
Iris spirals into grief and disbelief, more so when some of Will’s possessions are recovered from the crash site – none of the bodies are identifiable, because of the violence of the crash – but she recovers enough composure to start questioning everything Will had told her. Her calm is shattered soon afterwards, however, when the airline releases a list of victims with Will’s name on it. Although that flight was headed in the opposite direction to Will’s, Iris feels concern for the victims’ families, and for all those students indirectly affected by the news whether they knew the victims in any way or not. Arriving late to work after seeing Will off to catch a flight to Florida, Iris encounters a mass of students speculating about a plane that just crashed. Iris works in a prestigious private school, and is trying for a baby with her husband of seven years: computer programmer Will. This story is written from the wronged spouse’s point of view, starting at the point when she discovers her husband’s lie in the worst way possible – and with seemingly no way for him to give her an explanation or an apology. Stories of assumed or multiple identities are always intriguing, especially when the person living a double life manages to fool those closest to them, up to and including their spouse. Women’s Crime Fiction published by MIRA 01 Jan 17 (Dec.Stevie‘s review of The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle This is not a unique premise, and Belle’s ( The Last Breath) main villain is a little bit cookie-cutter, but numerous skillfully executed twists will force readers to constantly shift their allegiances from character to character, never entirely sure who to trust or what’s really going on. Each piece of the puzzle seems to create more questions than answers, especially once Iris’s phone begins receiving anonymous text messages ranging from concerned to outright threatening.

With the help of her brother, Dave, Iris attempts to learn why Will was bound for Seattle, and in the process, she discovers that almost everything she knew about Will is a total fabrication, including his birthplace and his friendships-and there’s also a large sum of money suddenly missing from the company where he worked. When a plane bound for Seattle that same day crashes and kills everyone on board, Iris is stunned to discover Will’s name on the passenger manifest, and the conference in Orlando at which he was scheduled to speak turns out not to exist at all.


Will and Iris Griffith have the perfect marriage and a dream home, and they’ve just started talking about children on the morning that Will leaves for a business trip in Orlando.
