Book Description
The Marriage Counselor: A totally pulse-pounding psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping twist by Dea Poirier
“Adele, we believe your husband is missing.” As everything around me starts to blur, I go over the words once more: “your husband is missing.” Four simple words with the power to shatter my whole world in an instant. Working as a marriage counselor I’m used to the tragedies that come out of nowhere. People trust me to help them through life’s big moments. The things that leave you questioning everything you thought you knew about the person you love the most. But I never thought trouble would land on my own doorstep. As I start to piece together our last conversation desperate for any clues I can find, the cop standing in front of me reveals that my husband never told his co-workers he was married. He was seemingly living a double life right in front of me. Days later, as I search through our home, I discover a hidden box of baby clothes that suggest my husband was starting to build the perfect life without me. My entire career has been built on separating the truth from the lies. My husband may think he has pulled off the greatest lie of all but he is not the only one keeping a secret in this marriage. All I know for certain is that when the truth comes out, only one of us will make it out alive. A totally addictive and unputdownable psychological thriller about deadly obsession and twisted lies perfect for fans of Gone Girl, The Perfect Marriage, The Wife Before Me and anything by Freida McFadden.
BLOG TOUR REVIEW
Review for 'The Marriage Counselor' by Dea Poirier.
Read and reviewed via NetGalley for Dea Poirier, Bookouture publishers and Bookouture anonymous
Publication date 24th April 2023.
This is the second book I have read by this author. I have previously read 'The Girls In The Fire' which I highly recommend.
I was originally drawn to this book by its eye catching cover and its intriguing synopsis and title. The synopsis stated that this book is 'A totally addictive psychological thriller about deadly obsession and twisted lies perfect for fans of Gone Girl, The Perfect Marriage, The Wife Before Me, and anything by Freida McFadden.' I am a huge fan of 'Gone Girl' and Freida McFadden so am looking forward to seeing if this lives up to this statement. I am also a huge fan of Dea and if this is half as good as 'The Girls In The Fire' it is sure to be a page turning read. I must admit I was also biased due to the publisher being Bookouture. I have yet to read a book published by Bookouture that I haven't enjoyed. Hopefully this won't be the first... Watch this space! (Written before I started reading the book).
This novel consists of 31 chapters. The chapters are short to medium in length so easy to read 'just one more chapter' before bed...OK, I know yeah right, but still just in case!
This book is based in Orlando, Florida, USA.
This book is written in first person perspective and the protagonist is Adele Sutton-Johansen. The benefits of books written in first person perspective are as long as they are well written it makes you feel that you are being spoken to by the protagonist and it can create more of a bond between yourselves and them. If there are several protagonists you also get to see more of what is going on.
WHAT did I just read!!!! WOW!!! I mean seriously Wow!! I was NOT expecting that lot fair play!!! This has GOT to start with a MASSIVE WELL DONE DEA!!!! Ooopps sorry, yes, needed a minute to get over that but I've just left you hanging there... Sorry.... Let me tell you more...
Firstly let's start off with the writing style, etc!! This book is an extremely well written book by this amazing author which had me hook line and sinker!!! It is so smoothly and beautifully written with vivid descriptions I completely forgot I was even reading a book a few times. The blurb, title and cover really fit the storyline. to create an absolutely explosive and addictive storyline that had me hooked from the gripping first chapter to the absolutely shocking ending!!!
Adele is a marriage counselor and is married to Patrick. They seem like the perfect couple but when Patrick goes missing Adele discovers he isn't the person she thought he was. While this is happening Adele is being questioned and abused left right and centre when complaints of what problems her parents caused as counselors start coming out of the woodwork. There's also the question of their disappearance. This is one of those books where you have absolutely no idea who is telling the truth and who can be trusted and the ending was an absolute explosive bombshell of a twist!! I found the storyline to be realistic, very fast paced and I read/listened to it in just several hours!!! I loved the setting and atmosphere and just well... Everything!!! Twists after shocks after turns!!! Its so hard to NOT say anything about them as it will give too much away and spoil it for future readers but it definitely left me speechless over and over!!! I have read hundreds of psychological books and it gets harder and harder to keep my interest and to shock me but these fantastic authors managed it hook, line and sinker Just brilliant fair play and all links in and wraps up perfectly!!! Dea weaves the storylines together perfectly and leading the readers up to some extremely explosive twists that I woiuld never have seen coming. I cannot remember the last time I flew through a book so quickly. Each and every time I went to put it down to do something my fingers were itching to pick it back up as I just HAD to know what happened next!! Dea's evocative writing skills ensure you are sucked deep into the storyline seeing everything that is happening and feeling the tension, stress and suspense that Adele is going through. My heart was in my throat throughout reading this fast paced, gripping and gritty psychological thriller! It is ram packed with lies, twists, tension, stress, suspense and everything you could ask for in a psychological thriller. It really does make you wonder who you can trust, if anyone, both in the book and reality!! I can't say more than that as I don't want to spoil it for future readers so if you want to know you'll have to grab yourself a copy!! You won't regret it!!
