Review: The Happy Housewife
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 10, 2013
Sam Sherman is a former Coast Guard helicopter pilot turned housewife with a loving husband, Doug, and beautiful daughter, Lindsey. Her life in the suburbs is not perfect but it is happy enough. However, Sam's tranquil existence is disrupted by two murders - one being a teenager, Evelyn, with another teenager in a coma following an explosion. Another man, Dan, is also killed at the home of an elderly neighbour, Helen Thomas.Sam is understandably shocked about the incident with the two teenagers but it is the second murder of a man at Mrs Thomas' house that she becomes involved in. In the build up to the incident, Sam witnesses a group of visitors, including Dan, coming to Mrs Thomas' home. The frail old lady is in shock from the incident and with the police all over her property, Sam steps in and has Mrs Thomas stay with her while her husband is away with work. Sam ends up on the wrong side of a detective, Nathan, who is working on the investigation but what is going on in this neighbourhood and who is responsible?The Happy Housewife has a good storyline with the conclusion proving hard to predict. Sam is a great central character. More than just a nosy neighbour, she is a woman with delicate confidence and the book takes us back to an incident in her past which still impacts heavily on her in the present. It was interesting to read about Sam's time as a Coast Guard pilot and Cooch has drawn on her own personal experience here which makes this segment of the story even more fascinating.The Happy Housewife is a solid thriller with ordinary people having their lives disrupted by two murders in the neighbourhood. This looks to be the first of a series of books featuring Sam so it will be interesting to see where she ends up next.