Although it is easy to judge a relationship from the outside, the only people who truly know the relationship are the ones involved. The author does an outstanding job of demonstrating that everything is not always as it seems in regards to all types of relationships, especially marriage.
A man is accused of killing his wife in their idyllic community. Of course he claims his innocence because in his perception they had a perfect marriage. As we all know, perceptions are always one sided. Was their marriage a "good" marriage? What about all of their friends and neighbors? Are their marriages everything that they seem?
This mystery takes you through a whirlwind of lies, deceit, secrets and intrigue. Your emotions will range from shock, anger, compassion and full out disbelief.
I loved everything about this book and I look forward to reading many more by this author. ( )

This book tells the story of Lizzie and Zach (who are law school friends) and Zach's wife, Amanda. Lizzie is working late one night and receives a phone call from Zach, who has been arraigned and is at Rikers. He asks Lizzie to represent him on an assault charge. She is not the right type of lawyer to represent him and tells him so repeatedly but she ends up representing him. During the course of the conversation, Zach divulges that the "assault" took place when the police were trying to pull him away from Amanda's body. He is adamant that he did not murder her and wants Lizzie to find out who did. Lizzie starts investigating and finds out that Zach is not what he says he is and Amanda has her own secrets as well - she was being stalked and never told Zach about her dad. They have a small group of friends in the Brooklyn neighborhood where they live - all have kids in the same prestigious school - and all become involved as recipients in an email hacking scam through the school.

I did not anticipate the ending and usually try not to figure out "who did it" but my thoughts went in one direction only to be pulled in a completely different direction. It was a very well-written book and alternated between Lizzie's story (her husband is an alcoholic) and her investigation along with Amanda's story, including the last few days leading up to the night she was killed. ( )

3.5 ( )

It wasn't awful, but I didn't care about any of the characters. Court and detective things bore me so I constantly wanted to skip those chapters. The resolution was... a weird decision. It felt like a waste of time.  ( )

I understand why this book has received so many accolades. A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight is a great suspenseful thriller with many layers of secrets kept by ALL of the characters.

Lizzie is a lawyer working for a top-notch law firm when she is contacted by an inmate at Rikers Island. A friend from law school, Zach, has been arrested after finding his wife, Amanda, dead at the bottom of the stairs in their home. He begs for Lizzie’s help to get him out of Rikers and his name cleared as the prime suspect of his wife’s murder.

Lizzie has no interest in taking Zach’s case. She’s not a criminal defense attorney. In fact, she’s a former federal prosecutor. Lizzie is also having problems in her marriage. Her once perfect life is crumbling and she’s treading water trying to sort out her own problems, let alone wanting to put in the investigative work necessary to help Zach.

Amanda tells her story from the week leading up to her murder. She and Zach have a young son and the three of them recently moved to New York from California for Zach’s career. Amanda has been making friends with the other parents in their wealthy Park Slope neighborhood. As Amanda tries to conceal the truth about her marriage to Zach, her new friends are busy masking the truth about their own lives.

As the plot thickens, the characters’ secrets unravel with intensity. I liked how the story is told from so many different perspectives. Many of the secrets are dark and people’s reasons for keeping their secrets added to the complexity of their role in the story.

I borrowed the audiobook of A Good Marriage from my local library with the Hoopla app. Narrators Sarah Zimmerman, Karissa Vacker, and George Newbern did an excellent job bringing this suspenseful story to life.

I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog ( )