HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: How many lives has Jessica Strawser changed? As editor in chief of Writers Digest, she's encouraged authors to work hard and be authentic and do their best. And as a result, readers get the benefits of the books that result!
And now she's taking her own advice--and hitting it out of the ball park with novels of her own.
So now-- take a look at that person sitting across the breakfast table from you. Or across the table of your best friend. How--reliable is that spouse?
It may be a disturbing question. But it sure makes for a great novel.
(And we're giving a copy of ALMOST MISSED YOU to one lucky commenter!)
Why Bad Husbands Make for Good Suspense
On
the page as in life, there’s just something irresistible—from the outside, of
course—about a marriage gone completely off the rails. The best suspense
writers are skilled at tapping into our worst fears, and (death and public
speaking aside) this one drives deep: It’s that horrifying idea that you might
have missed some crucial undesirable something
about the person you’ve chosen to spend the rest of your life with.
The
person who shares your bank account, your address, your bed … maybe even your
children.
My
own 2017 novel, Almost Missed You, features
a husband who makes some choices we’ll refer to as … questionable. Finn packs
up and leaves his unsuspecting wife in the middle of a family vacation, and
kidnaps their 3-year-old in the process. No note, no apology, no trace of where
he’s gone.
The
story that follows takes us, in alternate turns, back to when they met—through
tangled years of fate, missed connections, and all that seemed meant to be—and
forward to how she might find him now. And while I won’t hint at what happens,
I will say this: The “bad” husband of my making isn’t all bad. I have a soft spot for the guy, I confess. I can’t even
call him bad without using quotation marks!
Of
course, not everybody feels the same about poor Finn, and that’s what’s great
about fiction—just as we don’t all dole out forgiveness in equal measure in
real life, in novels we’re bound to meet characters whose merits (or lack
thereof) are ripe for debate. One reviewer wrote passionately about how badly
she wanted to punch Finn in the face—so eloquently I had no doubt she’d do it
if presented with the chance! Her visceral response, in my view, means I did my
job: In her mind, he’d become real.
You’re
probably thinking by now of Gone Girl—the
quintessential battle of the bad spouses. Some think, not without grounds, that
the book’s success spawned a rash of domestic suspense novels, but it’s also
true that fraught marriages are nothing new on the shelf. And they don’t have
to go so far as to involve psychotic murder setups to be compelling.
Shades
of gray, after all, can be more interesting than black and white. I prefer them
in my fiction and in my closet. And I’m not alone. My favorite trade review
of Almost Missed You came from Booklist, which called it:
“Perfect for readers looking
for something new after all of the ‘Girl’ thrillers … Gritty, witty, and a
worthy addition to the recent slate of domestic dramas.”
Here are six others that have kept me good company, ranked on a
sliding scale from it’s complicated to
get out while the gettin’s good.
• The Husband’s Secret by
Liane Moriarty: This one is a few years old now, but I feel compelled to
mention it because these days so many people cite Big Little Lies as their favorite Moriarty book. This is mine. Her titular
husband is in the same camp as Almost
Missed You’s Finn—well meaning, to a point. The end is especially
unforgettable in the way that the readers come to know more than the characters
ever will.
• The Blackbird Season by Katie Moretti: Alicia’s husband is a
popular teacher and coach, perhaps a bit too well liked by his female students
in particular … you can guess where this is going. Alicia and the other
characters come to think they can, too—but jumping to conclusions can be just
as dangerous as looking the other way.
•
It’s Always the Husband by Michele
Campbell: The title says it all—or does it? Revealed almost entirely in
flashbacks, this story’s largely unlikeable victim casts shades of doubt over
every plot turn, turning friends into frenemies and bonds into betrayals.
• The Good Widow by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke: Imagine: Your husband
was having an affair, which you learned only when he and his mistress met an
untimely end. You allow yourself to be convinced that recreating their final
days might somehow be healing. What could possibly go wrong?
• The
Marriage Lie by
Kimberly Belle: The abrupt end to a perfect relationship—when a husband goes
down with a plane he wasn’t supposed to be on—is the beginning of this
psychological thrill ride with twists to spare.
• Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris: At the far end of the
spectrum, if you prefer your bad husbands really, unequivocally, sickeningly
bad, I’m not sure you’ll find one much worse than this creep.
My
TBR pile wants to know: What’s your favorite
book featuring a suspiciously secretive spouse, or a marriage in turmoil? And
what was it about the suspense that hooked you and wouldn’t let go?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Whoa. Behind Closed Doors was so creepy! Truly disturbing. And
I just read an excerpt of The Marriage Pact. Which seems interesting. (My new
book TRUST ME, is about husbands, too. Just saying.)
And
I will confess: there’s an arc of NOT THAT I COULD TELL on my nightstand. Lucky
me. :-)
So—marriage
books? Girl on the Train? Anna Karenina? The other day someone mentioned Blood and Money. (And do you think the spouses of the authors
begin to get suspicious?)
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Jessica Strawser is editor-at-large of Writer’s Digest,
where she served as editorial director for nearly a decade. Her debut novel, Almost Missed You, was named to Barnes
& Noble’s Best New Fiction shortlist upon its March 2017 release and will
be new in paperback Feb. 6, 2018. Her second, Not That I Could Tell, is forthcoming in March. Connect with her on
Twitter @jessicastrawser and on Facebook @jessicastrawserauthor.
