The Marriage Betrayal by Shalini Boland is a psychological thriller.

First, let me thank NetGalley, the publisher Bookouture, and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis: (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
When Faye Townsend plans a special family birthday trip for her husband Jake, she is surprised that neither he nor his sister are pleased to be returning to the seaside town where they grew up.

When Jake takes their 7-year old son Dylan on an early morning walk to see the dolphins, Faye decides to stay in bed. Later in the day, her sister-in-law Lainy, along with her husband Tom and their two girls go with Faye to the beach. Jake and Dylan are to join them later. But neither Jake nor Dylan return. The police organize a search, but other than Dylan's red cap, and a small amount of Jake's blood, little is found - initially.

With her world falling apart, Faye is finding it hard to stay strong. So is Lainey. There is a lot to Jake's past that no one knows. Then again, he isn't the only one that has been keeping secrets.


My Opinions:
I was a little worried when I started this book, because I didn't like Shalini Boland's last one, but since I've liked all her others, I thought I'd take a chance. WOW.... just WOW.

This has got characters I loved, a lot of red herrings, and a twist I honestly did not see coming. The suspense just built, and the whole story just grabbed me. I could hardly read this fast enough.

The author told the story in multiple time-lines, which gave the reader a glimpse of Jake and Lainy as teenagers, which was a story all it's own! There is also an unknown narrator in current time who added another aspect to the story.

Bottom line, this was a fast one-day read, and my favorite of all her books so far. I simply didn't want to set it down. Highly recommend this one!

Love this author!! This was impossible to see where it was going to go and very twisty! I highly recommend this!

Faye just wanted to do something special for her husband, Jake and surprise him with vacation in the town he grew up in, but the weather in this seaside town is making it difficult for them to enjoy themselves. When they finally get a nice day, Jake decides to take their son Dylan out for the day, but when hours go by and no one has heard from either of them, it is time to call the police in for a search and rescue. Dylan’s baseball cap is found bu the cliffs but there is no other sign of either of them. Faye is struggling to find out what is truly happening. Is it secrets from her past that have come back to haunt her or are there demons in Jake’s past that have caused him to do something unthinkable?

Enjoyed this book. Nice unexpected twists.. of course! I’ve read a few by this author now and none have disappointed!

Compulsive reading, this is an addictive suspenseful psychological thriller like no other.

The plot is unpredictable with lots of twists and turns along with solid engaging characters.
There is also a sense of dread as the story deals with the deep and dark corners of the human psych.

I very much enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone!

Great job Shalini Boland

The wife Faye has planned the perfect get away. They seem to have the perfect marriage until Jake her husband and son Dylan go missing. Jake isn’t happy about being on holiday and back in his home town. The day they are going to leave Jake and Dylan disappear.

Read until the end. I think you will love it

When Faye plans the perfect vacation as a birthday surprise for her husband, she has no idea what the repercussions will be. Besides Faye, her husband, Jake, and their seven-year-old son, the holiday also includes Jake’s sister and her husband as well as their two daughters. The vacation home is located in a small seaside town where Jake and his sister grew up. But, from the moment they arrive, Faye’s carefully crafted plans begin to unravel. The weather is gloomy and wet, Jake is tense and surly, and town seems to hold only bad memories for the siblings. They decide to cut their vacation short but, first, Jake and Dylan take an early morning hike to the cliffs to watch the dolphins. And they never return. As the search for the missing father and son continues, Faye becomes more frantic with worry and begins to realize there is more than meets the eye.

Many of the twists are unexpected and that makes it hard to put this book down. Once again Ms Boland has written a story that is compelling, suspenseful and much more complicated than it appears. Her characters are well-developed and the pace is perfect. As a result, Shalini Boland is one of my favorite authors. Honestly, if she wrote the nutrition information on a cereal box I would read it word for word. She’s that good!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

We all have our go to authors don't we where you don't even look at the blurb, you just buy the book.
Well Shalini Boland is most definitely one of mine. She never fails to keep me entertained with her storylines, the suspense, the drama. Her books have it all in bundles.
The Marriage Betrayal was no different for me.

We meet Faye and her husband Jake and from the onset you are wondering what her husband is hiding.
Faye surprises Jake with a birthday trip back to where he spent his childhood.
Jake's sister Lainy and her husband Tom also join them.
We see immediately Jake is uncomfortable being back as is Lainy and both Faye and Tom cannot understand why.
What are they both hiding?
Who is the woman on the beach and why is she not happy to see Lainy?
So many questions...

