THE HONEYMOON

3 stars out of 5

Ooh, I love him  - but does he love me as much? Ooh, he smiled - but wait; his lip curled ever so slightly. What did I do to make him angry? Oh, silly me - a bug must have flown up his nose. But why didn't he tell me, and why didn't I see it fly out? I know I'd have sneezed, so why didn't he?  Silly me again because I still love him. Don't I? Ah, but if he lied about a bug, what else is he hiding from me?

And there you have it - at least two-thirds of this book. So suffice it to say that with a main character this insecure, it'll never make it to my list of favorites. But bear with me: There's also a pretty good story in here - a thrilling one, even - it's just that after the first chapter, all I cared about was throttling Chloe's incessant second-guessing to the point of hoping that Dan not only wanted to do her in, but would be successful. Put another way, if my new (or in my case, old) husband treated me anywhere near the way Dan treats Chloe, he'd be toast. And waste even a second worrying whether his self-centered, controlling behavior toward me was MY fault? Fuhgettaboutit!

Still, the writing is excellent, and done in such a way that it's very easy to read. There's a rather chilling plot, beginning with Chloe's whirlwind marriage to the man of her dreams (well, depending on which hour you ask her) and a honeymoon that takes her away from her physical therapist job and caring for an ailing grandmother who would rather she didn't. But her longed-for honeymoon could put things right; that is, until Dan pulls a last-minute hustle that takes her to a place she didn't know they were going and doesn't want to be. And then, for reasons he doesn't want to reveal, he insists that they stay there. Forever.

Clearly, Dan isn't the man Chloe thought she married - and now she fears the worst (that part's nothing new; I'm sure she'd have feared the worst even if he'd taken her to Disneyland). And putting the blame on him goes only so far; it seems she's brought a few secrets of her own to their secluded location. Twists and turns as the end nears add some spark - once I got to the last quarter of the book, I didn't put it down till I got to the last page.

Overall, then, it does have thriller appeal - and I'm sure many readers of this genre will love it. Even if it's not quite my cup of tea, I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

The Honeymoon by Rona Halsall (Bookouture, June 2019); 314 pp.