Best Intentions by Emily Listfield

Title: Best Intentions
Author: Emily Listfield
Published: May 2009 by Atria Books
Number of pages: 338
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

 "Suspicion crackles and pulls, nags and infiltrates, it coils around your brain, distorting your perceptions, it is the smoke you see everything through that refuses to lift. But a lie, hard and indisputable, freezes in your lungs, its ice spreading through your pores, chilling every synapse; a lie once discovered paralyzes you." (p. 73)

From the very beginning, this book seized my emotions and my mind. I was immediately caught up in Lisa Barkley's life as a thirty-nine year old mother of two, living in Manhattan, wondering if her husband is who says he is. Throughout the entire novel I questioned his plans, his actions, his excuses and responses to her inquiries. Not until the very end was I sure of who he is, or what he had, or hadn't, done.

I love that kind of book.

I love the puzzle, the innuendo, the intrigue, and the satisfying conclusion where I'm not left dangling at the book's conclusion to figure out for myself some multi-layered meaning which only the author is truly able to decipher.

"After tossing and turning all night, thirty-nine-year-old Lisa Barkley wakes up well before her alarm sounds. With two daughters about to start another year at their elite upper East Side private school and her own career hitting a wall, the effort of trying to stay afloat in that privileged world of six-story town houses and European jaunts hash become increasingly difficult, especially as Manhattan descends into an economic free-fall.

As Lisa looks over at her sleeping husband, Sam, she can't help but feel that their fifteen-year marriage is in a funk that she isn't able to place. She tries to shake it off and tells herself that the strain must be due to their mounting financial pressures. But later that morning, as her family eats breakfast in the next room, Lisa finds herself checking Sam's voice mail and hears a whispered phone call from a woman he is to meet that night. Is he having an affair?

When Lisa shares her suspicions with her best friend, Deirdre, at their weekly breakfast, Deirdre claims it can't be true. But how can Lisa fully trust her opinion when Deirdre is still single and mired in an obsessive affair with a glamorous photographer even as it hovers on the edge of danger?

When Deirdre's former college flame, Jack, comes to town and the two couples meet to celebrate his fortieth birthday, the stage is set for an explosive series of discoveries with devastating consequences.

Filled with suspense and provocative questions about the relationships we value most, Best Intentions is a tightly woven drama of love, friendship and betrayal." (front flap)

It's a great, satisfying, emotionally charged read. You won't be disappointed in it.

“A writerly page-turner… deft pacing keeps the action moving and the reader guessing. Listfield ensures no character is above suspicion, and in the end, no one is without blame.” -Publishers Weekly

“An intriguing story full of warmth, humor and insight.” - Joy Fielding
 
“The only territory Emily Listfield knows more intimately than Manhattan's social anthropology is a woman's heart, especially when it feels betrayed.” —Sally Koslow

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