When Rebecca first met Brian Unsworth, she wasn’t sure what to think about him. But when he her on a date to play the piano for the residents of a retirement home—she’d told him that she had played when she was younger but wasn’t good enough to make it a career so she’d given it up—she fell in love. He had found her a grand piano to play, and had gotten it tuned before they showed up, and that kind of thoughtfulness doesn’t happen much in life. Meanwhile, as soon as Brian heard Rebecca play, he was a goner too. From there, they were inseparable.
Rebecca, “Becks,” was in law school but hoping for a more interesting career than what she could find at a law firm. But she started at a small firm anyway, to get some experience under her belt, and to take advantage of their maternity leave. She and Brian had a small wedding, a short but luxurious honeymoon, and she came back from St. Bart’s pregnant. Their daughter Kira was followed a couple of years later by Tony, and the family was complete. Becks followed her career aspirations to the FBI, like she’d dreamed of, so Brian decided to stay home and raise the kids.
They spent a few years in Birmingham, followed by Texas, and Becks finally landed in D.C.’s counterintelligence office, investigating Russians. Brian’s work through the years in computers finally paid off when he not only landed a job at the NSA but also sold a gambling app he’d been developing.
After all the struggles and long hours, all the money struggles and family squabbles, Brian and Rebecca decide that to celebrate their 20th anniversary with an extravagant trip for the entire family. Tony is in high school, and Kira is finishing her freshman year at college, so they all head to Europe. It’s an ideal time for them, with delicious food and good shopping and sightseeing, until they get to Spain. Kira goes out by herself to meet a new friend and never comes back.
Immediately Rebecca and Brian are concerned. Could she have been taken by someone Rebecca and the FBI had targeted in an investigation? Could it have something to do with Brian’s work with the NSA? Or was she simply taken for being a young, beautiful American woman? While they do everything they can to investigate, Kira is doing everything she can think of to survive. But will it be enough? Will they be able to keep their family intact, or will this incident create a rift that is too deep to repair?
Alex Berenson has crafted a domestic thriller with international espionage and nail-biting suspense as we follow a family from the drink through the unthinkable heartbreak of having a child kidnapped in a foreign country. The Power Couple is a compelling page-turner that will keep you up at night until you find out all the answers.
I had a hard time setting this one down, so I finished it in two days. While the characters aren’t always heroic, they are true to themselves and full of surprises. The added force of the FBI and its investigations and the NSA and its work add so much tension to this story, and the fact that their daughter is in imminent danger just ups the stakes and makes you keep reading until you get to the conclusion. It takes a strong nature to read this one, but if you’re up to the task, Berenson will take you for a wild ride.
Egalleys for The Power Couple were provided by Simon & Schuster through NetGalley, with many thanks.
