It seems that when Gone Girl had huge success there were plenty of novels being released that were marketed as the next big psychological thriller. One that seemed to get closer than all the others to duplicating the same style as Gone Girl was The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison. While this novel does come close to being like Gone Girl, almost to the point of suspecting plagiarism, there is something different to this novel. 
 The Silent Wife follows the story of Jodi and Todd who are in a bad place in their marriage. Told in the same style as Gone Girl where you get Jodi and Todd's story in alternating chapters, the story follows the familiar plot but not really. Without giving too much away I'll just disclose what has been mentioned on the back of the book. Todd is an unfaithful husband planning to leave Jodi for his mistress. Jodi's life is at stake, she is about to lose her marriage and even her beautiful water front condo. 
 I'm going to stop comparing The Silent Wife to Gone Girl; there are similarities but it is a different novel. This novel is very much focused on Jodi more than Todd. His chapters are there to fill in the story but the readers get to watch Jodi as she slowly falls apart. This really is a look at the psychology of a woman that did everything to be the perfect wife (the silent wife that doesn't complain or causes waves) slowly take control of her life for the first time in her life. Interestingly she is a psychologist, who should have noticed her life was as bad as it was and take control. 
 This would make an interesting novel for a book club, you have the psychological you can investigate, but then you have the whole concept of marriage and what makes a marriage to explore. As a reader we can see this is a bad marriage and Jodi should get out but she is blind to this fact. This is an all too common issue in the modern world and I think The Silent Wife does a good job at exploring it. 
 I really don't want to say much more about this book; everything needs to be experienced by the reader. It isn't the best novel and there are a lot of flaws but it is a quick read and won't take much effort to read. I recommend borrowing it from the library, that way you don't have to invest in an average book. A.S.A. Harrison had the making to be a great psychological thriller author but sadly she died soon after finishing The Silent Wife and this makes this the only novel by her. I'm sure there are plenty more psychological thrillers to be released about marriage but this had an interesting approach. 
 This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/...