I’m not going to spoil this book for you, but I didn’t like it. This is the first time I’ve made it through a Mary Kubica novel and now I know why.
The Other Mrs is about a doctor named Sadie whose life in Chicago falls apart (husband is having an affair, her child is having trouble in school, she has to resign from the hospital) and she goes to Maine for a fresh start. Her husband, Will, sees this as a fresh start even though it comes from unfortunate circumstances. His sister so riddled with pain from fibromyalgia kills herself and leaves them in charge of her estate and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Imogen.
I wrote down a number of issues I had with this book, but I can’t share many of them because of massive spoilers, and I don’t want to ruin it for you if you decide to pick it up.
In the last half of the book, Kubica brings in something she hasn’t mentioned previously as part of Sadie’s routine. At first glance, it seems very off, like she forgot to mention for the first 200 pages. But that is done deliberately to throw the reader off. I didn’t like that. The author’s job is not to trick you but surprise you. There is a difference.
One of the main reasons I didn’t like this book was because of the persistent paranoia trope that just seems to be invading literature. Sadie is a FREAKING DOCTOR and everyone around her seems to be second-guessing her. She even moves to Maine with her cheating husband because of the kids. Does that make sense? She blames herself multiple times in the book for “driving her husband into the arms of another woman”.
How many times do I have to keep reading about paranoid weak women?
I find it extremely frustrating and distasteful to keep painting women into these stereotypical boxes.
As far as character development, it’s practically nonexistent. The pacing is all over the place and when we are finally confronted with our villain there is nothing that would have set the reader up for an “aha” moment. It goes from ok…to wait.. what? quickly.
I will admit that the ending is interesting and I haven’t read anything like it, but that doesn’t mean that it’s good.
Reading Reckless : Rants and Raves 