Behind Closed Doors

One of the blurb on the back cover of this book says it's the 2016 answer to Gone Girl. Now that's very high praise considering GG was a well written psychological thriller about two protagonists that I hated. The premise of this book suggested it was about the truth behind a seemingly perfect marriage, so I had to give it a try.

The story is told in two timelines, the past and the present - the past detailing how Jack and Grace fell in love and their early days of marriage; the present occurs an year later, Grace having left her job to be the perfect housewife and hostess. They are also waiting for Millie, Grace's sister with Down Syndrome to join them permanently once she turns eighteen. The imperfections of the marriage and the true nature of Jack are revealed early on in the book, so this is not a traditional suspense novel. It's more of the anticipation of the horrors that are going to occur as we proceed through the book. We know what's coming, we know Grace can't stop it but we hope she manages to escapes in time.

The characters seem a little unrealistic - a strong independent working woman just believes everything a man says whom she has met a few months ago because she loves him and sacrifices everything that she has built for herself. I don't know much about psychopaths and I don't know if people like Jack exist in the real world who revel in the fears of others, but I certainly hope they don't. The one character I enjoyed was Millie, who seemed quite intelligent, independent and courageous in spite of her disability. The unconditional love the sisters have for each other was truly endearing; that's what made me want to complete the book, to hope for a good ending for them. On the whole, this book is quite thrilling in parts with a satisfying ending but please beware of some very very emotionally disturbing elements.