THE WIFE'S NEW MAID
by Amora Sway
A 30-something’s seemingly perfect marriage hides secrets and simmering hostility in Sway’s thriller.
Newlywed Linley Gunn happily leaves her job at a New York publishing house to live in LA with her husband, Dorian. He’s a mega-rich former Wall Streeter who’s now working in the wellness industry. He also has a prenup stipulating that the marriage will be terminated with a $2 million settlement if Linley doesn’t bear a child within four years. Three years in, she still isn’t pregnant and not sure if she wants to be; Dorian has turned cold and now apparently prefers porn to his wife. He also has his eyes glued to Ana, the young, newly hired maid. Linley wants out of the marriage, but she feels that $2 million isn’t enough; she wants to help her parents, who lost their fortune to a shady investor. While she’s already convinced that Dorian’s porn-watching constitutes cheating, an affair with Ana would, per the prenup, leave Linley with much more. It’s not long before things turn exceedingly complicated—and homicidal. Sway masterfully takes readers into the mindset of an unhappy housewife—nonconfrontational Linley believably alternates between quietly stewing over Dorian’s callousness and sadly blaming herself for being unable to conceive. With pithy writing, the author gleefully layers on the melodrama, from the murky pasts of Dorian, Linley, and Ana to intrigues involving Ana’s physically abusive boyfriend Hector and Jarrad, the handsome gardener whom Linley fancies. Linley, however, isn’t easy to relate to; she comes from wealth, knowingly signed a ridiculous prenup, and scoffs at Dorian for “perving” over Ana as she herself ogles Jarrad throughout the story (“Speaking of wild, that’s how my hormones are reacting to seeing Jarrad shirtless”). Still, the novel’s latter half picks up considerably and offers compelling insights into Ana and Jarrad, who occasionally take the narrative reins. Shocking turns beget an unforgettable ending, promising a sequel to follow.
Sordid marital drama makes for a searing tale of deceit and manipulation.