The Perfect Marriage- Book Review and Storyline

The Perfect Marriage is a crime thriller by author Jeneva Rose. The story is about Sarah, an accomplished defense attorney and her husband, Adam, a struggling author who has yet to taste success.

Sarah has a much busier life than Adam and is out and about most of the time, which leaves Adam alone and, many times, lonely. They have a house in the heart of Washington and a lake house, which is secluded and away from the hustle and bustle of the city. While Sarah spends most of her time in the town, Adam spends many of his days in the peace and serenity of the lake house, hoping to get inspiration for his next book.

In his loneliness, Adam cheats on Sarah with a girl named Kelly. Once, after spending an evening with Kelly in their country house, Adam returns to Sarah. The following day, he finds out that Kelly has been brutally murdered on their bed, in their house.

After the initial interrogation, the police consider him as the prime suspect and detain him in the prison. Although terribly disappointed, Sarah takes the case and, despite strong opposition from Adams’s mother, manages to convince Adam that she can help him more than anyone else can. Adam trusts her, first because she is his wife and second because she is the best defence attorney in town.

The investigation begins, and Sarah, the sergeant involved in the case, and even Adam unearth many possible suspects until the day of the verdict finally arrives. The final judgement is passed. Till this point, the reader is unaware of who the real murderer is. All that the reader knows is that it is not Adam.

Many years after the judgement is passed, Sarah recalls the murder and the investigation and reveals to the reader the reality of the case from her side.

The story proceeds with alternating narrations from Sarah and Adam. Although the end becomes quite gripping, the story has many loose ends. The characters in the story, including those of the protagonists, were not well-developed, and the story’s main theme was not well-researched. The police procedures and the court proceedings seemed unreal. Even after reading 70-80% of the book, the author did not tie the loose ends, and many things were not adding up. The end, i.e., the last few pages, as I mentioned before, are undoubtedly exciting and lift the veil from the ambiguity built throughout the book. But, after reading the book and looking at the story in its entirety, one may wonder why the characters did what they did and not choose to do something else.

If you are looking for a casual reading, this book may be ok. But you may not like it if you are used to fast-paced thrillers with tight plots and great storylines. It is not a great novel that can be read and re-read, but it can be a casual, one-time read.