So when Jake and their son Dylan disappear while out one morning dolphin watching, Faye must try piece together what has happened to her husband and son with very little to go on.
She realises she may not know her husband as well as she thought she did.
The two timelines will have you turning the pages pretty quickly trying to piece it all together.
You will be shocked, you will be completely gripped and I would imagine you will get nothing done until you turn that final page.

A brilliant read, well worth taking the time to read this one...💕

Thank you kindly to Shalini Boland Author and her publishers Bookouture for my copy of this book. Much appreciated.

3.5 rounded up for ending.

Not my favorite by this author, but I did like it. This had good writing and the characters. You can tell right from the get go that something is wrong and there is more going on than what we are being told. There’s a pretty tense vibe throughout which was fun. That’s not to say that this story didn’t stall a bit where nothing much goes on for a while after an exciting start.

There is no need to recap the plot, there’s enough of that out there already. The story unfolds in multiple timelines, views and diary type entries. There were some surprises but the bulk of the excitement takes place at the very end and the parting shot was quite unexpected and fun.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bookouture for a copy in exchange for a review.

This book is a twisted psychological thriller. I couldn’t put it down
I was on edge the whole way through this book and it had me guessing right until the end.
Another fantastic read by this amazing author

I loved this book! I haven't picked up a book by Shalini Boland that I didn't like, but this one may be my favorite! I can't wait for the next one!

I have been a huge fan since she debuted with The Girl from the Sea, which was fantastic! While I enjoyed this book, I did find it to be a slow burning tale, alternating between the past and present day with an ending that I did not see coming. Worth the read.

Wow! Absolutely outstandingly good.

Faye and her husband Jake and their young son Dylan are on holiday with Jake's sister and her family. On their second morning Jake and Dylan head out for an early morning walk and don't return.
Immediately this caught my attention. It seemed so unlikely that this father and child would go missing in a busy seaside town. There had to be something more to the story. My appetite was whetted further by the occasional chapter detailing an incident involving a teenage girl at a beach party which may have been current or at some time in the past.
The story races ahead with the police investigation and search parties central to the plot. Then, just as I was starting to figure out what had happened, the author threw in twist after twist with a very clever conclusion. What really left me reeling however was the epilogue, absolute genius.

Review posted on Goodreads and Amazon

The Marriage Betrayal is like liqueur chocolate. You think you know what you’ve picked, but the scrumptious flavours melting on your tongue take you by surprise. The first layer is sweet. It takes its time and tickles your taste buds. The second part is crunchy, it plays with your teeth, it adds an edge before releasing the explosive and unexpected cherry, bittersweet and irresistible.

Faye and her brother-in-law Tom have planned a surprise birthday trip for her husband. Right away, I knew something would go wrong. When will people learn that surprises are NOT a good idea??? I am not a fan of them, and Tom seemed to share my opinion, according to his behavior when they reached his childhood village. What was supposed to be a relaxing time with their son Dylan, Jake’s sister Lainy, and her daughters, didn’t raise the excitation and joy expected.

Within the first pages, the place itself became part of the family. Settling in an old house full of shadows and creaking sounds opened the doors to a disturbing feeling. I couldn’t pinpoint what was off, but I didn’t feel comfortable! One chapter and I was already questioning everything. Why did Jake and Lainy looked as if they’d rather be at the dentist than where they’d grown up? Why had Faye chosen this place? What was going on??

It is extremely difficult to foresee what you will find in any novel by Shalini Boland and once again, I was pulled in by an invisible hand. The author’s addictive writing filled with mystery had my undivided attention.

The slow beginning allowed me to get to know the main characters. I joined them on their little trip, feeling the uneasiness, the tension, and the missed opportunity of a good family time. To an external eye, the family might have looked normal, spending quality time away from London, but the siblings’ reaction to the vacation erased the good intentions behind it. The situation gets worse when people start recognizing them, adding more strain on everyone. What could have happened there for Jake and Lainy to feel so strongly about being here?? I wasn’t shocked to hear them decide to leave, but not without Tom and Dylan enjoying a father-son moment. When they failed to come back from their morning adventure, my stomach churned. After having played with my mind, Shalini Boland was going for my feelings! The pace sped up from this point on, and there was no more time to think about the past! Or so I thought…

Now and Then chapters began to draw a picture, dark and full of promises. I knew something big was coming. What I didn’t know was that more than one ‘What???’ moment was slowly making their way to me! When an anonymous narrator sprang from the pages to give us creepy and somehow threatening short chapters, I devoured each word, knowing it would all make sense in the end.

