A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

Catherine Land answers an ad in the paper for a reliable wife, she sends along a picture with her letter describing herself as a simple and honest woman.  Ralph Truitt is looking for a companion a woman to help spend his days with.  He also wants his astranged son to come home, what he doesn't know is the secrets his son and new wife hold.

When I started reading this book I was sure if I would like it.  It was slow to begin and hard to get past some of the background description and things leading up to the plot twists.  Even then I found myself wanting to skip over parts that got to be boring and long winded.  The plot seemed to be one I had read before.   Woman married a man with a plot to kill him and take his money l.  Granted some aspects of the story are different and unique to Goolrick.I  didn't feel sympathy for any of the characters except for Mrs. Larsen, but she seemed to be the only genuine and hones person in the whole story.  Every one else had their own agendas and seemed to be using each other to meet those agendas.  Truitt came off as being a complete push-over when it came to Catherine even when he figured out what was happening, he didn't care.

It was a little more difficult to get to the end of this one than some of the other books I have read.  I was a little disappointed in it because I heard such great things and I didn't find it to be what others made it out to be.  I can see why a lot of people enjoyed the book, but I think I was expecting more suspense, more action, Truitt putting up more of fight.  The only suspenseful part (if you can say it's suspenseful){SPOILER} was towards the end when Andy tries to rape Catherine and she stabs him. I am not sure what I was expecting.

I would give this book a 3 out of 5 because while there are some things I didn't like about it there were some good points like the descriptions and dialog.  It was a well written book, just a well written book that didn't tickle my fancy.  I am sure other people would enjoy the book.  Even though I was  not a fan of this book, I am interested in reading some of Goolrick's other books to see if I would enjoy them as well because he does have an interesting writing style.