Avery Chambers was never a conventional therapist, but a major mistake got Avery's license revoked, and she's now a 'consultant' to couples who have relationship problems.
Avery's method consists of holding ten sessions with each couple, starting with Confession and progressing through Disruption, Escalation, Revelation, Devastation, Confrontation, Exposure, The Test, Reconciliation, and Promises.
Avery's newest clients are Washington, DC residents Marissa and Matthew Bishop, a wealthy young couple with an 8-year-old son named Bennett.
During the first session, Matthew seems to think he and his wife are there to talk about Bennett, but Marissa immediately confesses she had sex with a man from her gym. Marissa promises it was a one-time thing, she'll never do it again, and she wants Avery to help herself and Matthew heal from her betrayal. Matthew is understandably incandescent with anger, but agrees to attempt to reconcile with Avery's help.
To say Avery has her own methods is an understatement. Avery does background searches on her clients; snoops around their homes, places of business, and neighborhoods; gathers information about their acquaintances and extracurricular activities; follows them; spies on them; and so on.
In the case of the Bishops, Avery soon unearths some strange vibes. Marissa owns a luxury boutique called Coco that sells expensive goods from around the world.
Marissa's new hire, a young woman named Polly, copies Marissa's mannerisms and appearance and seems unusually nosy about Marissa's life.
And Matthew, who's a partner in a D.C. law firm, seems to be overly friendly with a woman named Natalie, a girl he dated in college who's in the same social circle as the Bishops.
As Avery is digging into the Bishops' life and marriage, she's having some troubles of her own. A previous client named Finley had told Avery that the pharmaceutical company she worked for was about to launch a dangerous drug. Finley was too fearful of backlash to inform the FDA, so Avery did it on the FDA's anonymous tipline. However, the company discovered it was Avery, and is now harassing her, determined to find the name of the snitch.
In addition, the extremely controlling wife of a couple Avery (purposely) broke up is causing difficulties.
On the bright side, Avery regularly stops by an animal shelter to take an abused pit bull named Romeo for a run. After a while Avery can no longer resist Romeo's sad face and adopts him for good.
Avery works hard to save the Bishops' marriage and deal with her own problems, but is hampered by the fact that almost everyone in the story is hiding things and keeping secrets.
The story is told from the alternating points of view of Avery and Marissa, and the surprises ratchet up bit by bit to the book's shocking ending. Hendricks and Pekkanen are known for the twists in their books and they don't disappoint here.
Thanks to Netgalley, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, and St. Martin's Press for a copy of the book.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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