title: The Silent Wife: A Novel
author:  A. S. A. Harrison 
description: "It&rsquo;s this summer&rsquo;s <i>Gone Girl</i> &ndash; I gobbled it down in one sitting, and because of the wonderful writing, I did not feel one speck guilty.&rdquo; &ndash; Anne Lamott, <i>People Magazine</i><br><br>"Utterly absorbing." &mdash;Laura Miller,&#160;<i>Salon</i><br><br>"A. S. A. Harrison knocks it out of the park with her first novel,&#160;<i>The Silent Wife</i>. With a spare, elegant, and deft hand, she paints two dueling psychological portraits of longtime live-in lovers who become putative killer and hapless victim in a tale that no one is likely to forget anytime soon. I couldn't put this book down." &mdash;Elizabeth George,&#160;<i>New York Times</i>&#160;bestselling author of&#160;<i>A Banquet of Consequences</i><br><br> "What a deliciously wicked pleasure&#160;<i>The Silent Wife</i>&#160;was to read. I love books where I can't guess the outcome, although I was rooting for Jodi all the way. A very clever, very funny comedy of manners spliced with a domestic thriller." &mdash;Kate Atkinson,&#160;<i>New York Times</i>&#160;bestselling author of&#160;<i>Life After Life</i><br><br> "Beautifully written and deeply unsettling, this darkly funny examination of what happens when you've got nothing left to lose is also brilliantly addictive. It left me almost breathless as I raced toward the devastating finale." S. J. Watson,&#160;<i>New York Times</i>&#160;bestselling author of&#160;<i>Before I Go to Sleep</i><br><br> "SUPERB...As a novel about the dark side of marriage and relationships, it's better than Gillian Flynn's&#160;<i>Gone Girl</i>. A must read for anyone who is occasionally ruthless, reckless, or psychologically weird&mdash;and anyone who loves clever books with depth and heart." &mdash;Sophie Hannah, author of&#160;<i>The Other Woman's House<br></i><br> &ldquo;This summer's sleeper hit&rdquo; &ndash; <i>The New York Times</i><br><br> &ldquo;<i>The Silent Wife</i> is a boning knife of a novel, sharp and quick.&rdquo; &ndash; <i>Newsday</i><br> <i>&#160;&#160; </i><br> &ldquo;Watch out, <i>Gone Girl</i>.&rdquo; &ndash; <i>USA Today</i><br><br> &ldquo;A.S.A Harrison's <i>The Silent Wife </i>is a clean, understated thriller&rdquo; &ndash; NPR.ORG<br><br> &ldquo;You can't blame the publishers of <i>The Silent Wife</i> for hyping it as &lsquo;the new <i>Gone Girl</i>.&rsquo; It's not. It just might be better.&rdquo; &ndash; <i>The Huffington Post</i><br> <i>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; </i><br> &ldquo;For those who loved <i>Gone Girl</i>&hellip; <i>The Silent Wife </i>is a quick-witted marital pas de deaux featuring a psychotherapist and her philandering husband.&rdquo; &ndash; <i>Vogue</i>, &ldquo;Summer&rsquo;s Best Mystery Reads&rdquo;<br> &#160;&#160;&#160;<br> &ldquo;May be as popular as <i>Gone Girl</i> was last summer.&rdquo; &ndash; CBS This Morning, &ldquo;Best Reads for Your Summer Vacation&rdquo;<br><br> &ldquo;The surprises keep coming, pager after quiet page&hellip; Harrison writes well with a light touch, but her touch is devastating nonetheless.&rdquo; &ndash; <i>The Guardian</i>, US Summer Reads pick<br> &#160;&#160;<br> &ldquo;That final revelation from Harrison, who, regrettably, died before she could see her debut novel published, inflicts the stealth damage of an icepick to the carotid artery.&rdquo; &ndash; Sarah Weinman, <i>New Republic</i>
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  THE SILENT WIFE
  
  
  
  
  
  A Novel
  
  
  
  
  
  A. S. A. Harrison
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  ![00004](../Images/00004.jpg)  
  
  
  
  
  
  PENGUIN BOOKS
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  To Jonathan
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  PART ONE
  
  
  
  
  
  HER AND HIM
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  1
  
  
  
  
  
  HER
  
  
  
  
  
  It’s early September. Jodi Brett is in her kitchen, making dinner. Thanks to
  the open plan of the condo, she has an unobstructed view through the living
  room to its east-facing windows and beyond to a vista of lake and sky, cast by
  the evening light in a uniform blue. A thinly drawn line of a darker hue, the
  horizon, appears very near at hand, almost touchable. She likes this
  delineating arc, the feeling it gives her of being encircled. The sense of
  containment is what she loves most about living here, in her aerie on the
  twenty-seventh floor.
  
  
  
  
  
  At forty-five, Jodi still sees herself as a young woman. She does not have her
  eye on the future but lives very much in the moment, keeping her focus on the
  everyday. She assume