Friday Focus: The Friday 56 and 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 a recent read, The Power Couple by Alex Berenson. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library.

 

Beginning: Prologue

Marriage is a mirror.

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Page 56:  He twisted forward to look at her face. He was enjoying himself, she saw. He wanted to feel her fear.

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My thoughts:  On a family vacation to Barcelona with their teenage children, Rebecca and Brian Unsworth discover just how deep the fault lines of their marriage are when their daughter Kira disappears without a trace. The couple present a united front as they work together toward obtaining Kira's release from unknown abductors, but each harbors untold secrets that threaten Kira's safety, the status of their marriage, and their careers.

This fast-paced novel is chilling and breathtaking as ambition and personal agendas play out. What are Rebecca and Brian willing to sacrifice for the safe return of their daughter...and how will their actions and decisions affect their marriage and family?

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From GoodReads: From #1 New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award winner Alex Berenson comes a supercharged thriller about marriage and the dangerous secrets spouses keep.

Rebecca and Brian Unsworth appear to have it all. A nice house in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Two well-behaved, healthy teenage children. Important government jobs—Rebecca working in counterterrorism for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Brian serving as a coder for the National Security Agency. Their lives stand to improve even more as Brian, in his off-hours, has just developed and sold a highly profitable app.

However, the Unsworths’ marriage isn’t as perfect as it seems. After two decades together, they’ve drifted apart, talking little and having sex even less. Seeking to revive their strained relationship, they decide for their twentieth wedding anniversary to take their two kids, Kira and Tony, on a European getaway.

They have a blast…until one night in Barcelona when Kira doesn’t come home from a dance club. She’s gone. Abducted. Over the course of a single weekend, the Unsworths will do everything possible to find her—as Kira herself discovers just how far she’ll go to break free of the trap that’s been set for her. And even as Rebecca and Brian come together for Kira, they realize their marriage is more tenuous than they realized.

The Power Couple is both a fast-paced, globe-trotting espionage novel full of surprising twists and a nuanced look at modern marriage—the challenges of balancing career, parenthood, sex, and love. 

 

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