The Husbands book review. A feminist thriller. review by @duffythewriter

Smart, sharp and timely, The Husbands imagines a world where the burden of the ‘second shift’ is equally shared – and what it might take to get there. If you love the novels of Liane Moriarty, Celeste Ng and Sally Hepworth you will devour The Husbands.

To what lengths would you go for just a little more help from your husband? By the author of New York Times bestseller WHISPER NETWORK comes a thrilling, insightful, page-turning novel imagining a world where family work is equally shared

Welcome to the neighbourhood. We do things differently here.

Recently, Nora has started to feel that ‘having it all’ – a family, a soon-to-be new house, a successful career in law – comes with a price, one her husband doesn’t seem to be paying quite so heavily. She loves Hayden, but why is it that, however hard men work, their wives always seem to work that much harder?

Then her house-hunting takes them to an affluent suburban neighbourhood and Nora’s eyes are opened to a new world. One where women can have it all. One where the men actually pull their weight.

But a wrongful death case involving one of the local residents draws Nora further into this perfect world and she begins to realise that the secret of ‘having it all’ is far more complicated than she could ever have imagined. In fact, it may be worth killing for…

Duffy’s thoughts on The Husbands

I wasn’t sure how I would go with The Husbands. I’m not married. I have a partner who pretty much shares the load 50/50, and he doesn’t expect me to do everything. I don’t have kids. So I don’t feel tied down, and I don’t know what it feels like to be a mother, trying to carve out a career and then come home to feed and bath the kids and then organise school fees and lunchboxes.

However, I do know what it’s like to be a woman in a male-dominated career environment and, well, a woman in a man’s world.

Chandler Baker writes with a laser focus on the minutiae of a working woman’s life. Nora is a great central character, and although our lives are worlds apart, I found her a genuine and relatable character. I loved the suspense, which slowly built as the new characters who live in an exclusive neighbourhood appeared. But, a neighbourhood that Nora believes will give her a chance to have it all. Will moving into this exclusive estate give Nora everything she could possibly want?

I did feel about two-thirds that the “women do everything, men do nothing” theme was getting a little tired and repetitive. However, the ending distracted me enough to enjoy The Husbands on the whole.

A suspenseful feminist thriller, with a distinct Get Out vibe!

The Husbands is available now from Booktopia and all good book stores published by Hachette