EVERY VOW YOU BREAK

4 stars out of 5

It was easy to see the direction this story would take fairly early on - as well to question why on earth any reasonable woman would get herself in this kind of situation - but the details nonetheless kept me turning pages. In the end, I'd describe it as a case of bad love gone way, way worse.

Abigail Baskin is getting married to a good-looking, uber-rich guy named Bruce; she loves him, she thinks, but it's not what could be called a passionate, head-over-heels kind of love. So when her nearly beloved pays for a fancy-schmancy bachelorette party in Los Angeles, she gets tipsy and meets a guy who's determined to get her in the sack. Rationalizing that it's one last time in the frying pan before she hits the fire, she takes him up on the offer. For me, it's stop right there; if she's that tempted so close to her wedding day, she has no business marrying the rich guy (unless, of course, rich is the real point).

One vow she does make, however, is never to tell Bruce about her indiscretion (well, at least not before the wedding); given his family background, he'd never, ever forgive her. Besides, what are the chances that the one-night stand, whom she dubbed "Scottie," will ever be seen again? Ah, you guessed it: back in New York a few days before the wedding, she's stunned to see Scottie in her neighborhood. She's downright gobsmacked, then, when she gets an email from him claiming he wants to bed her one more time to prove their tryst was far more significant than she wants to believe it was.

Somehow, Abigail realizes that would be a mistake and conveys that to Scottie, although she seems to give it some consideration before she responds (second clue that she has no business marrying the rich guy). That's that, then, and the wedding goes on with a hitch (pun intended). For the honeymoon, rich guy Bruce sets up an escape to a remote private island on which he and some partners own and operate a luxury resort with virtually no outside access. And once again, that's that - until it isn't. Want to make another easy guess as to who shows up?

From that point on, it becomes a dangerous game of who do you trust (or more accurately, who do you distrust) the most. The situation soon escalates to life and death, with the big question who will survive. It's a not-so-merry chase to see who makes it to the finish line (I think I know who I was rooting for, although I'm not totally sure any of the characters was worth saving). At any rate, it's a fast-paced adventure that makes for good reading, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson (William Morrow, March 2021); 223 pp.