COVET

A lonely housewife befriends a lonely policeman, and the two begin a platonic but emotionally charged relationship.

When Claire Canton’s husband, Chris, is downsized due to the recession, he becomes angry and depressed, which takes a huge toll on the marriage. After many stressful months of job searching, he finds work, but it is travel-heavy and not nearly as fulfilling as what he had before. Claire reaches out to Chris, but he continually rebuffs her attempts at comfort or empathy, so after a while, she stops trying. Meanwhile, she meets a policeman, Daniel, who connects her with a freelance job for the department, and the project draws them closer together, ultimately leading them into an affair that is sexually platonic but emotionally intimate, and Claire must admit to herself that she has crossed a line. Acknowledging that the only thing that has stopped her from moving into a sexual relationship is Daniel’s unwavering honor makes Claire both more ashamed and more attracted, and she knows that soon she will either have to step back into her marriage or abandon it completely. Claire and Chris live in an upscale neighborhood, surrounded by seemingly perfect homes populated by seemingly perfect neighbors, but as Claire comes closer to questionable actions she never thought herself capable of, she learns that all is not what it seems in many of her friends’ lives. The book is told mainly in the first person from Claire’s perspective, with occasional glimpses of Daniel’s and Chris’ thoughts and emotions. Perhaps a little too pat an ending, but overall, a satisfying read.

A realistic, engaging portrayal of one woman’s marriage in crisis and the choices she makes for the sake of love and self.