The Perfect Husband

Written by Lisa Gardner

Narrated by Sarah Zimmerman

What would you do if the man of your dreams hides the soul of a killer?

Jim Beckett was everything she'd ever dreamed of...But two years after Tess married the decorated cop and bore his child, she helped put him behind bars for savagely murdering ten women. Even locked up in a maximum security prison, he vowed he would come after her and make her pay. Now the cunning killer has escaped—and the most dangerous game of all begins....

After a lifetime of fear, Tess will do something she's never done before. She's going to learn to protect her daughter and fight back, with the help of a burned-out ex-marine. As the largest manhunt four states have ever seen mobilizes to catch Beckett, the clock winds down to the terrifying reunion between husband and wife. And Tess knows that this time, her only choices are to kill—or be killed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Dec 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781721333783

Lisa Gardner

Lisa Gardner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty novels, including Look for Me, Right Behind You, Find Her, Crash & Burn, Fear Nothing, Touch & Go, Catch Me, and The Neighbor, which won the International Thriller of the Year Award. She lives with her family in New England.

Reviews for The Perfect Husband

[Michael Greiner · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gardner missed on this one. The killer was terrifying. That was the best part. The problem was the numerous sex scenes that sounded more like 50 shades of grey, than like a murder mystery. I had hoped that modern fiction writers would have learned that porn does not add to their stories?

[apetrescu2554 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Liked the characters but felt the so-called romance was at best irritating.

[gloria glidewell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I guess this was written in the 90’s(?). It dies give strength to the women characters and that’s very satisfying even though it seems all the characters have to embrace violence to obtain their strengths. It is an interesting and well written story line. The sex scenes were surely written by a man. Not sure why the author thought a character like Tess would suddenly be so responsive to the rough, pretty much violent approach to sex but I found the scenes to be unappealing and just wanted them to be over which is how I would think Tess would feel. I was also disappointed in Marion’s behavior and the outcome it brought near the end of the book. It seemed really out of character for her to go rogue and unprepared and the results of that was just (no pun intended) over kill. Overall I enjoyed the story and recommend it imperfections and all.

[Sarah · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book I really did. Loved the action and the characters. I did not enjoy the romance. Your running for your life from your murder rapist ex-husband. You daughter is in hiding and you can't see or speak to her. But your still gonna get you some from the ex-marine who is trying to trian you?

[Eedge Eeva · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a mad journey! I was well confused at the beginning and could not follow what was going on but once everything clicked it was good! Really enjoyed!!!

[Marianna Brough · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I almost deleted this book, then I made it to Chapter 6. It started to get interesting. I ended up enjoying the book immensely.

[huzeifav · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Don't bother reading this book. More of an erotica than thriller. Also the story is so done and done . Did not feel new . Ending was very predictable with the typical happily ever after vibe?

[Natalie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Solid Lisa Gardner book. Fast paced and kept my attention.

[Nikki · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A story that grips up you from the beginning. I really got into it. However, I hope I never hear the word "sinew" again.

[Pamela Agboga · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a gripping story, and narrated so well. The author describes in such detail that it's easy to visualize every scene.

[Karen Bergt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great book! I’m going to like this series. Can’t wait to get started on the next book.

[Cynthia 'Sam' Bugna · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked the book. There were a few predictable things, but it was well written and held some surprises. The trouble was the recording. Several sections were inexplicably missing, and the recording ended before the story was over.

[NNEAMAKA PAYNE · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite Lisa Gardner book from the beginning of her suspense writing career. There are a few things that are difficult to believe (and I won’t mention them specifically to avoid giving any spoilers), but if you ignore the unrealistic bits, it’s a funny, fast-paced book. There are some parts I had to speed read because I was so concerned with what was going to happen—the mark of a good suspense novel!

[Tracy pye · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this book. Good story with twists and turns not brilliant but a good book all the same. The narrator was OK but I did have a hard time figuring out who was talking a lot of the time as every character sounded female and very much the same.

[curlupandread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I kept putting this off because I thought I wouldn't like it. As it turned out I loved it wished I read it earlier. I loved the way Tess decided to fight back after her husband escaped from prison. And then there's J.T. a man who teaches Tess to fight back. Loved both of these characters. I highly recommend this book if you haven't read it.

[stephanie clay · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It’s one of the best audiobooks that I have listen to and I have been listening to audiobooks for years. It was a riveting touching life like and kept me in suspense until the very end. I highly recommends!

