THE THIRD MRS. DURST

A beautiful girl from the wrong side of the tracks marries into wealth—but is her husband the dream that he seems?

Marlena Altizer grew up just one of a dozen siblings with a deadbeat mom in middle-of-nowhere Kentucky. When she runs away at 16 and ends up working as an increasingly popular model, things seem to have turned her way. She catches the eye of Michael Durst, a wealthy man who is willing to give her everything, though he seems a bit controlling. Marrying into wealth has provided Marlena the security she always wanted, but this isn’t the Cinderella story it seems. Michael's two previous wives both died, one from an accident and the other by suicide, and it’s starting to seem these might not be the unexpected tragedies they appeared to be. Aguirre has deftly set the trap for Marlena, and each scene is a cat-and-mouse game as we wait to see which member of the couple will come out on top. The weakness of the book is that, though it's told from Marlena’s perspective, halfway through it becomes clear that she knows things she never shared with the reader. Then there’s a whole other undercurrent that seemingly appears out of nowhere, throwing the reader off pace. Earlier hints would have made the transition less awkward. The only fully realized character here is Marlena, and suddenly she’s a question mark, as well. The mystery is well constructed but hard to follow. It just feels like something’s missing.

A mystery becomes a tale of revenge, though it may lose the reader along the way.