The Marriage Lie

One of the most Shocking Books I've read this year! It pulls you in then shocks with the twists and turns in every Chapter. Any Thriller Fan needs to read this! Unmissable!

Loved this! A well deserved 5 stars, kept me gripped and guessing from start to finìsh. Have added it to my best books of the year list. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

One word for me sums up this book. WOW!!! This is the first book i have read by Kimberley Belle and it definitely wont be the last. This book had me captivated from the first chapter. It was an extremely well written book, so much so, that i couldn't get through the pages quickly enough. The characters were so believable that i was caught up in the whole story and didn't know who's side i was on or who to believe. With twist and turns throughout, this book left me in a spin, right up until the very last paragraph! Well done Kimberley for writing such a fantastic book and i look forward to reading your others.

Brilliant book had me hooked from the start. I couldn't believe that will could lead such a double life or anyone for that matter. Full of twists and a great storyline with excellent characters that weave intricately together it's a fantastic read. I'd read more by this author I really enjoyed this book a lot, don't want to spoil it too much but read the book you will not regret it....!!!

Iris and Will have the almost perfect marriage, but when Will goes to a conference in Florida and ends up on the manifest of a crashed plane heading the other way, Iris is confused. Why was her husband on a different plane? Why did he lie to her? Was he really dead? She couldn't quite believe it.
The book is well written as we learn about Iris' search to grieve for Will whilst not quite believing he's dead. He must be, but there are people and clues that are leading her into danger as she discovers a lot about her husband's past that she didn't know before. Is her life in danger?
I really enjoyed reading this book, and whilst I thought I knew where it was ending, the author managed to provide a great twist at the end.

I absolutely loved this book!
Sometimes you know a book is for you from the very first page and for me, this was one of those books.
I never knew which way this book would go, it kept me guessing until the end. It's quite a tense with lots of twists and turns and I raced through it trying to second guess what was going to happen.
An excellent psychological thriller from Kimberley Bell who is a new author to me, I look forward to reading more from this talented author.
Thank you.

Thank you Netgalley, publishers and author for this advance review copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

I'll let you into a secret. To my great shame I'm rather xenophobic about thrillers and mysteries set in the US. I know, I know its awful I shouldn't be so general but the ones I've read have in general left me a bit cold. In my humble opinion they tend to be a bit glossy and sterile. European are just generally a bit grittier and a bit dirtier and well just a bit more thrilling. But I did like the sound of this novel and so decided to leave my prejudices at the door. And I'm glad I did. Been the time of year it is (this been written in the middle of December) I haven't had a massive amount of time for reading and usually this isn't a bad thing – I like Christmas...but not when reading this book. Who wants piffling things like Christamas presents and dinner interupting findng out what really happened to Will? Well not me!

Not withstanding this novel turning me into Scrooge I have to say I really enjoyed it. Our protagonist Iris is a young woman with a great job, a loving husband and burgeoning plans for a family despite a crippling mortgage for their dream home. But on the day her husband Will is flying to Miami she hears that there has been a fatal plane crash. Her initial relief that the doomed flight was Seattle bound is crushed when she receives the news that Will was on that flight. Grief is tempered with confusion and denial - why was he on the flight and why had he lied about where he was going. She begins to investigate and soon what she discovers unravels everything she thought she knew and loved about her husband and life. Needless to say this is a real page turner. Throughout we are kept as much in the dark as Iris and veer from thinking we know what's going on to realising we were completely barking up the wrong tree.

A great page turner that will keep you guessing throughout.

A gripping thriller about what happens when tragedy strikes. Iris Griffiths is appalled when a plane from her local airport crashes - and her beloved husband has just flown out to go to Florida for a work conference. The plane in question was on its way to Seattle, so she is relieved that he must be fine, although concerned that she cannot make contact with him. It then transpires that his name was on the passenger list of both flights and that he is missing... What is going on?

This is a fascinating tale of deceit and deception, and there are so many secrets for Iris to uncover before she can discover the truth about her husband and her marriage. Iris is a sympathetic heroine and this is a well-written and cleverly crafted story which makes compelling reading.