What do you do when your husband and son disappear in a small place surrounded by cliffs and filled with unfriendly people? What goes through a mother’s mind when she feels responsible for everything that’s happening? How do family dynamics change in such a difficult situation?

I felt secrets hiding behind doors, bushes, words… Yet I couldn’t figure out what to make of the pieces I was handed!

I can’t and won’t reveal anything else about the plot, but let me tell you one thing. There is nothing a woman won’t do to protect those she loves. When the stars began to align and the truth came out, I was overly excited. I had seen nothing coming! I had grown attached to Faye, I had forged opinions on everyone… And Shalini Boland just threw it all away. I had to reassess what I thought I knew, and it’s an exercise I love!

The Marriage Betrayal is a splendid two-faced thriller beautifully written by a stunning author who isn’t afraid to lead you to the edge of the cliff, for better or for worse!

The Marriage Betrayal is another winner by Shalini Boland.
Faye has arranged a birthday surprise for husband, Jake, a seaside holiday near Swanage the town he grew up in, along with their son, Dylan, Faye has also arranged for Jakes sister, Lainey, her husband and two young daughters to join them. Once they arrive at the grand rented house Jake becomes moody and silent so putting it down to something in his past that is having this affect they all decide to leave the next day. Dylan kicks up a fuss as he hasn’t seen any dolphins yet so Jake agrees to get up at 6am and take him to the cliffs to spot some dolphins before meeting up with everyone else for lunch on the beach before leaving, except Jake and Dylan never arrive and before everyone knows it there is a massive hunt with helicopters and divers trying to find out what has happened to them.
This is a fabulously twisty psychological thriller that I couldn’t put down, just when I thought it was mapped out pretty straightforwardly boom incomes another twist and off you go again. A well written plot.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Bookouture for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This has characters so believable that it feels like you are reading someone's life story - a colleague or friend who entrusts you with the worst thing that could possibly happen to a mother. Imagine planning the perfect holiday - you've been looking forward to spending some much-needed family time together and then one day, totally out of the blue, your husband and son disappear. The tension is insurmountable as we question Faye's husband's motives. It's one of those books that you race through and then just don't want to end. Brilliant exploration of how childhood secrets can forge our adult character with a clever ending.

Fa-bu-lous!! An absolute page turner that kept me gripped right to the end. Twists, turns and unexpected bits! Definitely recommend

I received this free of charge in exchange for a fair review.

This is not my usual reading genre but after reading the synopsis I really wanted to read it and I am glad I did. It did not disappoint and was a rollercoaster of a story. My emotions were all over and there were lots of twists and turns I didn’t see coming, it kept me hooked until the very last page.

It was well written and the plot moved along at a good pace for the storyline. It left questions and cliffhangers like any good story with clues and red herrings and I didn’t want to put it down. I thought I had worked things out and then it gave me something else to think about and never stop thinking. It was a good, mentally challenging thriller that will leave you drained and relieved (in a good way) when you finish it.

The characters were written so creatively that while many people haven’t experienced this kind of storyline in real life (thankfully) you can still connect with Faye Townsend. I never worked out the actual end until I read it and I love that it kept me hanging on until the end.

When I first started reading the book I did struggle a little to get into it at first and with the swapping of past and present but not so much with the swapping of characters. Given how the story ends, I liked that it gave other characters viewpoints apart from Faye’s and I like that in general we get a bit of other characters history too.

This is the first book I have read by Shalini and I am looking forward to reading the others sat waiting on my tbr pile.

I absolutely love Shalini's books and have had the pleasure of reading them all, so every time a new one is released, I'm always excited to read it straightaway.

So her latest release The Marriage Betrayal, have been an intense and entertaining read from start to finish. To be honest the storyline ended up being something of a roller-coaster, and I mean that as a good thing, as the story starts out as one thing and then ends up going in a completely different direction. So there was definitely nothing predictable about this book, and I was literally glued to the pages from beginning to end.

So another brilliant page turner from Shalini which as always was superbly well written and thought out. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it certainly had me guessing through out trying to figure out how it's all going to end.

If you haven't discovered Shalini's books yet, then I can highly recommend them as you will become addicted to them all, just like I did.

Wow an amazing story you won’t want to put the book down. What a twist it has too. I don’t want to give any of the story away, but I can only say if you like psychological thrillers then this is the book for you. It has two stories running side by side one is current day and the other is when they were teenagers. Both stories have you gripped and they both have a twist. I highly recommend this book if you like this genre you’ll love this book.