Good Husbands
By Cate Ray
Release date 06/07/2022

Jessica, Stephanie, and Priyanka are complete strangers, but they have one thing in common: more than two decades ago, unbeknownst to them, their husbands committed a sexual assault. Or was it something else—a night of drunken regrets, just a horrible misunderstanding? It was a secret that remained buried for years.


Some of these ladies are on board to seek the truth, and one takes a minute to come around. The undeniable bond between the three is there right away, and they’re forever bonded over the heinous acts of their husbands. These three women uncover a stockpile of lies that have been hidden for 20 years. And OMG, THE END. LAWD 🫣🫣🫣🫣
Jaw on the floor. Follow these women on a thrilling ride of uncovering the past and forming their futures. It’s so so so good. Just. Wow. 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5 S҉҉T҉҉A҉҉R҉҉S҉҉


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As of now that synopsis is short and sweet and I honestly assumed based off of that this one would be a thriller and I was wrong. Which is fine, this is waaaaayyyy deeper than a thriller and has huge triggers for sexual assault, so if you’re looking for a lighter domestic suspense this isn’t it. But if you’re looking for a deeper read that is emotionally charged this may be for you.

There is a lot about this one that is uncomfortable and hard to read but it’s also incredibly powerful at the same time. It’s very much a slow burn and sometimes it was frustratingly so but I believe the payoff was worth it in the end. Each of the three women who narrates is very well developed and grappling with so many varying issues. I could empathize with each one at some point and can see this leading to some great discussions if chosen as a book club read. If you can handle difficult subject matter and know this is fiction with some suspense and disturbing themes this was a solid and thought provoking read.

Good Husbands
by Cate Ray
Pub Date: June 7, 2022
Park Row
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. Three wives, one letter, and an explosive secret that will change everything.
The premise was enough to draw me in but unfortunately, I just never got interested in this book.
Maybe if it were edited to be a bit shorter it would have helped.
2 stars

In the era of #MeToo, this scenario is extremely plausible and the way Cate Ray presents it is chilling and twisted.
One thing that survivors of sexual assault gained from the #MeToo movement was a bond with other survivors. While Jessica, Stephanie, and Priyanka haven't been sexually assaulted, however, they are both in the same situation - their husbands have been accused of committing a sexual assault many years ago. I think this book really shows that there are more victims to crimes of this nature than just the victim. It is extremely damaging to so many people - and leaves a lot of questions and broken trust.

"Good Husbands" drew me in and became an enjoyable and deep read. I definitely recommend anyone who enjoys social justice and psychological thrillers read this.

I loved the premise of this book but, unfortunately, it just didn't grab me. I found myself a bit bored and DNF'd at 25%.

This one sounded so interesting but just didn't pull me in. I struggled to differentiate each wife and her husband from the next and kept waiting for the plot to get really exciting. The twist at the end didn't wow me.

What would you do if you received a letter telling you that your husband raped a woman 20 years before? That’s what Jess, Priyanka and Stephanie need to decided when a letter lands on their doormat declaring exactly that.

The three woman - who couldn’t be less alike - start to form an alliance as they try and get to the bottom of what happened that Christmas so many years before.

Well written, with a great pace that keeps you reading page after page, I loved how different the women and their reactions are. And although the victim died a decade before, Ray does an incredible job of giving her a voice from beyond the grave and treating her story with respect.

Unfortunately I did not finish this book. I found it repetitive and drawn out. I would not recommend this book.

Book: Good Husbands

Author: Cate Ray

Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars



I would like to thank the publisher, Park Row, for providing me with an ARC.



When I got asked to review this title, I just had a feeling that I was going to enjoy it. I don’t know what it is about domestic thrillers that just pulls me in and hooks me. I think a lot of has to do with the fact that you are living with this person who you think you know, then you find out that everything you thought you knew was a lie. This sense of thinking you can trust someone, only to find out that they are a monster just gets me every time. In this case, the wives thought they knew their husbands, only to find out that the husbands had this big secret that actually is a crime. These women have never meet prior to this and now have to come to terms with this event. It’s an event that ruined lives-literally. You see, their husbands have been accused of rape that resulted in a child. The women were shocked when they learned this information. Now, they must figure out who is and who isn’t telling the truth.



