Book Club Reporter Book Reviews

Unfaithful - Psychological Thriller Novel Book Club Reporter Book Review

December 13, 2020 Laura Jay Season 2 Episode 31
Book Club Reporter Book Reviews
Unfaithful - Psychological Thriller Novel Book Club Reporter Book Review
Show Notes Transcript

Unfaithful - Psychological Thriller Novel Book Club Reporter Book Review

Here is Book Club Reporter, Laura Jay’s book review of: Unfaithful,  a psychological thriller, contemporary fiction novel written by Natalie Barelli.

“Psychological thriller fans will undoubtedly relish this faced-paced story. “ - Laura Jay, Book Club Reporter

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00:00

Music Intro

 

00:08

Hello

 

Hello gentle readers. Welcome to Book Club Reporter Book Reviews Podcast. I’m your host and Book Club Reporter, Laura Jay. 

 

00:16

Season/Episode

 

This is Season 2 Episode 31

 

00:21

Unfaithful

 

Today I am sharing with you my Book Club Reporter book review of: Unfaithful by Natalie Barelli. It’s a psychological thriller novel.

 

00:32

Before We Get Started

 

And before we get started, be sure to read all my book reviews, book news, book club reading lists and more at bookclubreporter.com. And you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Just take a look at the show notes for this podcast for all the info and links.

 

00:52

About Unfaithful

 

Fast-paced psychological thriller Unfaithful, brings readers smart, engaging characters. Unfaithful is a novel packed with a level of complexity that will keep readers engrossed in the story. Think of it as a cozy mystery on steroids. The cast of characters are educated, intelligent and successful people. Yet, in spite of their intelligence level, Barelli’s characters fall prey to the same doubts, and exhibit the same character flaws of anyone else. So, while there may be some characters in this story with whom you feel an affinity, there will most probably be some characters you won’t particularly like…oh now…come on…hang on, just keep on reading. 

 

 

01:38

Publisher Book Description

 

Okay, before I share my book review of Unfaithful, I will give you some background on the story by providing you with the publisher’s book description:

 

“Thank you,” I say sweetly when she tells me I’m lucky to have such a beautiful family. But I want to tell her it’s not just luck. A family is like a fortress you have to defend all the time. You can’t relax because there’s always someone looking for a breach, always someone trying to get in. Someone just like her…

When I arrive unannounced at my husband’s studio in need of a shoulder to cry on after hearing that my best student, Alex, has died, I see a pair of wine glasses drying by the sink and my deepest fear is confirmed: my husband is having an affair. Most women would fall to their knees in tears and throw him out of the house–but I just can’t bring myself to do it. Instead, I go home, I cook a healthy dinner for our children, walk the dog and unload the dishwasher without complaint. I will make him see that I’m still the woman he married; attractive, successful, the glue that holds our perfect family together.

I need this marriage to work to protect a terrible secret of my own, something that would destroy everything I’ve already sacrificed so much for. But when the police arrive at my door asking questions about Alex’s death that I can’t answer, and threatening text messages start appearing on my phone, I know that someone close has been watching me very carefully. The truth is, there are three people in my marriage, but only one of them is deadly…

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If you’ve heard my Buzz Sprout podcasting ad before just go ahead and skip forward one minute and you’ll get right back to the book review.

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04:50

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04:51

Book Club Reporter Book Review:

 

So here we go, getting back to my book review. So the publisher’s description kind of gives you an idea of maybe the frame of mind that the wife is going through at that particular time. I guess it’s kind of normal. Who can say what normal reactions are to believing that your spouse is cheating on you? And you’ve got a couple of kids. And, you’ve got a great job, but there is pressure there. Anyway, let’s just take it from there.

 

As far as, the author, Natalie Barelli, while it may seem Barelli created a cast of dichotomous characters, some all good and some all bad. I hazard to say all the characters were bad. Well…except for one, maybe. However, I believe Barelli created authentic characters who displayed the ability to show both their bad and their good sides or, okay, maybe their bad side, and their not so bad side? And for sure, some of the characters took advantage of their surroundings as to how good or bad they might behave at any given time.

