The Hunting Wives

I really struggled with this one. I am a tough sell on thrillers in general, in that I really like [b:No Exit|39938177|No Exit|Taylor Adams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541624527l/39938177.SY75.jpg|56940541], but also I only like [b:No Exit|39938177|No Exit|Taylor Adams|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1541624527l/39938177.SY75.jpg|56940541]. I went into this thinking it would be like [b:The Husbands|54860592|The Husbands|Chandler Baker|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1600741982l/54860592.SY75.jpg|85600099] meets Ingrid Goes West. It was a touch of both, but it was mostly just not at all my cup of tea at all I did not like it.

The Hunting Wives has a good cover and name, and that is where my praise begins and ends. Cobb's writing is just an endless list of telling you what is happening beat by beat. The timeline is sometimes out of order but not in a way that adds intrigue or complexity; it just doesn't make sense. The characters are mostly miserable, but again, not in a way that feels compelling.

There are a few Good Guys who are just boring (Graham and Erin), and Sophie's betrayal of them is inexplicable. Speaking of Sophie, I hate her. She is a static figure in the midst of increasingly high stakes, and is so flummoxed and slow on the uptake it is impossible to pull for her. Every choice she makes is such a bad call it did not even occur to me as a potential course of action.

Her fixation on Margo is her only consistency, but is poorly explained. She is also, if you ask me, a pedophile. You won't believe this, but she's not even the only or main pedophile. The way this book talks about sex is so deeply troubling and off. And not in a salacious dark way, just like, Bad. The obvious examples are Brad and Jamie, who are never cast as victims of older predatory women, and are often described as rippling with strength and confidence and touting sexual experience. Gross! Gross. I'll say it again: gross. They are babies. Infidelity is rampant and casual, and while I am all for exploring options outside of monogamy, cheating on your spouse every weekend in front of your friends is not that.

What really gets me is, Sophie asked to move here. She'd lived in this place before—she knows what it's like. She may be bored and looking for excitement, but it's only been eight months. It's not like her ugly unhelpful husband dragged her to the countryside and she's been trapped gardening for years until Margo waltzes into town. Graham is cast as an involved, doting, attractive partner. She loves him and their son. She seems to like a lot about her life! None of it makes sense.

To each their own, and I feel mean when I dislike a book this much. But the more I type the more irritated I become. It feels like a man wrote this, and I mean that as an insult. Do not read this.