The Daylight Marriage Hardcover – May 5, 2015

Novels seem to cover two main topics these days -- adult siblings return home to solve a mystery (zzzzzzz), and a woman gets fed up with an abusive or negligent husband and/or whining and demanding kids, so she escapes. "The Daylight Marriage" is the latter. Although it is very well written, with nice pacing and a seemingly Gone Girl-ish set-up, it doesn't truly deliver.My first quibble, as others have stated, is the prominent blurb from Stephen King, master of horror. If HE says "and I turned the pages with increasing dread," we expect something spectacularly bizarre to happen. It doesn't.Secondly, the character of Hannah is not fully developed. We don't know enough about her, or there simply isn't enough TO her, to make us care whether she vanishes or not. The plot ends up being much simpler than I'd imagined. A let down.The book actually focuses on the clueless husband, and he is a well-drawn character, although painting him as a buffoon at the beginning becomes a little tiresome. By the end, though, his character has changed, and that is what makes the book an interesting read. The obnoxious teenage girl is believably obnoxious. But, overall, I expected more complexity to the plot.

Marriage is difficult, it is hard work. We all know this. We fight and argue, trying not to do it in front of the children, but they can hear, they know. We enter into a marriage with great love and lust, and then when the lust dies down, we settle on the love. What do we really know of anyone's marriage, only from what we see on the outside, and, it is the inner workings that really matter.Lovell Hall is a climate scientist, a nerd we can say. His mother, a brilliant MIT scientist, he comes from great intelligence and maybe not much emotion or feeling. He meets Hannah one day and is Immediately attracted. She had just broken an engagement with a man she was madly in love with. Lovell is around and picks up the pieces. He is different, calmer, more gentle and they fall in love and marry. They have two children, and as the years move on Lovell is very happy in his rewarding work. Hannah has no real profession, a mother and a part time florist, but not outside work that gives her a feeling of fulfillment. This grates, and she is probably depressed. She and Lovell rarely talk, rarely make love, they eat dinner and breakfast with their children, and go off and do their thing.One night Lovell is angry because he finds their third electric bill, a warning. Hannah is in charge of the bills and what else does she have to do that she can't pay the bills? Lovell asks her that in pointed words, and an argument occurs, loud words, Lovell is so angry that he could have hit her, but he stops. Hannah goes and sleeps in her son's bedroom. The next day, Hannah goes missing.In alternating chapters we learn about Lovell and Hannah, their past lives, how they met, their marriage and the argument. Hannah tells her side, and we hear what she did the day she went missing. Lovell tells us of his life after Hannah goes. Telling the children, reporting to the police, talking with them and family. Dealing with the news media when they show up at his door. Living the day to day life trying to find his children's lives, coping with their emotions and his own. Quite a book, realizing that what is not said Is sometimes as devastating and more important than what is actually said.The author, Heidi Pitlor, lives outside of Boston, where this novel takes place. Cambridge, Boston, Southie, the beaches, all familiar. The streets and neighbors of the town they live in are well described. The writing has an edge, this is not as much a mystery as a story of a marriage and the decisions you make. A family trying to find it's way, and the stories they all have to tell.Recommended. prisrob 05-09-15

They were a mismatched pair. Lovell Hall and Hannah Monroe came from different worlds and different perspectives. She was born into a wealthy family with numerous privileges and no responsibilities. He had to work for everything, and his mind was of a scientific bent, while she loved the arts and her work with flowers. She had no practical abilities, and often forgot to pay the bills.Sixteen years later, they are no closer together, and, in fact, they are living parallel lives. Communication is scanty. Their two children, Janine, 15, and Ethan, 8, are the glue that hold them together…along with their memories of happier times.One devastating night changes everything. They argue, they fight, but they stop short of physical violence. Just smashed glass and harsh words. But enough to change the course of their world.The next day, Hannah goes missing, and it would be many months before answers come about what happened to her.Lovell and Hannah are alternating narrators, and her voice comes to us at carefully timed intervals, revealing what happened that day, leading us through each moment.Meanwhile, the family left behind is falling apart, with Janine acting out with curses, a shaved head, and total defiance. Even as I could understand her feelings, I found most of her behavior appalling. She was a hard character to tolerate.Lovell had his own struggles holding it together, and often lashed out as well. The Daylight Marriage  was a portrayal of how a marriage can unravel slowly, and then devastatingly crumble in just a few moments. The characters felt like real people struggling to make the most of their differences, but failing miserably. A tense and engaging story that was unforgettable. 5 stars.