Jodi Brett is beautiful, rich and intelligent. A psychotherapist, she is also, as A.S.A. Harrison's debut opens, "deeply unaware that her life is now peaking ... that a few short months are all it will take to make a killer of her." Because her partner of 20 years, Todd Gilbert, never a faithful man, has fallen for someone else and is leaving her.
Set in Chicago, "The Silent Wife" switches between Todd and Jodi's perspectives. Neither of them is easy to warm to; both are damaged products of difficult upbringings. She is all about appearances, happy to pretend she doesn't know about Todd's numerous infidelities while keeping a perfect home for him: roses which "bloom profusely from scattered vases," cold white wine left open for his return home, crackers topped with smoked oysters in case he's hungry.