Everyone thinks my husband is dead. Just like we planned…
Eleven years ago, my husband disappeared. Eleven long hard years I waited, my heart breaking for our son, who didn’t know his father was coming back.
Today, my hands shake as I try to understand what I’ve just learned: my husband has a new wife. This wasn’t part of our plan.
Eleven years ago, my husband made a terrible mistake. I sacrificed everything to help him fix it. But now he’s put our son and me in danger again.
We had a plan. He broke the rules. But who will pay the price?
The Married Man by K L Slater was published by Bookouture on 29 October 2024. My thanks to the publisher who sent my copy for review.
I have just looked on Fantastic Fiction and see that K L Slater has published over twenty novels prior to this one. This is the first of her books that I've read. I'm not really sure how I missed her prior to this but have really enjoyed my first read by her.
The blurb of the book makes it clear that there's a huge secret hiding within these pages, yet this is not a spoiler and only adds to the mystery and tension that the author cleverly builds up throughout the novel.
I do love to read a book that is in a familiar setting. This story is set in and around Nottingham. I grew up in a small rural Nottinghamshire village, so recognised many of the locations.
The story begins in October 2012. Liv and her husband Rich are living in a lovely house, they have a three year old son called Maddox and all appears well. It was Maddox's birthday recently and Rich has taken him to local beauty spot Frog Hill to fly his new kite. It's clear from the conversations had before they set out that today is no ordinary day for this family. Rich and Maddox do not return home, Liv goes out to search for them, and then calls the police. Eventually Maddox is found, sheltering in a dug-out, but there is no sign of Rich. He doesn't return.
Eleven years later, we meet newly-wed Kait and Daniel. Kait is pregnant and having issues with the pregnancy. Daniel seems distracted, he's not his usual self and Kait's first thoughts are that he's having an affair. When he drops a piece of paper, with a strange looking number scribbled on it, she asks her sister to help. This note leads to Maddox, the now teenage son of Liv and Rich, but how is Daniel involved with that family and how does Kait approach this?
Liv has struggled over the past eleven years. Working two jobs to bring up Maddox on her own. Rich was finally pronounced dead a few years ago, and Liv keeps telling Maddox that things are going to get better. They are going to have lots of money very soon.
Meanwhile, Maddox has fallen in with a bad crowd. Liv suspects that he may be dealing drugs, but it's actually much darker than that, and he gets himself into some situations that just bring more danger to the family.
This is a tightly woven, complex thriller. With something of a slow start, in order to build the characters it very quickly increases the pace, culminating in a pacy, swift and tension filled ending. There are twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and the author cleverly holds back with some information, drip feeding hints to the reader.
Gripping, twisty and a little bit addictive. I will certainly read more from this author.
Kim is the number one bestselling author of over twenty psychological crime thrillers.
She has sold over three million copies of her books worldwide.
She has also written four Carnegie-nominated Young Adult novels as Kim Slater for Macmillan Children’s Books.
Kim has an MA in Creative Writing and lives with her husband in a small Nottinghamshire village.
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