Review: A Reliable Wife

Title: A Reliable Wife
Author: Robert Goolrick
Genre: Fiction
Pub Date: March 2009, Algonquin Books
Hardcover, 291 pages

Synopsis from BN.com

Rural Wisconsin, 1909. In the bitter cold, Ralph Truitt, a successful businessman, stands alone on a train platform waiting for the woman who answered his newspaper advertisement for "a reliable wife." But when Catherine Land steps off the train from Chicago, she's not the "simple, honest woman" that Ralph is expecting. She is both complex and devious, haunted by a terrible past and motivated by greed. Her plan is simple: she will win this man's devotion, and then, ever so slowly, she will poison him and leave Wisconsin a wealthy widow. What she has not counted on, though, is that Truitt — a passionate man with his own dark secrets —has plans of his own for his new wife. Isolated on a remote estate and imprisoned by relentless snow, the story of Ralph and Catherine unfolds in unimaginable ways.

My Thoughts

I almost did not even want to write the review for this book, because I realized that I seem to be in the minority among most reviewers. But I am adhering to my policy of giving honest reviews, and after all, how can someone like every book they read? So let it be said that I did not particularly enjoy this book. Oh, at the beginning there were moments I felt the spark of intrigue and thought that the story would improve, but unfortunately that did not happen for me.

To begin, I found Goolrick's style of writing difficult to read. Many have described it as lyrical, but I really found it to be more of a muddled mess by someone who is trying to write a literary masterpiece. And honestly, I wish I had read more reviews of this book before deciding to read it, but I hesitated to do so because I am always afraid to read too many spoilers... But if I had done my research I would have realized that the entire book essentially revolves around sex, whether it's longing for it, having it, or dealing with its consequences. And the scenes are almost painful to read. In the end, I skimmed over most of the sex and the last third of the book. Sure, there was intrigue and the possibility of murder hanging in the balance, but having it all spelled out early on rather ruined the suspense for me. I found the book drearily predictable in parts, yet the storyline felt wholly implausible by the time everything was said and done.

I know many people loved this book and I will include links to their reviews below. Unfortunately, it was not for me nor could I recommend it to anyone.

My rating:

Other reviews of A Reliable Wife:

Life in the Thumb ~ A Girl Walks Into A Bookstore

Breaking The Spine ~ The Book Lady's Blog ~ Bookin' With Bingo

A Bookworm's World ~ Booking Mama ~ Cindy's Love of Books

Gimme More Books! ~ Devourer of Books ~ S. Krishna's Books

Book Reviews by Bobbie ~ Everyday I Write the Book

My Friend Amy ~ Muse Book Reviews ~ Bookfoolery and Babble

MarysLibrary ~ Barney's Book Blog

If you have reviewed this book and don't see your site listed above, please leave a comment with the link to your review below, and I will add it. Thanks!

REVIEW: At Risk by Patricia Cornwell

Series: Winston Garano #1
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

Pub. Date: 2006, Penguin Group

Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
Source/FTC Disclosure: I purchased my copy of this book. I was in no way compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.

A Massachusetts state investigator is called home from Knoxville, Tennessee, where he is completing a course at the National Forensic Academy. His boss, the district attorney, attractive but hard-charging, is planning to run for governor, and as a showcase she’s planning to use a new crime initiative called At Risk -- its motto: “Any crime, any time.” In particular, she’s been looking for a way to employ cutting-edge DNA technology, and she thinks she’s found the perfect subject in an unsolved twenty-year-old murder -- in Tennessee. If her office solves the case, it ought to make them all look pretty good, right? Her investigator is not so sure -- not sure about anything to do with this woman, really -- but before he can open his mouth, a shocking piece of violence intervenes, an act that shakes up not only both their lives but the lives of everyone around them. It’s not a random event. Is it personal? Is it professional? Whatever it is, the implications are very, very bad indeed . . . and they’re about to get much worse.

Sparks fly, traps spring, twists abound -- this is the master working at the top of her game.

MY THOUGHTS

The dust jacket also notes that Cornwell originally created At Risk as a 15-part series for New York Times Magazine. Well, all I can really say after reading the book is that it shows. I've never read Cornwell before but I can't say that this book made me want to read her again; however, I know that many of her other novels are highly rated so I'll probably give one of those a try. 

This book was just not an easy read. The writing felt choppy and I found myself having to reread passages every now and then to make sure I was understanding things correctly. If I hadn't known better I would have thought this was the author's first book, it seemed so poorly written. The mystery actually wasn't really that difficult to figure out, either, which was disappointing. I like to find myself pondering many possibilities, not coming to a conclusion relatively quickly. Some of the characters were pretty likeable--Detective Garano and his grandmother, "Nana," to name a couple. And you loved to hate Garano's boss, Monique Lamont. None of them were particularly well-developed, though. That, coupled with a weak plot make this a book that I can't recommend to anyone.