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I really enjoyed this thought-provoking drama. I wondered about that word, ‘enjoy,’ but I did, despite the tough subject matter. The story is well told and it made me think, and talk with a handful of friends about, some very tricky real-life issues we’re all facing in different ways. It had momentum; I was always glad to find time to read more, and sad when it ended. I did find the ending a little bit anticlimactic, for a book with such high tension and high stakes, but I’m still a fan.

The bulk of the book is told from the perspective of two women, Leah and McKenna. They don’t know each other, but they live parallel lives, a short distance apart, in a suburb between Baltimore and DC. One is a lawyer, married to a lawyer, and the other is a doctor, married to a doctor; both have recently become unemployed, following the machinations of their respective husbands. Both are in coercive, abusive relationships. Both were formerly independent, strong, professional women, outwardly successful and attractive in a certain traditional style: fit, blonde, white, put together. Both are now living in an utter nightmare from which they see no escape. That’s when Leah sees McKenna at the liquor store, follows her home, and watches through a kitchen window as a scene unfolds that she recognizes intimately. After a brief spell of observation, Leah sees McKenna’s husband throw her to the floor and begin kicking her in the stomach. Leah shoots him dead.

Mild spoiler there, but these are the events that set off the rest of the novel. McKenna has been suddenly, unexpectedly, and in the most shocking fashion set free of the abuse and control that may well have killed her. She is under police investigation; she is also liberated. Leah is not. The Favor unfolds from there.

There are strong echoes to Strangers on a Train, as well as important differences. We start with an archetypal issue, a sort of classic model of intimate partner violence: male on female, married, with the husband being of sufficient social standing and social skill that if his wife were to make accusations, she is unlikely to be believed. Manipulation, both of the wife and of the surrounding community. And then there are some fascinating moral questions. Self-defense would be one thing (although, I’ve read, such women killing in self-defense are rarely believed in court), but one woman killing in defense of another is still shakier ground… And then there is the inaction of friends and family, when by outward appearance nothing was wrong in a picture-perfect happy marriage, and simultaneously, asked head-on about that marriage, all admit to a sense (at least) of unease. It all gets very sticky very quickly. This work of fiction (authored by a lawyer with significant experience in domestic partner violence) is written in gripping fashion; I felt the pull of the plot, and concern for these characters, to the very end. It was compelling content, well told.

I would just add that this kind of violence and coercive control happens to all kinds of people, in all kinds of relationships – all sorts of combinations of gender roles, across race, ethnicity, education and professional status, social and economic class. Murphy has focused here on one ‘type’ of abusive relationship, but this is only one.

I found this a very engaging book and it’s led to some conversations with friends. Do recommend.

Filed under: book reviews | Tagged: domestic violence, psych drama |