Goodnight Beautiful

After moving from New York City to the suburbs, newlyweds Sam and Annie are forced to adjust to their new surroundings.  Sam, a psychiatrist, thinks the stars have aligned in his favor when an opportunity to rent his dream office space quite literally falls into his lap.  The landlord refuses to accept rent payments; instead, Sam pays his rent fees by serving as a handyman completing various home improvement jobs around the old building.  His patients see him regularly and discuss their various life issues.  Unbeknownst to them, someone besides Sam is listening to every word that they say.  Suddenly, Sam disappears without a trace.  Annie, a college professor, insists something horrible has happened.  She believes that Sam has either been injured in a horrible accident…or worse.  Unfortunately, finding others who share her beliefs that Sam is a victim is proving to be quite difficult.  It’s a race against time to find Sam and, just when you think you have it figured out, think again.

• Why I read it: Recommendation in a Facebook book group
• Trigger Warnings: violence, infidelity, mental health

This book was a very quick read.  It was fast paced and didn’t give too many details that were irrelevant or confusing.  I loved the way the author wove together the stories and perspectives of both reliable and unreliable narrators.   I was anticipating a twist, but the author still surprised me with the reveal. I really liked how Malloy used inner dialogue and flashbacks for the characters.  It felt like I was both reading the book and watching the story unfold on a television screen.

I was still expecting another twist later in the book, so I was kind of disappointed by the ending.  The ending felt very, very rushed in my opinion.