Review: Jill Is Not Happy – Kaira Rouda

Bonfire of the Vanities meets War of the Roses in this latest thriller from the USA Today bestselling author of Best Day Ever and The Next Wife, in which an ill-fated road trip resurrects a married couple's darkest secrets.

Some secrets keep a couple together.

If you ask Jill Tingley, she’ll tell you she and her husband Jack are college sweethearts living the dream in Southern California. Wealthy, popular and genetically blessed, theirs is an enviable life, though they’ve grown distant in recent years. Newly empty nesting with their daughter Maggie away at college, Jill suggests a road trip to reconnect.

Jack would rather do anything else than drive to Utah with his wife. He’s only stayed in this marriage because of a shared secret, a tragedy in the past he wanted to keep buried. And for his daughter’s sake. But Jack is finished with the charade of his marriage. He’s filing for divorce as soon as they return, no matter what.

But he doesn’t realize what else Jill is hiding.

So begins a cat-and-mouse road trip as a cunning wife―think Ripley in yoga pants―and a reluctant husband match wits and drive each other to the edge. But everything will be fine. Jill still loves Jack and believes he’s the only one for her. She’ll do anything to keep him. Anything. She always has.

Every single time I pick up a book by Kaira Rouda, I know she is about to play with my head. Jill Is Not Happy took me exactly where I expected her to go but somehow still caught me off guard.

Jill and Jack Tingley look like they have the dream life. They are living in Southern California, financially set, and finally getting a break with their daughter away at college. But once you start turning the pages, you quickly realize nothing about their marriage is what it seems. Jill suggests a road trip to Utah to reconnect. Jack agrees, but his bags are already packed emotionally. As soon as they get back, he plans to end the marriage for good. What Jack does not know is that Jill has been playing a completely different game.

Kaira Rouda writes women like Jill so well. Calculated. Cold. And completely convinced that love is enough to justify anything. Jill will stop at nothing to hold onto Jack. Nothing is off limits for her and as a reader you cannot help but sit back and watch it all unfold. The tension is steady. The mind games are strong. And just when you think you have it figured out, Rouda drops another layer that makes you pause.

This book is not just about secrets. It is about obsession. It is about control. It is about how far someone is willing to go to hold on to the life they built, even if that life has cracks all the way through. Kaira Rouda knows how to create characters that make you uncomfortable in the best way. You may not root for any of them but you will not be able to stop reading.

Jill Is Not Happy is another strong entry from an author who knows how to write twisted relationships that pull you in and refuse to let go.

Reviewed by: Orsayor

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