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Book Summary and Reviews of Good Husbands by Cate Ray

Good Husbands by Cate Ray

Good Husbands

A Novel

by Cate Ray

  • Readers' Rating (26):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2022, 352 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

Three wives, one letter, and an explosive secret that will change everything.

He said, she said. Who do you believe?

Jessica, Stephanie and Priyanka are complete strangers, but they have one thing in common: they've each received a letter accusing their husbands of committing a sexual assault more than two decades prior. Is the accusation true or is there more to the story? It was a secret that remained buried for years.

With their worlds suddenly turned upside down, they don't know who to trust—a complete stranger or the men they love and built their lives with. The three women come together to embark on a hunt for the truth, but they are hardly prepared for what they will discover. Who is the victim, and will justice ultimately be served?

Releasing simultaneously in hardcover and paperback

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"An emotional and powerfully evocative story. Ray has expertly crafted a thoughtful and important read that ends with a stunning surprise." - Liv Constantine, bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish

"Multilayered, unflinchingly honest, and teeming with nerve-shattering suspense, Good Husbands by Cate Ray had me flying through the pages. Ray has created a much needed space for complex conversations surrounding consent and whether we really know the people we love. An absolute triumph." - Heather Gudenkauf, bestselling author of The Overnight Guest

"The most riveting and unflinching he said/she said novel to date, Good Husbands follow three women whose lives are set on a collision course upon the arrival of an unsettling letter about each of their husbands. Absolutely staggering, insanely gripping, and wholly unputdownable, this riveting, unsettling suspense will leave you gasping for air and for answers and will have you turning the pages until the last, final, astonishing twist. With her hypnotic, dazzling prose and captivating characters, Cate Ray is a masterful storyteller at the height of her powers." - May Cobb, author of The Hunting Wives

This information about Good Husbands was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Tracy B. (Pittsboro, NC)

Twists and turns
Very interesting and different characters. Okay I know what is happening. NOPE ANOTHER TWIST. Who do you believe. These three women are investigating, separately and together. The author did a great job.

M K. (Minneapolis, MN)

Good Husbands
It was surprising to me that a book, whose premise is that three women who are complete strangers receive a letter in the mail claiming their husbands were involved in sexually assaulting a woman over twenty years ago, and is 400 pages long, could hold my attention. Truth is, once past the first ten pages I couldn't put it down until I finished it. The book completely held my attention.

John G. (Salisbury, VT)

Good Husbands
The first six words in this book are, "It starts out as a curiosity-", and within a few pages my own curiosity became thoroughly piqued. The story began to fly off of the pages and I felt that pleasure that readers feel when we find ourselves reading a talented author.

Three very different women, strangers to each other receive identical letters informing them about their husbands participation in a gang rape, many years ago. The story of how they respond is told in a masterful way that will make this book very easy to pick up, and difficult to put down.

Mary Lou F. (Naples, FL)

Things never are as they seem
Very well written. I liked the fact that each character had a chapter. The story was very suspenseful and until the end nothing was as it seemed.

Shelley C. (Eastport, NY)

What Would You Do?
Sometimes a book confronts you with the question, "What would you do?", or "What should you do"? That is exactly what Cate Ray does in her novel, "Good Husbands". And she does this brilliantly.

Three women each receive a letter that tells of a horrible event that took place 30 years earlier. Each of their husbands are purported to have been involved. But were they? How well do we really know that person we fell in love with and still are in love with? The three women must try and answer all of these questions and more before getting on with their lives.

Cate Ray is a terrific writer. The plot unfolds beautifully. Her characters literally jump off the page. And the conclusion is wonderful and satisfying. I highly recommend this book.

Rebecca K. (Chicagoland)

Murky moral questions come to light
Strangers to each other, Jess, Priyanka, and Stephanie are three very different women at different points in their lives. They receive identical letters in the mail, accuses each of their husbands of rape decades ago. That's the premise of "Good Husbands" by Cate Ray.

Jess is determined to seek justice for the victims - the letter writer and her mother, the woman who was raped. Priyanka wants to find the truth, whatever it may be. Stephanie would rather forget all about it, not willing to risk her comfortable life. But the others won't let her. Brought together by the terrible accusation, they're forced to work together to determine the truth.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the novel was how the story was focused on a character who had died, and who none of the three wives had ever met. They all have their own assumptions about her based on their lived experiences. One woman sees her as a victim, while another thinks she must have been asking for it if she was out at night with three boys she hardly knew. She kind of held court over everything like a ghost in the background, though we only learn of her perspective through diary entries.

Although I'm not married, the plot resonated with me. I like to think if I was married and my partner was accused of something so awful, I'd do the right thing. But what is the right thing when your husband says it's all a lie? Would I believe a stranger over my own husband?

There were so many tricky moral issues brought to light, and I look forward to reading more by this author.

...20 more reader reviews

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Author Information

Cate Ray Author Biography

Cate Ray is the author of four previous suspense novels published in the U.K. under the name Cath Weeks. Good Husbands published June 2022.

Author Interview

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More Recommendations

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