This is one of the few books that I have listened 100% on Audiobook. If I listen to a book on audiobook I usually also read the physical book between but I listened to the whole book and I was impressed! I must say a HUGE congratulations to the narrator Stephanie Cannon who did a great job bringing this story to life. I would listen to it in the car and while walking at any opportunity and Stephanie did a fantastic job on both male and female characters voices!!! I'm not only looking forward to reading more books by Dea but also to listening to more books narrated by Stephanie! I have also listened to 'The Ex Wives' by Jenna Kernan and 'My Big Fake Wedding' 1005 on audiobooks which were also narrated by Stephanie. These are both fantastic reads and Stephanie does an amazing job narrating them as well as this book so I would highly recommend any books narrated by her!
Just like with the storyline the characters come to life with Theo's fantastic writing skills. They are well rounded, realistic and strong making them all the more believable. Adele's life falls apart as she discovers that she knows nothing about her husband, is accused of abusing her patients trust, is attacked for things her parents did and so much more!! I did feel for Adele but I can't say that I trusted her 100%. However, it must be heartbreaking to find out that you have been living with someone that you know nothing about. This is one of those books that is I won't go into more details in regards to the characters as I don't want to risk giving anything away but Dea really has done an amazing job constructing an addictive and explosive psychological thriller with fantastic and varied characters that you just won't be able to put down!!
Congratulations Dea on another explosive success!!! This is exactly why you are in my favourite author club!! Here's to many more successes 🥂!!!
Clear your schedules before picking this up as you will not be able to put it down!!! "
Make sure you read to the very end of the book to read the first two chapter of Dea's 'Find Me In The Dark' which looks just as addictive as this one and one I'm looking forward to reading myself!
Overall an absolutely page turning, addictive, gripping and explosive must read that will keep you addicted from the very start to the fantastic ending!!!
Genres covered in this novel include Women's Psychological Fiction, Women's Crime Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Domestic Thriller, Hard-Boiled Mystery, Crime, Domestic Suspense, Thriller & Mystery Adventures, Crime Fiction, Suspense Thriller, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Psychological Fiction, Psychological Literary Fiction, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction, Women's Psychological Thriller, Domestic Fiction, Crime, Thriller & Mystery Adventures and Mystery amongst others.
I would recommend this book to the fans of the above as well as fans of The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors ,Gone Girl, The Perfect Marriage, The Wife Before Me, Freida McFadden. Miranda Smith, Sheryl Browne, Sue Watson, K.L. Slater. Nina Manning, Shalini Boland, Lisa Jewell, Ruth Ware, Gillian Flynn and anyone looking for an explosive page turner!!!
327 pages/ 7 hours 42 minutes
This book is just £1.99 to purchase on kindle, free on kindle unlimited, £7.99 in paperback and £16 for the audiobook at time of review via Amazon which I think is an absolute bargain for this book!!!
Rated 5/5 (I LOVED it ) on Goodreads, Instagram, Amazon UK and Amazon US and on over 30 Facebook pages plus my blog on Facebook.
Feel free to add me on Goodreads or follow me on my website or Facebook for more reviews
#TheMarriageCounselor #DeaPoirier #Bookouture #BookoutureAnonymous #NetGalley #BookReview #BlogTour #BooksOnTour #Goodreads #NetGalley #Amazon #AmazonKindle #Bookstagram #Bookblogger #KindleUnlimited #Audible #Audiobook
@TheMarriageCounselor @DeaPoirier @Bookouture @BookoutureAnonymous @Bookworm1986 @bookworm86 @Goodreads @Netgalley @Amazon @AmazonKindle @Bookstagram @BookBlogger @KindleUnlimited @Audible @Audiobook
About the author
Dea (D.H) Poirier is the author of NEXT GIRL TO DIE, which hit #1 in the Amazon charts and the bestselling thriller FIND ME IN THE DARK. She was raised in Edmond, Oklahoma, where she got her start writing in creative writing courses. She attended The University of Central Oklahoma for Computer Science. Later, she spent time living on both coasts, and traveling the United States, before finally putting down roots in Central Florida. She now resides somewhere between Disney and the swamp.
Author social media
Website: https://www.dhpoirier.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dhpoirier/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deapoirier/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/deapoirierbooks
Purchase Link
Amazon: https://geni.us/B0BX73BPRDsocial
