Domestic thriller about a couple who are drowning in debt until they start receiving mysterious checks in the mail.
Mack and Hailey Evans have everything that looks like the American Dream. She has a high powered career as a divorce attorney and he is a popular professor at a local college. They have two lovely little girls and a brand new lakefront home in an exclusive Cleveland neighborhood. But, behind the scenes, the foundation of their house is cracking, Mack is put on leave following accusations of a scandal involving his students, and Hailey is struggling to get money from a wealthy client. In addition, Mack now has to pay for his mother’s nursing home care.
Then, a check from a company called Sunshine Enterprises arrives. Mack deposits it, convinced it was sent from his estranged con man father. Then more checks arrive and the amounts get bigger. Pretty soon the couple has cashed enough to fall into a clever trap set by their anonymous benefactor who now starts demanding a return on the investment. Will Hailey and Mack commit increasingly illegal and violent acts to pay off this debt?
I’m usually a bit wary of domestic thrillers because they are so predictable but this one kept me hooked. The psychological threat of ruin and exposure is grounded in real world anxiety with that feat of the couple losing everything. Now Mack and Hailey aren’t the most likable pair. They have many flaws and they make some terrible choices that made them hard to root for at times. Eventually I had to hope for the best for them in escaping this certain collapse. The tension builds slowly with each event as everything just builds up forcing a breakdown as they are pushed to their very limits.
The narrative shifts between points of view of the couple and an unknown party but even so it is hard to guess the revelations and motivations. The conclusion was a little anticlimactic, but worked.
I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, Andrew J. Andersen, had an engaging voice but I was sorry there wasn’t a female counterpart for Hailey. The two main characters had equal parts so it would seem fitting. He did an OK job trying to keep all of the different voices distinct along with some accents. I always enjoy a book more when I can listen and read at the same time.
This is a standalone and is not part of any series.
Genre and tags: debut domestic thriller, psychological, money trap, blackmail, family life
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