THE OTHER WOMAN

4 stars out of 5

I have to admit that a sinking feeling started to creep over me after the first couple of chapters. Not again, I said to myself - another of those whiny, paranoid wives/girlfriends/lovers who just can't dredge up the intestinal fortitude to extricate themselves from a situation that clearly is headed for disaster. And to a certain extent, that feeling never left (I'm just too independent and bull-headed, I guess, to identify with these types of females). Nevertheless, the intrigue - or more to the point, curiosity over what was really going on here - pretty much glued to my Kindle until the whole thing was over. 

The wronged woman - not necessarily to be confused with the "other" one - is Emily Havistock. She's a successful, relatively independent woman who, a human resources conference, meets Adam Banks and (surprise!) they fall in love. Soon, Emily leaves the apartment she shares with her friend Pippa and moves in with Adam; her other friend, the very gay Seb, has a few misgivings about that situation, but he's such a close buddy that he goes along with it if only to keep an eye on Emily.

At first, Adam balks at having Emily meet his mother, but he finally relents. And it is at that meeting that seeds of doubt start planting themselves in Emily's head. Could it be that Adam is a momma's boy - and momma will do anything to keep him that way? Honestly, any fully grown woman who insists on being called "Pammie" would have raised my hackles immediately and made me run the other way fast. But not so Emily, who is intent on making Adam put her first (and that may well be her first mistake; as my late mother used to say, he's not worth the powder and lead it would take to blow him up). But hey; the show must go on.

And on it does, with encounter after encounter with the conniving Pammie, leaving Emily reeling and plotting other ways to keep her man. But at every turn, she's outsmarted; Pammie, it seems, is always one step ahead of Emily. There is little else I can say without giving away too much except that not everything is as it seems (but then the book is billed as a "psychological thriller," so that's to be expected). Despite a fast-paced, somewhat surprising ending, I really don't agree with the thriller part, but the head games really are something else. Definitely worth reading - many thanks to the publisher (via NetGalley) for the opportunity to read and review an advance copy.

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones (Minotaur Books, August 2018); 304 pp.

THE OTHER WOMAN

5 stars out of 5

How did I love thee? When I counted the ways, I ended up with way more than 5 reasons. But since 5 stars is as high as most ratings go, that number will have to suffice - but it certainly isn't enough to do this book justice.

In the interests of full disclosure, Israeli intelligence chief Gabriel Allon ranks No. 1 on my top 10 list of all-time favorite book "heroes" - a place he's held for quite a few years now. This is his 18th appearance, and I'll say with no hesitation that he's in no danger of being knocked off that lofty perch any time soon. Of course, he didn't get there all by himself; he had considerable help from the author, who created not only him, but a cast of other interesting characters and put them in the middle of intriguing stories that make me, at least, reluctant to put them down.

This one is no exception; in fact, I'd call it the best of the series I've read in recent years. Maybe that's because the story mirrors, at least to a certain extent, what's going on in the real world. Readers get more than a passing glimpse at the tenuous relationships among the intelligence communities of Israel, Great Britain and the United States as they all try to get the drop on the Russians and save their own reputations without stepping too hard on each other's toes. 

The book begins with Gabriel in Vienna, where he and his cohorts are directing the defection of a known spy. Just as they're about to reel him in, he's unceremoniously murdered - and initial evidence points to Gabriel as the killer. While the tabloids keep the incident in the news, Gabriel and his team realize there must be a leak within their own ranks (in which agency remains for them to determine). So it is that they set out to "out" the mole, prove Gabriel's innocence and restore order to what's become an embarrassing situation that threatens to ruin already shaky alliances.

From that point on, the story gets more complex with even more far-reaching implications (all the way back to the 1950s and 1960s). Admittedly, therein may be one of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much; I'm old enough to remember the events that are such an integral part of this story. There's not much more I can reveal without giving too much away, though, except to say that the details are so intricately woven that as a whole it's totally mesmerizing. Oh, and one other thing: If you have but one book to read for the rest of this year, you won't go wrong if you make it this one.

The Other Woman by Daniel Silva (Harper, July 2018); 497 pp.