This book was dark, addictive and psychotic. I didn't particularly like any of the characters but that didn't make the story any less enjoyable.

A Happy Marriage by A.R. Torre is an over the top domestic thriller. The story is intense, unhinged and a page turner. Joe and Dinah were very unlikable So many unanswered questions as to the motives for the couple's behavior, their backgrounds, etc. After finishing the book one question keeps running through my mind.....WHY?

Thank you to the author, Thomas & Mercer, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

A Happy Marriage is a rollercoaster with some great twists and turns! What starts as a detective story and portrait of her marriage morphs in to much more beneath the surface. Unreliable narrators. Unhinged. Unreal. This story kept me pulled in unable to wait and see how it would end.

An excellent read for any and all readers! Author comes at you with both barrels and knocks you out of your shoes! Great job fleshing out all the characters. I give this book FIVE stars! Definitely recommend!

“You are the gift that keeps on giving, one I am beginning to regret purchasing”

This is my favorite book by A.R. Torre, I’ve read so far.
What is “A Happy Marriage”? Is it real or is it a balance between good and bad?
I enjoy reading psychological thrillers and this book explores the complexities of marriage, loyalty, trust and what holds a marriage together. Can a happy marriage between Dinah and Joe be undone once the secrets come to the surface?

The alternating multiple POVs made it interesting to explore the characters, their storyline and the mystery that surrounds them.
The story is addictive, fast paced, suspenseful, and i could not put this book down until i finished it.

A big thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A Happy Marriage by A. R. Torre. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Another great book by the demented mind of A.R. Torre. Dinah is a homicide detective and her husband Joe is a murderous psychiatrist. Together they have the perfect life, all but 1 secret. When A local women goes missing their secrets begin to unravel

A.R. Torre consistently publishes books that hook you early on, make you think you know what’s happening, and then come full circle with a plausible-esque ending. A Happy Marriage was no different! I enjoyed this book as a dual storyline, dual PO perspective that follows a married couple who devote themselves to each other. A psychologist and a homicide detective with LAPD, they seem to have a perfect marriage- on the outside. But secrets don’t stay buried and it isn’t long until their weakness starts to show. Suspend belief for a few hundred pages and enjoy this novel for what it is!

I really enjoyed this twisted story of what constitutes a happy marriage. Once I started reading, I couldn't put it down. I got to chapter 38 because I needed to go to sleep! Quick read, warped, all the things to keep you interested.

Whoa!! I should have known after reading “The last party” what I’d be getting into with this story! A wild storyline that you don’t see coming…

This one will definitely keep you on your toes. A husband and wife pair that has a ton of secrets. Will their secrets destroy them in the end or will they unite for a shared goal? This book is better to go into blind so so don’t ruin all the surprises!

I have tried to write the review for this book three times and have deleted it over and over. There doesn’t seem to be a simple way to talk about the plot without giving away the multitude of twists and layers to the relationship between Dinah and Joe, the intricacies of both of their jobs, and how those jobs seem to overlap.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced digital copy.

What in the deranged soap opera did I just read? Addictive? Yes. Unhinged? Yes. Disturbing? Yes. Far fetched and a little ridiculous? Also, yes. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

I flew through this book! I love all of Torre’s books and this was no exception. I loved and loved to hate the main players in the story, was trying to unlock all the details as I quickly devoured the text, and the book still managed to surprise me! Definitely give this book a try - it was awesome!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to review my first advanced digital book! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really respect Torre’s ability to pen a captivating psychological thriller. This makes the third book I’ve read by Torre and I’ve really enjoyed them. She has a knack for hooking you from the first page and keeping you up all night until you’ve read an entire book in one sitting.

Though I did read this in just a few days time, I felt like I knew what was going to happen from the very beginning. I don’t want to say it was entirely predictable, but I think the cat was let out of the bag really early on in this book. That’s not to say I wasn’t intrigued to see how it all unraveled. The characters were super unlikable, had odd motives and I guess I just really wanted to know “Why” at the end, and never got that. I appreciate her approach to writing this as it is unique, though this wasn’t my favorite read of hers.

For those of you who love a face paced psychological thriller, I don’t think this will disappoint. If you feed off of deeply flawed characters and true crime, this one’s for you.

