As Long As We Both Shall Live by Joann Chaney

“If you try to kill your wife without a plan, you will fail.” If that opening grabs you, you’re going to love As Long As We Both Shall Live by Joann Chaney. Matt and Marie go on a hiking trip to rekindle the romance in their twenty-year marriage. They hike a steep trail to a scenic overlook of the mountains above and the raging river below. But Matt comes running back down the trail yelling that he thinks his wife is dead. Marie fell off a cliff into the swollen waters of the river. A fall no one could have survived.

It looks like a tragic accident. Then some other campers show up who heard a woman scream “Please, don’t.” Then it turns out Matt has been married before. Matt’s first wife died unexpectedly. So is Matt unlucky? Or a murderer?

From the opening page, Joann Chaney lets you know that this book is going to be fun. Twisted, delicious, full of surprises fun. If you didn’t need your fingers to turn the page you might read the book with them steepled in front of your face and cackling menacingly. Chaney takes you along for a ride of cat and mouse. You are alternatively the hunter and the chased. Her characters are well drawn and charismatic and full of surprises. You quickly learn not to trust what you think you know as everything you find out changes what you’ve learned before. Jumping back and forth in time you cover the events leading up to the fateful day on the edge of a cliff as well as the events that follow. Perspective switches between the husband and wife as well as the cops investigating them. Each one of them has secrets. Each set of facts has more than one explanation. This book is a rollercoaster ride of fun.

Chaney’s writing is compelling and pulls you into the story with her rich character development and masterful plot construction. You will be sure you know what happened several times, and most likely be wrong each time. The jumping between timelines and between characters propels the book forward at a breakneck pace making it nearly impossible to put the book down. As Long As We Both Shall Live is going to have a lot of people talking and may turn out to be one of the best thrillers of the year. Highly recommended.

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.

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