Devi Nair
š§ Listened in audio š¢ Narrated by Kiiri Sandy and John Pirhalla ā± Duration: 11 hours š·ļø Published by Harper Collins, April 29, 2025 š Genre: Mystery
This story sets you up for a middle-aged chaos wrapped in marital discontent. The opening leans heavily into humor and relatable frustration: decades long marriages, bad money choices, and the kind of "we love them, but also maybe want to kill them" energy only friendship and resentment can brew. Kiiri Sandy and John Pirhalla gave the wives and husbands such distinct energy that kept track of all the characters almost effortlessly.
And then the tone shifted. About halfway through, the book takes a turn that's noticeably darker, and I found myself recaliberating. Is this cozy? A thriller? A crime caper? The answer seems to be all three, and while that's an ambitious swing, it doesn't always land cleanly. The tonal unevenness threw me off more than once, and there are quietly devastating, emotional threads woven into these marriages that deserved more room to breathe than they got. Some of them simply drift away unresolved, which, depending on your reading style, will either feel like intentional ambiguity, or an unsatisfying loose end. The moral ambiguity of every single character made me question the choices made in the second half of the book so intently, I forgot I was doing laundry while listening to the audiobook.
The ending is where I found myself most conflicted. It's tidy, perhaps too tidy, and while I could follow the logic of how things wrapped up, I wasn't entirely convinced. It felt more like a conclusion the story needed rather than one it fully earned. I couldn't sympathize or empathize with a single character in the book, and couldn't, for the life of me, align with how any of their character arcs ended. It's messy, maybe intentionally so, but maybe that's the point that marriages, money, and midlife regrets are never tidy.
Would I recommend it? This one is tricky. You would either love or hate the book. Go in expecting a darkly absurd ride, not a cozy mystery. It's uneven, and brings out very strong emotions, and a few loose threads leaving you more puzzled than satisfied by the final page.
š§ Listened in audio š¢ Narrated by Kiiri Sandy and John Pirhalla ā± Duration: 11 hours š·ļø Published by Harper Collins, April 29, 2025 š Genre: Mystery
This story sets you up for a middle-aged chaos wrapped in marital discontent. The opening leans heavily into humor and relatable frustration: decades long marriages, bad money choices, and the kind of "we love them, but also maybe want to kill them" energy only friendship and resentment can brew. Kiiri Sandy and John Pirhalla gave the wives and husbands such distinct energy that kept track of all the characters almost effortlessly.
And then the tone shifted. About halfway through, the book takes a turn that's noticeably darker, and I found myself recaliberating. Is this cozy? A thriller? A crime caper? The answer seems to be all three, and while that's an ambitious swing, it doesn't always land cleanly. The tonal unevenness threw me off more than once, and there are quietly devastating, emotional threads woven into these marriages that deserved more room to breathe than they got. Some of them simply drift away unresolved, which, depending on your reading style, will either feel like intentional ambiguity, or an unsatisfying loose end. The moral ambiguity of every single character made me question the choices made in the second half of the book so intently, I forgot I was doing laundry while listening to the audiobook.
The ending is where I found myself most conflicted. It's tidy, perhaps too tidy, and while I could follow the logic of how things wrapped up, I wasn't entirely convinced. It felt more like a conclusion the story needed rather than one it fully earned. I couldn't sympathize or empathize with a single character in the book, and couldn't, for the life of me, align with how any of their character arcs ended. It's messy, maybe intentionally so, but maybe that's the point that marriages, money, and midlife regrets are never tidy.
Would I recommend it? This one is tricky. You would either love or hate the book. Go in expecting a darkly absurd ride, not a cozy mystery. It's uneven, and brings out very strong emotions, and a few loose threads leaving you more puzzled than satisfied by the final page.