I personally enjoyed this sense of not knowing who to trust and who not to trust. You have no idea who to believe. The wives are put into this situation. They want to believe their husbands and want to take their word for it. They want to believe that the men, who they have built their lives with it and families with. They want to think that they person who they have would not be capable of doing such a horrendous act. These women come from different walks of life and have different choices to make. It all comes down to the fact that they want to do the right thing, but there is also this since of the unknown. They don’t want to come forward if their husbands are innocent, yet they don’t want to stay silent if it is in fact true. This puts a lot of strain on the women. I mean, who wouldn’t crack under the pressure? This is the person who you thought you could trust and built a life with. It has to be very difficult and it has to cause pain. I though the author captured this inner and out conflict very well. We see the struggle. We also see the characters take this event and change. We see them morph into their own strong and capable characters.



I think it was the writing that made this story for me. Don’t get me wrong, the plot is very good. However, you can’t pull a plot out like this one without the writing. The writing was there. The authors manage to capture this doubt that the wives are facing in a way that makes you really question if the men are innocent or guilty. You fell this sense of not knowing right up until the end. I personally liked this. It was like you were experiencing the events right along with the characters. You were there with them. What I also liked was that we get to see the characters rebuild their lives. I personally can’t think of too many thrillers that do this. It’s like once the case has been solved that’s the end of the book. That’s not the case here. We get to see the characters try to figure out what their next steps will be once the case is over. It just brings everything back full circle.

I just want to put this out here that this book does contain sexual assault and violence. If that bothers you, then I don’t think this is going to be the book for you.



Overall, I did really enjoy this title and am looking forward to more from this author.



This book comes out on June 7, 2022.



Youtube: https://youtu.be/h9PFdk4MmZ4

WOW. Okay, Cate Ray. I wasn't sure what to expect when I read the synopsis of this book but the author truly delivered on an extremely powerful book.

Three wives each receive a letter accusing their husbands of committing a sexual assault nearly 30 years ago. Their worlds are rightfully turned upside down, and each wife struggles with what to believe - who to trust -and where to go from here. The three strangers come together to hunt for the truth. Who is the victim here, and will justice be served?

Beware that this entire book is about sexual assault and should be treated as a major trigger warning. This isn't a cozy beach read, but it is a book that will really get you thinking, and will make you angry, sad and frustrated at times. The three wives have varying opinions on what to do about the letter, allow the reader to explore society's core beliefs and initial conceptions about sexual assault.

I'm really glad I took the time to read this book, but the subject matter should not be taken lightly to anyone who is considering picking this one up. The character development is stellar, and I enjoyed the multiple POVs.

Jessica, Stephanie, and Priyanka don’t know each other but they all get the same letter accusing their husbands of a sexual assault two decades ago.

The synopsis sounded right up my alley. I love “me-too” thrillers. I had a hard time getting into this one. The women were all frustrating and the men bothersome. I did continue because I wanted to know how it turned out but unfortunately I wasn’t super excited about picking it up.

“It seems to me that I don’t know who I am. Or more to the point, who my husband is.”

Good Husbands comes out 6/7.

Good Husbands was a book that I was really excited to be approved for, and the I had excitement lived up to my expectations. This was a slow burn, but it was still interesting to me to keep me fully invested. I loved the suspense, the twists, and the women in the book. The plot was executed perfectly and the characters were well developed. I would definitely recommend this book. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thank you Cate Ray and Park Row for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. IYKYK, my reviews are always honest.

BIG ASS TRIGGER WARNING sexual assault/violence

Writing: 4/5 | Plot: 5/5 | Ending: 5/5

THE PLOT

Three wives, Jess, Stephanie, and Piryanka, receive the same letter accusing their husbands of gang raping and impregnating a woman 30 years ago, forever upturning their lives, marriages, and core beliefs.

MY OPINION

I WANT TO MAKE THIS VERY CLEAR: If you are looking for a beach read, cozy mystery, or your avg commercial/popcorn thriller, THIS IS NOT IT. This is a contemporary fiction novel with layers and strong messaging. If you want to explore society's core beliefs around sexual assault, women's issues, and marriage, this is the one.

I am giving this 5 stars because I consider the messaging extremely thoughtful, intelligent, and ON POINT. Cate Ray expertly incorporates many facts and figures about rape in the UK, making this an educational read as well. And beyond the main theme of the book, she NAILS the power imbalance in Stephanie and Dan's marriage. It really hit close to home for me.

The next reason for my 5 star endorsement is the characters. WOW. Each character is masterfully crafted and intentional with stellar development throughout the book. They each not only represent the three main viewpoints on rape (she deserved it, riding the fence/neutral, and the firm "I'm with her" believer) BUT they also represent the three phases of grief: denial, bargaining, and anger. So, not only do you get a layered look at the WHY behind their beliefs (right back to their childhood) but you see their grief journey toward acceptance. I also appreciated that the author didn't make any of them sexual violence survivors, and therefore not creating an obvious alignment. You don't need to burn yourself to know fire is hot.

