quite unique and definitely something that would leave any normal person reeling. It is easy to judge how the characters react to the secret, but I believe it is truly one of those situation where you really couldn't say what you would do unless it was your life that was about to be thrown into chaos.

I genuinely loved this book. Once I started reading it I could not put it down and in fact set aside my own manuscript-in-progress so I could finish it in the space of a day. A fabulous read that engaged me fully and left me pondering just what secrets the people around me may be keeping.