Suspenseful, thought provoking.

This is a very easy book to listen to, and the reader will easily be placed under its spell. When compared to “Gone Girl”, however, one could say that The Silent Wife is also about dysfunctional characters who seem to have no guilty conscience about the things they do, but the characters in this book are a bit less objectionable or diabolical, rather their efforts at evil are more straight forward and obvious.
Jodi and Todd meet after a fender bender. He is engaged in an angry outburst and she silently lets him rage. It was her fault, after all; she was distracted. After a few days, she receives a call from him. He asks her out on a date, and the rest is history; they click and proceed to happily live together for the better part of 20 years. Todd believes that Jodi has invigorated his life and given him a raison d’etre! He had been down in the dumps, his career was faltering, and he thought she would be his lucky charm, more or less. Their lives settled into a stable and routine existence which she recognized was missing the passion they once shared, but it still seemed agreeable to both of them.
Both Todd Gilbert and Jodi Brett live in a world of unreality that they have created. They walk around each other believing if it is not acknowledged, it didn’t happen. That is how Jodi’s family existed. Her mom ignored her dad’s infidelity, even though it was widely known in the small-town community, because breaking up the family would have hurt the children. Todd’s family was dysfunctional, too. His dad drank too much and was physically abusive to his mother. Todd longed for the dynamic of a strong family and the image of happiness and togetherness, the sharing of pleasantries and experiences. Jodi was determined never to marry because then infidelity would not be in question, but in that belief, she was sadly mistaken.
Jodi suspects that Todd cheats on her, but she feels that exposing that truth to the light of day will change their relationship, irreparably, while ignoring it will allow them both to go on as usual. She takes the path of least resistance to maintain the status quo. Todd believes that Jodi knows, but is a really understanding wife who understands he has needs he must fulfill. Todd is a restless soul and believes that whatever he does is justified for one reason or another. They have worked out this arrangement in which they do not speak of things that trouble them because that would give those things a life of their own and cause fractures in their relationship. Rather, they move on as if nothing untoward ever happens, that is, until Todd grows restless again, becoming depressed and unable to find satisfaction from his life. When, he meets Natasha, whom he believes can reinvigorate his desire and inspire him to achieve greatness, he strays beyond the pale.
Jodi, on the other hand, is not restless. She seems like a homebody who enjoys cooking, caring for her husband’s needs and working as a psychoanalyst from her home office. There are hidden secrets from her early life that even she is unaware of, until forced to remember and face them. She is very good at compartmentalizing her thoughts and memories, and while she is basically calm and considerate, she also finds herself able to do things that are reprehensible without feeling any real responsibility or remorse.
When Todd, who has been distant and perfunctory in his behavior, of late, announces his decision to leave her and marry another woman with whom he has been having an affair and who is pregnant with his child, she is completely blindsided. She is sure he will come to his senses and return to her, even after he begins living with his lover, who is the daughter of his best friend, Dean Kovacs. His cold and calculating treatment of her, his disingenuous excuses, under the guise of kindness and/or overwhelming outside pressures, take her completely by surprise, so sure was she that she could trust him and believe in his willingness to still protect and care for her.
Although it was an easy book to listen to, there were few characters that endeared themselves to me. Rather they made me angry that they had such a lack of concern for those they hurt. The lawyer is the stereotype of the cold-hearted lawyer; he is also the stereotype of the angry ex-husband who feels abused and overwhelmed with his responsibility to the family he may have betrayed or that betrayed him. There are friends who use Jodi to advance their own agendas. There are workplace acquaintances who pretend to offer help while really only considering their own needs. One character, Stephanie, Todd’s secretary, seems to be the rare character without rancor or bitterness and seems to possess humanity, rather than malice.
The ending has an almost obvious twist, but it is nevertheless handled very well, although I was disappointed with the number of hanging, unsolved, unknowns. There is no real justice, even at the end of the book, but rather there is an atmosphere of acceptable injustice.

Overall we found to book to be OK, in contrast we liked Gone Girl much better. It did lead to a lively discussion about marriage, commitment, denial, etd. and we had a lot of laughs. Many of us found we were skimming the books It wouldn't be a book we would recommend to others

If you liked Gone Girl, you will love this book. A quick read, because it is well written and the characters are interesting while not being very likable. A two timing husband gets his due, but who done it??

I enjoyed it, but I enjoyed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn more.

It's often difficult to connect with a book that contains unlikeable characters. I didn't overtly dislike Jodi or Todd but I didn't like them either. However, the author was still able to pull me into the story and I became invested in the lives of these characters even without liking them very much. It was interesting to delve into the minds of Jodi and Todd without becoming enmeshed in their drama. Neither were sympathetic characters, yet you still want to see what happens. That, to me, is the hallmark of excellent writing.

Very dark. I liked it, but thought it was really slow in places.

Couldn't put it down, but is not one of my favorite books I've read. The characters pull you in and you can't climb out! Good summer read.

good read...very intense

Excellent book, kept your interest until the last page.

The thing that stood out about this book for me was that it is perhaps the first book I've ever enjoyed where I really didn't like any of the characters. I think the reason for that is that while I didn't like the characters, they were developed in such a way as to be realistic and interesting. I could empathize with them (well, some of them) even though I didn't like them much.

There is not one character in this book that hooked me into wanting to read more. They are psychologically interesting. However, they do not have any redeeming qualities, which I find neccessary even in flawed protagonists. Our club chose the book in part because it takes place in the area of Chicago in which we live. Fun for that reason.

Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. Told in alternating voices, The Silent Wife is about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept. Expertly plotted and reminiscent of Gone Girl and These Things Hidden, The Silent Wife ensnares the reader from page one and does not let go.

Kept waiting for something to happen but nothing did. Irritated with heroine...she should have been more on top of what was happening and handled better since she was a psychologist! No one in our club liked this book.