From its chilling opening, A Happy Marriage draws readers into a world of tension, manipulation, and unsettling secrets. The story follows Dinah and Joe, a married couple whose seemingly ordinary relationship is anything but. As the narrative unfolds, it becomes clear that both are hiding dark truths, and their marriage is a carefully constructed façade built on deception.

The dynamic between Dinah and Joe is tense and unpredictable, with trust hanging by a fragile thread. The story builds steadily, offering surprising twists that keep the suspense high. The pacing is fast, making it a hard book to put down.

While A Happy Marriage is an unhinged, thrilling page-turner, the ending doesn’t quite live up to the intensity of the rest of the book, leaving some parts feeling rushed. Nevertheless, it’s a compelling read for fans of psychological thrillers with dark, complex, and unhinged characters.

A.R Torre's A Happy Marriage is a psychological thriller that takes you on a gripping ride full of twists, secrets, and lies. From the very first page, this book had me hooked, yanking me in every direction as i tried (and failed) to figure out what was happening. The suspense and thrill were relentless, keeping me glued to my kindle and screaming at the characters along the way.

The story centers on Dinah Marino, a homicide detective with a messy, complicated personal life and an even messier inner world. Dinah is...a lot!!! She is a walking RED FLAG—a deeply flawed, insufferable protagonist with some serious mommy-issues. Her inner dialogue, shaped by a traumatic past, paints a vivid picture of her struggles, but it doesn't make her any easier to root for. There were moments i was screaming at my kindle, wanting to throw the damn thing. I'm surprised i didn't roll my eyes in the back of my head.

Her husband, Joe is the complete opposite...or he just hides his flaws better. He was so very calm, steady, and almost too good to be true. A doctor with Bradley Cooper looks, he's painted as the perfect partner, but to be honest, nothing is as it seems. The book does a brilliant job exploring the idea of a seemingly perfect marriage and peeling back the layers to reveal the cracks beneath the surface.

As Dinah works a case involving a murder and a missing girl, the story plunges her deeper into a web of lies and secrets. While I'm not usually a fan of gory details, Torre's writing had me turning pages faster than i could keep up. The pacing is impeccable, and the constant twists left me guessing until the very end.

A Happy Marriage is an intense, thrilling read that delivers suspense. It definitely had me covering my eyes, peaking through my fingers at some parts. While the FMC might drive you up the wall, this will FOR SURE be a hard to put down read for anyone who starts this book!!!

"Dr. Joe just pimp-slapped his nurse" HAD ME DYING LOL

Ooof okay, I actually really enjoyed this story lol so don't let the 3 stars fool you. I just had a couple of issues that dropped it down a bit.

I don't want to go into any real summary of the plot because there's so much that I don't want to give away or say. But, we follow our FMC, Dinah and her husband, Joe - she's a police detective in the LA County area, he's a psychiatric doctor of some kind.

This could have totally been a me thing, but, as soon as we jump in, I was a little confused at first. There's a lot of names thrown out and it took just a little bit to get my footing, as to who was who etc. But once I did, it was off to the races.

The story had me hooked right away and I was flipping through the pages like a mad woman, I had my theories lol and while I was correct in some things, I did get some twisty surprises.

Honestly, I'm a little conflicted with how I feel about this one, because it went a little like this :

While reading the story I was hooked and couldn't wait to find out what happened even though things seemed a little wild, my theories a little out there, I still couldn't put the book down.

After finishing the book and reflecting, it feels messy, over the top and ridiculous.

A Happy Marriage is an addictive and compulsive read. An unhinged and over the top entertaining story from cover to cover... just prepare to suspend your disbelief.

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Many thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the complementary advanced digital copy, all thoughts are my own. 💐

My Rating: 3⭐️⭐️⭐️ this was on track for 5…but alas we didn’t get there!!!

The Goodreads synopsis is pretty good for this one so if you are here I would assume you have read that… so I won’t recap. My review could be pretty long and involved but… I wont do any spoilers so I will stick to my main points Spoiler Free!!

First of all, I was keen for this one, I requested it pretty quick. Love the idea of it…knew it would be twisty and I was making predictions all the way through. I was obsessed and since its under 300 pages I was blasting through it and couldn’t wait to finish it… at about 75% it got…. Unhinged and a bit out of hand!!

I mean it was unhinged the whole way through but… it went bonkers even for me. I’ll go into the things I liked about it.

