Man and Wife - Hardcover

Klavan, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765302152 ISBN 13: 9780765302151

Publisher: Forge, 2001

Synopsis

Psychiatrist Cal Bradley's perfect life and marriage in a small New England town is turned upside down when he takes on a new patient, nineteen-year-old Peter Blue, a teenager whose violent rampage could hold the key to uncovering his wife's hidden past. 100,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

A wife who's too good to be true usually isn't--and the cliché holds true in Klavan's engrossing little thriller Man and Wife. Psychiatrist Cal Bradley is married to Marie, an adoring and sensuous helpmate, and he's happier than he ever thought he'd be. In fact, he's surprisingly content to ignore the signs that something in her past is still troubling her deeply--until he sees his wife in the arms of a stranger. Then young Peter Blue, accused of battering his girlfriend and setting a church on fire, comes under Cal's care. When Peter discloses his relationship with the stranger Cal saw in the woods with his wife, Marie's past suddenly explodes into the present, threatening to turn Cal's world upside down. There's not a lot of subtlety here--the conclusion is practically handed to the reader on the first page, with its heavy foreshadowing. But the novel works anyway, due to Klavan's deft characterisation of Peter, a complex, spiritual adolescent who forces Cal to confront his own conscience and his conflict between love and duty. --Jane Adams

Review:

Andrew Klavlan is the kind of writer who catches you by the lapels, hoists you into a sitting position and commands you to listen... MAN AND WIFE is a story that will both warm your heart and chill you to the bone. (IRISH EXAMINER)

Fast paced and gripping. (THE TIMES)

A wife who's too good to be true usually isn't--and the cliché holds true in Klavan's engrossing little thriller Man and Wife. Psychiatrist Cal Bradley is married to Marie, an adoring and sensuous helpmate, and he's happier than he ever thought he'd be. In fact, he's surprisingly content to ignore the signs that something in her past is still troubling her deeply--until he sees his wife in the arms of a stranger. Then young Peter Blue, accused of battering his girlfriend and setting a church on fire, comes under Cal's care. When Peter discloses his relationship with the stranger Cal saw in the woods with his wife, Marie's past suddenly explodes into the present, threatening to turn Cal's world upside down. There's not a lot of subtlety here--the conclusion is practically handed to the reader on the first page, with its heavy foreshadowing. But the novel works anyway, due to Klavan's deft characterisation of Peter, a complex, spiritual adolescent who forces Cal to confront his own conscience and his conflict between love and duty. (Jane Adams, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW)

About this edition

• Publisher: Forge
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0765302152
• ISBN 13: 9780765302151
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 302