Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.

Today I'm featuring an upcoming read, Exhibit Alexandra by Natasha Bell.  The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library.

 

  

Beginning:  Thursday, February 21, 2013

The Beginning

 

Marc sat on the bottom stair and tried not to think the worst.  The voice continued: "The vast majority of people return safe and well within the first forty-eight hours, Mr. Southwood.  There's no need to panic."  There was a pause.  Marc knew he should take comfort from this.  Sit tight and wait for his wife to return with a perfectly reasonable explanation.

 

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Page 56:  I remember those first months as blissful, but I know they were also tainted for Marc by his concern that I would regret staying.  He tried to hide it but I knew.

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My thoughts:  I'm always intrigued by stories about the relationship between spouses and the inner workings of marriages, so I'm looking forward to reading this psychological thriller.

Note:  This book has also been published under the title His Perfect Wife.

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From Goodreads:  A shocking, original psychological thriller about a mother gone missing and the family she leaves behind, ultimately proving how unknowable even those closest to us can be.

Alexandra Southwood is missing. Held in a room against her will, she's forced to imagine how her husband, Marc, and two daughters are coping in the wake of her disappearance. She's shown news clips of Marc, desperately appealing to the public for information on her whereabouts. She tortures herself with visions of her family's devastated new reality. She thinks of what's lost, remembering the beginnings of her romance with Marc and the beautiful family they built together.

Marc's pain is visceral. He thinks of nothing but his wife. He shifts from utter despair to frantic action, and when the police discover Alexandra's bloody belongings by the river, turning their missing-persons case into a murder investigation, he cannot accept that she is lost to him. He embarks on his own journey, through the dark maze of the art world that so gripped his wife, following a trail that leads him to find answers to questions he never meant to ask.

 

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This Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com.  It cannot be republished without attribution. Sharing this original post on Twitter, Google+ and/or other blogs with appropriate recognition is appreciated.