Goodnight Beautiful is a psychological thriller with a batshit crazy plot. “When a man goes missing, it’s always the wife.” *Thank you to Harper for providing an advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts shared here. My suggestion, go into this one blind and relish in the addictive journey. Yet, still a satisfying and dare I say sweet conclusion. A little too quick and neat in some respects. My one knock on Malloy’s sophomore novel, the ending. One, because I think most of us can agree with her sentiments that what was once captivating is now tired, and two, because it’s always the wife when the husband goes missing, right? *wink* What I found even more genius was Malloy’s cheeky nod to the unreliable female narrator. A feeling I haven’t experienced in this genre for quite some time. Leaving me completely and utterly caught off guard-twice. And while I’ve seen this twist utilized before by numerous authors, in a variety of ways, this time felt fresh. Giving just enough for readers to fill in the blanks and make assumptions of their own-only to be proven wrong. Malloy is masterful at keeping things under wraps for a good chunk of this novel. Everything is seemingly chill, until the night Sam leaves his office and never makes it home to Annie. He finds a posh new office space to host his client sessions and works on getting power of attorney over his mother’s affairs. The couple decides to relocate to Sam’s quaint hometown in upstate New York to try their hand at a simpler life and take care of his dementia-ridden mother. Celebrating his nuptials weekly and partaking in a bit of role-playing with his new bride, Annie. Sam Statler, a psychologist, and reformed womanizer, turned new husband, at a time when he’s staring down his demons and putting forth an effort to be a better man. While Malloy’s two novels have entirely different vibes- The Perfect Mother toed the line of suspenseful women’s fiction, while Goodnight Beautiful is a tried and true psychological thriller-they share the same addictive writing quality and cleverly plotted storylines. Much to my delight, and similar to my experience with Aimee Malloy’s debut, The Perfect Mother, I had little choice here but to rapid-fire the page-turning.
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