This is the story of Iris, whose husband Will died on a plane he wasn't supposed to be. Right after his death, Iris starts to investigate the lies he told her and the reasons behind his deception. Who was Will exactly? Why did he lie? Could he be hiding something much worse?

One of the aspects I liked the most about the novel was the wonderful relationship that Iris had with her family. My favorite parts were the scenes between her and her brother, when they travel together and begin to sniff around. I loved reading it because I don't usually read about that kind of relationships in the novels I read. I kept thinking that, even though she had lived through hell during those days, she was lucky to have such a great family.

Another enjoyable theme was Iris' conflicted feelings. Because Iris loved Will with all her heart, but at the same time she knew he had been lying to her. I thought that was a fascinating issue to explore. Do you stop loving someone just because you find they haven't been honest with you? What does it take to make you stop loving them? Would you forgive them knowing they're dead? It definitely made me think of what would I do if I were in Iris' situation. Because it's not easy to separate the bad stuff from the good, especially in a case like this one.

After all the clues and thrilling situations, I have to say that the revelation was kind of a disappointment because I was expecting something much different (and bigger). However, the last two pages and the final sentence were so powerful that they surely made up for the rest. The ending won't leave you indifferent, I can promise you that.

If you enjoyed Distress Signals, I think you'll really like this one too. This one I'd say is less tragic but equally thrilling. Kimberly Belle has made sure that I read her next book no matter what.

What I liked the most
The relationships between the characters felt realistic and I enjoyed Iris' interactions with her family and the friends he made along the way. The characters were well-crafted and Will was such a complicated character that it would be too easy to judge him without any thinking.

What I didn't like that much
As I said, the revelation, the "why". Then again, I think I might be the guilty one here, as I've had the same issue with most of the books I've been reading lately. Maybe my expectations are way too high and I should start my books with more of an open mind.

The Marriage Lie is a good example of the current trend of psychological domestic thrillers and I enjoyed it very much.

Iris and Will are celebrating seven years of happy marriage and make plans to have a baby when he goes away on a business trip to Orlando. The problem is that he isn't where he is meant to be. Instead Iris is devastated to learn that he has died in an aeroplane crash en route to Seattle. She cannot understand why he would be going to Seattle as well as lying to her but, while investigating, she learns all manner of things about her husband that she was unaware of throughout their marriage and she realises that she didn't know her husband at all.

There are plenty of twists and turns in the story with a satisfying ending. Readers of Girl on a Train and similar books will enjoy The Marriage Lie. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin UK for the opportunity to read and review it.

This review is written with thanks to Harlequin UK and Netgalley for my copy of The Marriage Lie.
Iris Griffith is devastated when she is contacted by an airline whose flight to Seattle has crashed, claiming that her husband, Will, is among the fatalities. But why was Will on the aeroplane that crashed when he was supposed to be travelling to Orlando? As Iris tries to uncover the truth, she finds herself tangled in a web of lies. How well did she really know her husband?
The Marriage Lie takes place in America, and whilst the geographical locations about which Belle writes are not familiar to me, her descriptions are so vivid, particularly her use of figurative language, that I immediately felt able to picture the scenes in the novel and immerse myself in it. The poetic nature of Belle's writing is emphasised by the novel's beginning and ending, which create a cyclical narrative, and this helped me to understand the nature of Iris and Will's relationship and engage with their characters.
As the title suggests, the plot of The Marriage Lie is based around deception. As the plot develops, it is clear that there are several lies to be uncovered, and this caused me to question everything I read. This is heightened by Belle's use of the first person: Iris' grief makes her vulnerable, and in turn, this means she has the potential to be unreliable. My constant questioning as I was reading kept me on my toes, and made me want to discover why Will had been on a different aeroplane, meaning I was hooked to the very end.
There are elements of the plot that seem slightly unrealistic, but despite the need to suspend my belief in places, I found The Marriage Lie to be a very compelling read.