 

Now while I was contemplating what to say about the characters in Unfaithful, an old song by the Doors came to mind. So, rather than spouting any spoilers, which I Never do anyway, I will instead quote these song lyrics written by Jim Morrison, who you may or may not know, was the lead-singer of The Doors:

 

“People are strange when you're a stranger
Faces look ugly when you're alone
Women seem wicked when you're unwanted
Streets are un…even when you're down”

 

Okay, so if you know anything about Jim Morrison, you probably are also aware, people admired him but, while I loved his lyrics (which were actually poems he wrote), Morrison had a side of him which I found to be less than admirable. And that kind of sets the stage for the characters of Unfaithful. 

And to make a case for, and further expound upon that train of thought, I came up with this quote from the very first Rocky movie (yeah, the 1976 Rocky movie), as I think it speaks to the relationship of the husband and wife in Unfaithful. Except Rocky wasn’t unfaithful, ha-ha. Okay, good for you Rocky! Yay! 

Here is what Rocky said about himself and the quiet and painfully shy Adrian in a conversation with Adrian’s brother Paulie: 

Paulie: You like her?
Rocky: Sure, I like her.
Paulie: What's the attraction?
Rocky: I dunno... she fills gaps.
Paulie: What's “gaps”?
Rocky: I dunno, she's got gaps, I got gaps, together we fill gaps.

 

Okay so, along those same lines,  there’s a lot of “gap filling” going on between the husband and wife characters in Unfaithful…but that’s pretty much normal in almost every relationship…am I right?

 

So, I imagine now that I have made that about as clear as mud. But here is what else I have to say about Unfaithful. Psychological-thriller fans will undoubtedly relish this fast-paced story. There is no doubt, I was mesmerized by Natalie Barelli’s expert writing. This is my first reading of a book by Barelli. Do you know how it goes when you are deciding whether or not to invest your time in reading a book by an author with whom you are not yet familiar?

 

There’s always a bit of doubt of whether you will enjoy the author’s writing style and overall treatment of the story. Thankfully, my concerns were quickly assuaged as I began reading Unfaithful. And, soon  there was no more doubt, as I became immediately and entirely engaged in this swift moving story.

 

 

08:56

About the Author*

 

Here is a little bit about the author: 

 

You will usually find Natalie Barelli reading a book, and that book will more likely than not be a psychological thriller. Then Natalie decided to write one, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. When not absorbed in the latest gripping page-turner, Natalie rides motorcycles, knits very badly and spends far too much time at the computer. She lives in rural NSW, in Australia. 

 

09:29

Thank You

 

Thank you for joining me today for this book club reporter book review. If you would like to read my full review of today’s novel, or a copy of the book, go to my blog site BookClubReporter.com and be sure to check out the show notes of this podcast. I hope you enjoyed this book review. And if you did, please take a moment to subscribe to this podcast, because I have many more book reviews on the way for you.

 

 09:56

About Podcast Transcript

 

Oh, and I wanted to be sure and let you know that, in addition to the show notes, I also included a transcript of this podcast and that is something that I started doing just a few podcast episodes ago. So if you’re thinking about  maybe for your book club reading Unfaithful, by Natalie Barelli, then the transcript of this podcast that I included, could be helpful for you, as far as going through the book and coming up with some questions. You could ask people how they felt about the characters (some all bad/some all good/somewhere in between) and that sort of thing. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that’s there for you use.

 

 

10:40

A Cup of Coffee

 

Oh! And something else, kind of exciting, besides the fact that I’m using Buzzsprout to try to help you all get started with your own podcast, and get a twenty-dollar gift certificate with a pre-paid plan with Buzzsprout. And they’re great. They have lots of YouTube videos to show you how to do just about everything you need to know and, even questions about what kind of equipment do you need for what you want to do. And if that’s not your “cup of tea” then there is something else I am also excited about, that I was able to add in the Show Notes, and that is that you can buy me a cup of coffee, if you like! So if you are enjoying my podcast episodes and if you’re feeling like you would like to do a little something for me, you can look for that link to buy me a cup of coffee. And that link is down in the Show Notes.

 

11:38

 

Thanks 

 

Thanks again for joining me. I’ll see you next time. See, you next time.

 

11:51

 

The End