Jodi and Todd are at a bad place in their marriage. Both are at the mercy of their unrelenting wants and needs, and both are unaware that the path they are on is careening toward murder. Much is at stake, including the affluent life they lead in their beautiful waterfront condo in Chicago, as she, the killer, and he, the victim, rush haplessly toward the main event, oblivious of the destiny they are jointly creating, caught in the thrall of disaster unfolding.
Chapter by chapter, the narrative evolves from their alternating perspectives. He is a committed cheater. She lives and breathes denial. He exists in dual worlds. She likes to settle scores. He decides to play for keeps. She has nothing left to lose. The alternating voices pitch the reader back and forth between protagonists in conflict who are fighting for self-preservation, both of them making deeply consequential mistakes, behaving in ever more foolhardy ways, losing at the games they’re playing.
The Silent Wife is a finely wrought, emotionally charged psychological thriller about a marriage in the throes of dissolution, a couple headed for catastrophe, concessions that can’t be made, and promises that won’t be kept. Expertly plotted and reminiscent of Gone Girl and These Things Hidden, The Silent Wife ensnares the reader from page one and doesn’t let go.

A.S.A. Harrison is the author of four non-fiction books. The Silent Wife is her debut novel and she was at work on a new psychological thriller when she died in 2013. Harrison was married to the visual artist John Massey and lived in Toronto.

A.S.A. Harrison's profile page

"A.S.A. Harrison knocks it out of the park with her first novel The Silent Wife. With a spare, elegant, and deft hand, she paints two dueling psychological portraits of longtime live-in lovers who become putative killer and hapless victim in a tale that no one is likely to forget any time soon. I couldn't put this book down." - Elizabeth George, New York Times bestselling author of Believing the Lie
“What a deliciously wicked pleasure The Silent Wife was to read. I love books where I can’t guess the outcome although I was rooting for Jodi all the way. A very clever, very funny comedy of manners spliced with a domestic thriller.” - Kate Atkinson, New York Times bestselling author of Life After Life and Case Histories
“Like a tiny crack in the windshield of destiny, The Silent Wife examines the ultimate shattering of a perfectly civilized marriage. Intense, hypnotic, and thoroughly absorbing, Harrison challenges her characters to venture beyond their comfort zones, into a world where anything is possible, even murder." - Elizabeth Brundage, author of A Stranger Like You and The Doctor's Wife
“A.S.A. Harrison's The Silent Wife is a chilling portrait of a relationship gone terribly awry. Harrison takes the reader down a wickedly twisted path that has us at once rooting for and wary of the protagonists. A breathtaking story that will keep you reading well into the night and wide awake long after the final page.” - Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author
“A gripping story of deception, denial and double-edged revenge. The Silent Wife combines taut pacing and psychological nuance to haunting and memorable effect.” - Nancy Richler, author of national bestseller and Giller Prize nominated The Imposter Bride
“Beautifully written and deeply unsettling, this darkly funny examination of what happens when you've got nothing left to lose is also brilliantly addictive. It left me almost breathless as I raced towards the devastating finale.” - S.J. Watson, bestselling author of Before I Go To Sleep
“SUPERB . . . As a novel about the dark side of marriage and relationships, it's better than Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. A must read for anyone who is occasionally ruthless, reckless or psychologically weird - and anyone who loves clever books with depth and heart.” - Sophie Hannah, bestselling author of Kind of Cruel and Room Swept White