At the start of Freida McFadden's The Divorce, Naomi is living her dream life: a perfect house, a perfect husband, and a perfect family. Then one day, she comes home to find her key not working and her husband insisting she spend the night alone in a dingy apartment across town.
Naomi accepts her husband's initial explanation--an anniversary gift of a full house remodel--as the reason for her forced departure, but it soon becomes clear that her husband and their son are not joining her. As it sinks in that Naomi's seemingly happy marriage has come to an abrupt and inexplicable end, she learns that her husband has canceled her credit card and hired the best lawyer in town. The cherry on top is his new, admittedly stunning, 20-something girlfriend, Veronica. Naomi's hope that this will all blow over and she will return to her old life slips away, and her attention--and accusations--turn directly toward Veronica. Through desperate and somewhat obsessive efforts, Naomi discovers disturbing, dangerous details of Veronica's past.
The Divorce is full of McFadden's (The Housemaid; The Tenant) signature twists and riveting turns, and she displays a sharp ability to create covertly cunning characters. As Naomi unravels alongside a mystery full of well-crafted secrets and carefully calculated deceit, this multi-perspective thriller explores just how messy a divorce can be. McFadden astutely depicts a truly exhilarating and downright treacherous narrative of separation and distortion. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer