There are two sides to every marriage. But what if they’re both a lie?
Jodie dotes on her husband and two teenagers. Racing home from a shift at the hospital to cook dinner, or tracking their phones to make sure they’re safe, she’s always putting her family first. But she doesn’t always tell the truth… She’s worked too hard to build this cookie-cutter life and will do anything to protect it.
Sam is a detective. He loves Jodie but he’s the first to admit that he’s married to his job. He recently snapped at work, and now his colleagues are gossiping about his anger issues. At home, he tells Jodie he’s taking work calls, but he’s not. Sam is up to something much worse.
One night, their home is broken into and their precious daughter Sofia is attacked. When the police pick through the ruins of their perfect life they find that nothing is as it seems. Why was Jodie crying in the pub that evening, leaving Sam home alone with a bottle of whisky? Where was Sofia sneaking out of the house to? And who was their son talking to online?
The secrets this husband and wife are keeping are just the beginning, and someone is about to pay a deadly price…
Sheryl Browne writes psychological thriller and edgy contemporary fiction. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association, Romantic Novelists’ Association and awarded a Red Ribbon by The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, Sheryl has several books published and two short stories in Birmingham City University anthologies, where she completed her MA in Creative Writing.
Oh my goodness, what a belter of a book! I can always rely on Sheryl Browne to deliver a story that is gripping from the start, leaving me holding my breath and praying. I was simultaneously desperate for time to read and desperate to finish just to ease my anxiety and lower my heart rate. Her books always leave me battered, open-mouthed, and shell-shocked. I need time to breathe and regroup—and once I have, I just wish I could read it again for the first time!
Mr & Mrs is a thriller following Jodie, Sam, and their two children, Sofia and Ethan. They seem like a typical family on the surface: hard-working parents—one a police detective, the other an A&E nurse. They want the best for their kids, but demanding jobs leave them stressed and fiercely overprotective. Both harbor their own secrets and co-parent in completely different ways. Meanwhile, their two teenagers share a classic love-hate relationship as they try to find their feet and outdo one another.
There are so many elements in the opening chapters that made me anxious, wondering how much worse things could get with every turn of the page. Unusually for me, I didn’t take a liking to any of the adult characters. They were all hiding behind secrets and half-truths, pretending to be something they weren't. Reading the early chapters detailing online conversations with "friends" made my stomach drop; it is such a prevalent and terrifying reality.
When Sam and his colleague Jarod investigate a local murder, the case hits far too close to home, pushing their friendship to the absolute limit. It was tense, nail-biting reading. The narrative and pace were relentless, and I was utterly hooked! I felt physically sick with intrigue at times, swinging back and forth on who to trust.
Mr & Mrs is a gripping, complex, and sometimes difficult read. I followed my gut in every direction—except the right one. Truth and lies are so intrinsically entwined that it is impossible to know what to believe. Thank you, Sheryl, for another totally absorbing read that completely engaged my imagination and shook my values to the core.