No surprise ghosts, I read a book by this author and one of the characters was dead and floating around and I didn’t know that first when I picked it up but also not while they were doing it for a while… that pissed me off so much. I don’t like supernatural elements in thrillers, that is not thrilling UNLESS I am forewarned and I go in ready to roll with ghosts!! This book had none of that nonsense so super plus!!

I loved the writing style, short sentences, short chapters easy to read. I also love a multi-POV book and this one was great. We had the wife and the husband and a trapped POV one of my faves (sicko I know) even though it was a different type of trapped… I will let you read it to find out. But I really enjoyed the writing that was a big plus for me. It made ripping through the pages so easy.

I quite liked the FMC Dinah, until I didn’t but she was written well but I had thoughts and plans for her that didn’t eventuate and I didn’t love the direction she ended up.

My peeves for this one weren’t so much that it was far fetched and unhinged IT WAS MASSIVELY but it was how much further into la la land it went at the end. I promised no spoilers so I will give nothing away but it just got a bit stupid even for this kind of story. I was left pretty disappointed… I distinctly remember when I dragged myself away from it to eat my lunch (know this I was captivated until it got wild), I was raving on and on about it to my husband and I was going it could do this, or that or this could happen…oooh if this happened that would be awesome and I would be like…eeeee yeah!!! So animated with a mouthful of chicken sandwich.

BUT… it didn’t go my way and I am know author of course but I was left meh about the way it did go. I think it was fine… I think people will LOVE the absolute hell out of it… but I was kind of mehhh whatever.

Overall, it was well on track for 5 and it would have been my first 5 for 2025 (so elusive) but it wasn’t meant to be. So I am giving it a three with a BUT the masses and the super fans will love this. My peeves will not bother most of you and for my friends who loved the latest Alice Feeney book this is a 10 compared to that in my opinion so definitely don’t be disheartened by what I am going to tout as my outlier opinion. I am just hard to please 🤣 most of you will love this and I am so glad!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and the author for an ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley & Thomas & Mercer for giving me the opportunity to read this ebook in advance!

A Happy Marriage by A. R. Torre will be released on June 24th and this is the perfect fast thriller to bring with you during your summer holidays!
Synopsis: Detective Dinah Marino has spent ten years keeping a secret from her psychiatrist husband, Joe—one she’d take to the grave. But when a missing woman from Dinah’s case turns up at Joe’s hospital, his doctor-patient confidentiality puts their marriage on shaky ground. As the investigation unfolds, buried lies surface, and the cracks in their perfect life could turn deadly.
It's so twisty but so good I highly recommend this book if you like twists, revelations and complicated relationships!

I thought this book was twisted and diabolical. Throughout this book I never knew who to trust and I was on the edge of my seat. It was addictive and pretty fast paced.

One thing I’ll say is that it felt pretty plot forward, which I don’t mind but I do think the story would’ve benefited from a bit more backstory on Joe and Dinah. That being said, it wasn’t a dealbreaker and I rated it 4.25 stars

Dinah Marino got lucky when she married Joe. Dr. Joe Marino is a clinical psychologist who is a doting and attentive husband. Dinah is a homicide detective who needs to decompress from her caseload and Joe is her guy who listens and comforts her. They are a team who has each other’s backs. They are the ideal partnership of love and support.
…
Dinah’s recent case involves a suicide and missing girl. Her last partner is gone and Frank was assigned to shadow with her. Dinah works best alone. She doesn’t want or need Frank breathing down her neck about his theories. To placate him they begin building a case against Jessica the missing girl. He’s convinced she killed her mother. When they begin searching for Jessica Dinah gets herself tangled up in an investigation.
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A Happy Marriage is about the secrets and lies Joe and Dinah are keeping from each other. Eventhough, they have a rock solid marriage. This most recent case tests the foundation of trust they built with each other.
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AR Torre knows her way around a psychological thriller. She’s my go to author when I’m in need for a good book. She delivers a twisted story. Stories built upon secrets don’t usually arouse interest in me. AR Torre took this story to a new level. Without giving away all her trade secrets I’ll just say it’s a whirlwind of excitement. I still have questions about the type of research Joe was conducting, but the final conclusion delivered a rather interesting ending. I was satisfied with its results.