My Darling Husband

Perfection Tarnished



I am a sucker for a good thriller and this was really good. I think depending on how the year goes this will be in my top ten books for 2022! What do you get when you mix the perfect life with a husband who doesn't know how to spend his money? You get a story like this with some dark twist or two. Jade's day started out like any other, driving the kids from school to music lessons, fighting traffic, breaking up backseat arguments and tossing back snacks, then something unexpected happened that would change her idyllic world forever. The devoted mother of two Beatrix, a violin prodigy and her innocent younger brother Baxter. And a husband who is the celebrity chef of the town. Everything looks perfect from the outside, but Jade can't shake a feeling someone is watching her. Something is wrong this is more then just a bad day.



Jade is a devoted mom to her two young kids, savvy Husband Cam, otherwise known as Atlanta's Steak King for his successful group of restaurants catering to the wealthy set, they are a happily married “it” couple in town. Everything might be peachy in Buckhead, but Jade has a creepy suspicion that someone is stalking her and Cam is too busy to take his wife's concerns seriously.

Belle masterfully weaves many secrets for the reader to untangle in this dark, frightening thriller as a mother and her children are confronted with anyone's worst nightmare – a masked home invader demanding ransom. While Came is trying to put out his own fires his family is slowly burning from the inside out. Pick this up now you won't regret it.

Hole E Sheet! Belle tosses us into the fire from the get-go... and only turns up the gas. All the way until the closing moments. If you're a fan of Panic Room / The Purge type thrillers, you're going to love this one, where roughly half of the action takes place as a stranger holds a family inside their house - with the other half being the husband/ father of the family racing to try to save them. An interesting story mechanic is also thrown in for good measure, and between the heavy foreshadowing with this and the frequent (usually chapter heading) timestamps driving just how quickly the clock is turning to the pivotal moment... you really are in for a wild ride with this one. There is some minor commentary late that is more YMMV, and while it does speak to motivations (as close as I'll get to mentioning anything remotely specific), it isn't actually truly essential to anything. Which is why its inclusion is a bit of an irritating note in the aftertaste of the book, but isn't any real reason to like the book any less. If you want to end your year on a bang... you might consider making sure you have this book when it releases in the week between Christmas and New Year's 2021. :) Very much recommended.