Handsome, successful Oliver Ryan has it all. He has a strong marriage to the beautiful Alice, the illustrator of his very profitable children's books. They have a lovely house, good friends, financial and artistic accomplishments, and yet all is not how it seems.
The book opens with Oliver's shocking statement about his wife: "I expected more of a reaction the first time I hit her."
Why would such a man hit his wife? And why would he continue to beat her until she falls into a coma? What could possibly make someone act in such a heinous way?
That is what Liz Nugent's debut novel Unraveling Oliver has us asking. Each chapter gives another point of view, the voice of someone who had known Alice or Oliver for many years and who could offer up one more piece of the puzzle. Barney, the man who dated Alice before Oliver tells of how he lost the love of his life to the wealthier, slick Oliver. Oliver's friend from college, Michael (he's also the brother of Oliver's then-girlfriend, Laura) tells of their summer in France helping to rebuild a vineyard. The owner of the vineyard, Veronique, tells her heart-breaking story of how her family lost the vineyard and built it again, only to face even more devastating loss because of that summer. Friends, neighbors, and family all chime in to tell their part of the story, and it's not until you get all these disparate stories that you can understand the truth of what it was that caused Oliver to unravel.
With hints of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley and Ruth Ware's well, anything, Nugent crafts an intricate look at the layers of a sociopath and the lengths to which he will go to keep his secrets secret. Unraveling Oliver is the slow unwinding of a man, of a life, of all the intricate lies that make a monster appear human. Twisty, compelling, and dark, and one not to miss.
Galleys for Unraveling Oliver were provided by Gallery/Scout Press through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.