Before We Met: A Novel - Hardcover

Whitehouse, Lucie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1620402750 ISBN 13: 9781620402757

Publisher: Bloomsbury USA, 2014

Synopsis

Hannah, independent, headstrong, and determined not to follow in the footsteps of her bitterly divorced mother, has always avoided commitment. But one hot New York summer she meets Mark Reilly, a fellow Brit, and is swept up in a love affair that changes all her ideas about what marriage might mean.

Now, living in their elegant, expensive London townhouse and adored by her fantastically successful husband, she knows she was right to let down her guard.

But when Mark does not return from a business trip to the U.S. and when the hours of waiting for him stretch into days, the foundations of Hannah's certainty begin to crack. Why do Mark's colleagues believe he has gone to Paris not America? Why is there no record of him at his hotel? And who is the mysterious woman who has been telephoning him over the last few weeks?

Hannah begins to dig into her husband's life, uncovering revelations that throw into doubt everything she has ever believed about him. As her investigation leads her away from their fairytale romance into a place of violence and fear she must decide whether the secrets Mark has been keeping are designed to protect him or protect her . . .

About this title

About the Author

Lucie Whitehouse was born in Warwickshire, England in 1975, read Classics at Oxford University and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. She is author of The House at Midnight and the The Bed I Made.

From Booklist

Hannah Reilly waits at Heathrow to welcome her husband, Mark, home from a business trip. Only Mark never shows. Credit Whitehouse (The House at Midnight, 2009) for opening her latest novel with a crackerjack premise that will hook readers from the first page. Mark’s reappearance—a lost cell phone and a last-minute client meeting explain away his absence—does little to relieve the tension, as seeds of doubt have been planted in Hannah’s mind. Having watched her mother drive her father away with suspicions of cheating, Hannah has been almost willfully trusting of Mark, but the more she digs into her husband’s business dealings and past, the more questions arise. Because Whitehouse has cleverly structured her work as a romantic thriller, with Mark presented as a classic leading man, she’s able to pull off a red herring of a revelation that amps up the plot’s suspense. She doesn’t fully maintain her momentum as the novel gets caught up in exposition, but when Whitehouse sticks to the chase, this is a gripping cat-and-mouse read. --Patty Wetli

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1620402750
• ISBN 13: 9781620402757
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 288