The Book:
Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy, 2020
The Characters:
Therapist Sam Statler and his wife Annie Potter
The Plot (from Goodreads):
Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are head over heels, and excited to say good-bye to New York and start a life together in Sam’s sleepy hometown in upstate New York. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele.
Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist’s wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn’t satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie’s happily ever after.
The Twist:
The second narrator is not Sam’s wife Annie, it is his landlord. The landlord is male–I listened to this as an audiobook, and they had a female narrator read the landlord’s chapters. I’m not sure if this was to throw me off the scent and make the second narrator sound like Sam’s wife, or what. I wish I read this as a physical book to make my own assumptions instead of having them forced on me.
The French patient, Charlie, is actually Annie. She and Sam play a role-playing game, so she showed up at his office as a surprise.
Albert the landlord kidnaps Sam on the night of the storm. Sam tries his best to win Albert over. He almost escapes but is caught.
Albert was the biological son of the woman whose historical house he lived in (Sam’s office was in the basement). He had kidnapped Sam to help him get over his abandonment issues.
The Ending:
Sam almost convinces Albert to let him go. Then Annie shows up after figuring out that Albert was the kidnapper. Albert kills himself with pills and by chance, his neighbor comes into his house and finds Sam and Annie.
The Review:
I definitely thought this one lived up to the hype. I loved it! The past few “thrillers” I’ve read have been closer to dramas or slow mysteries, but this one proved to be a true psychological thriller. It was fast-paced and enthralling, and I thoroughly enjoyed all of the characters.
It won’t do readers any justice to say much more about the plot. (You’re probably sick of hearing this but) it’s definitely better to go in blind.
I would definitely recommend reading a physical copy of this book, rather than listening to an audiobook. I didn’t realize this was the author of The Perfect Mother until after I finished reading Goodnight Beautiful. Both of her books were great!
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