This book will certainly be polarizing in the same way as My Dark Vanessa. You will feel frustrated, sad, hopeless, and (hopefully) empowered. LET ME REPEAT MYSELF: If you do not want to get your "SJW" on, then this isn't the book for you. If you want to explore the complexities of society's beliefs about sexual assault and survivors, then this is the one.

I gave this book 4/5 on writing because the style is very particular. It isn't a Shakespearean masterpiece, but I appreciated the lack of closed caption details. The book really hit its stride in the last 50%.

I am so glad I read this. I was highlighting passages like a mf. Thank you Cate Ray for such a powerful book about sexual assault, marriage, and grief.

PROS AND CONS

Pros: character development, expert representation of the three core beliefs about sexual assault and survivors as well as the stages of grief, deep understanding of emotionally abusive relationships, great look at the WHY behind our beliefs, informative stats included

Cons: if I'm being picky, the writing quality wasn't bangerlicious but I don't consider it bad.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was griping, thought-provoking, interesting and compelling. Don't go into it expecting a taut thriller, but there is definitely a suspenseful feel about the story that really draws in the reader.
This is the story of three very different women who one day each receive the same letter, saying that over 20 years ago their husbands all sexually assaulted a young college-aged girl. The men covered up their crime and have gone on with their lives while their victim suffered immensely. The three women who receive the letters must then figure out how to deal with this information... Who really was the victim? Who are the other women who received a letter? What really happened in the past? Could their husbands really be keeping such a horrible secret? How well do they know their spouses? Are their husbands guilty?
A slow-burn mystery, the plot unfolds slowly but in such a way to pull the reader completely in. The book is told in the alternating points-of-view of the three wives, and seeing how each of them do their best to grapple with the information they receive out of the blue truly is compelling. Never once did I get bored or feel like skipping passages as I read about the inner turmoil each woman was going through as they tried to reconcile the husbands that they knew with the ugly crime they were learning more and more about. There were no inner monologues I wanted to skip and I did not want to put the book down. The plot and pacing were great.
The characters of the three women were also very well-drawn and they developed over the course of the story as they went from being totally clueless to wrestling with shocking accusations to determining how to go on with their lives.
The best thing I can say about the book is that it forces the reader to look at hard truths and think about how easily women can become victims and how men (and sometimes even other women) think that victimizing women is perfectly natural. But even in pointing a light at these ideas, the writer and the prose never becomes preachy, self-righteous, or patronizing. I have read many books in which the author was trying to force the reader to "think," but it just made me want to roll my eyes and skip the morality lesson. In this book, the underlying theme felt organic, and somehow subtle yet pervasive and powerful at the same time.
Some may not like the ending, but I didn't have a problem with it. (Another theme in this book is that no one is perfect and we all have our reasons for our actions, whether those reasons are good or bad.)
If you are looking for a captivating slow-burn mystery about how lives can be destroyed when secrets are kept, as well as a well-written book that will force you to think about relevant issues, I would absolutely recommend this book.

The set up for this novel is compelling: three wildly different women-- all happily married, more or less-- receive letters from a dying stranger that claim their husbands committed an unspeakable act decades prior. While their instincts on how to proceed differ, one of the wives bring them together in order to get to the bottom of whether the accusations are true (and what should be done about it if they are).

I think the marketing for this book does it a bit of a disservice. I went in expecting a thriller, but that isn't what this is as at all. That said, I think this book might work for people that enjoy authors like Liane Moriarty that veer harder into women's fiction.

A few stars knocked off for meandering execution.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I wanted to give this book a chance. I thought maybe it was just a slow start but I did not like it. I didn’t like the ending. It never gained my interest. It kept going between different peoples perspectives and I thought it was very confusing. I would not recommend this book.

A book with good potential but just misses the mark. The writing was good and easy the plot and characters just felt a bit flat.

The premise had limited potential and the story never really made it off the starting block. I spent most of the novel wondering what the women involved were trying to achieve and, frankly, I think they did as well.

Three women, living what they believe to be happy, fulfilling lives with loving husbands get the shock of their lives when they are contacted by a young woman who claims to be the end result of the rape of her mother, twenty years earlier by those same loving husbands. Stephanie, Jessica and Priyanka had never met before this terrible accusation, and they want to believe that maybe it was all a misunderstanding. A night of drinking that got out of hand. How can they believe their husbands are capable of such a horrific act of violence? Joining forces, the women delve into the past to uncover the truth, even if it’s not what they are prepared to hear. A pointed and sobering novel about the power of privilege of men and how they use that power over women