[completely_melanie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lots of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. :)

[ncdonnas · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This was awful. Plastic and inconsistent characters, disjointed plot, and the most AWFUL audio narration. That audio narration was simply painful and made a poorly written story even worse. The narrators ridiculous attempt to speak with some kind of accent, I really hope it wasn't Boston, was torturous to listen to. I wanted to give this book a chance because I really like this authors other books but it seems like this one had all of the flaws of her other books with NONE of the positives. I can't think of one good thing to say about it except that it's over and I know NEVER to listen to another book read by Jennifer Wydra. Awful.

[olivermagnus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Theresa Matthews met and married Jim Beckett thinking he was everything she'd ever dreamed of. But after becoming pregnant she learns that her perfect husband is hiding a horrific secret. Two years after Tess helps get Jim locked up for the serial murders of ten women, she thinks she and her child are safe. But Jim escapes from his maximum security prison and pledges revenge on his wife. Tess puts her daughter in police protection and then sets out on her own. She believes the time has come to stop running and start fighting for her life, so she turns to the burnt out ex-marine J.T. Dillon for fighting lessons. J.T. has his own demons, and he doesn't want the responsibility of protecting Tess. Battling his way through a horrible childhood, J.T. came out scarred. He knew that he didn't protect his younger sister, Marion, from their father and suffers extreme depression over the loss of his wife and child, the only people he cared for. Now, after two weeks training with Tess, J.T. knows that he cannot lose another woman he's come to care for.

I found the concept for this story to have a lot of potential but it's obvious this was one of the first books ever written by Lisa Gardner. Normally I like them much better than this one. I found the relationship between Tess and J.T. to be pretty shallow and awkwardly written. It didn't make sense to me that a woman with a background of violence in relationships would be attracted to a hot-headed, drunken, and seemingly violent man. The characters were not developed enough for me to care too much about them. To be fair, I'm not a huge fan of romantic suspense.....I like a grittier style of mystery. I think many people will enjoy it more than I did. Lisa Gardner does write some really good books and I've enjoyed her D.D. Warren series quite a bit. Like many early books, Gardner has gotten a lot better with time.

[alphawoman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I recently purchased a box of paperbacks at an auction. My prime intent was to donate the entirety to a rehabilitation facility that had a limited library. I have donated many but I have put aside several for "light " reading. Two weeks later I have devoured a lot of them. Some good, some unreadable and quickly donated. This jewel was a fascinating read and I did it in 24 hiurs.Maybe not the best suspension novel, maybe full of raw sex, but oh my, the twist was so perfect, so unforeseeable that I literally gasped and laid the book down!!A good read. Worth 4 stars but knocked to 31/2 due to the sappy sex scenes.

[melayla-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Grabbed this cuz I thought I recognized the author's name and the series sounded like my kind of thing. Instead of a thriller though, it felt more like sex/romance kind of thing (maybe that's what the author usually write?) The thriller/mystery aspects were poorly written. I felt it tiresome to read, and I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it even if I were looking for a sex/romance thing.

[bsiemens_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hint: there are no perfect husbands in this book. Come to think of it, Rainie doesn't appear in this book either. And Quincy is little more than a bit part. Here is what I did find in this novel: great plot, chilling thrills, and a desire to read more Lisa Gardner. That's plenty.

[sandra.k.heinzman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I could barely sleep last night, because is couldn't wait till morning to finish this book. What a thriller! This would make a great movie.

[ct4bergeron · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The story of Tess Williams, wife of a serial killer. She is looking for help in order to protect herself and her 4 years old daugther from her husband who just escaped from prison. With the help of J T, an ex-mercenary, she will discover what her limits are in order to protect herself and the ones she loves

[barb_h_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I really liked this book a lot. It was exciting and suspenseful and a roller coaster ride of emotions. It's supposed to be 1st in a series about Quincy and Raines. Quincy is an FBI agent and we get to know him a little bit, no Raines though. I look forward to reading the next book and getting to know them.

[frederika.roberts · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the first Lisa Gardner book I've read and I'm delighted that she's written so many more, because I'm addicted. The suspense never ends and keeps you enthralled all the way through. The plot is thick with heart-poundingly tense twists and turns and you just don't want to put this book down! Lisa Gardner definitely ranks amongst one of my favourite authors now.

[conkie_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book by Lisa Gardner: 3 stars. The story shows its age (1997). The secondary story between Marion and J.T. is creepy; are they siblings or lovers?Audiobook Narration by Jennifer Wydra: 1/2 star. Horrible. She never maintained a consistent voice for Tess, the main character. Sometimes southern drawl, sometimes northeastern tough, sometimes midwestern twang, sometimes no dialect at all. She was down right painful to listen to. Ugh.

[acorley84 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is fantastically written with wonderfully in depth characters with real, raw emotion. I like how the story line flowed very smoothly between different situations, but didn't leave you confused as to what was going on in the story, you were very easily able to catch on to what the author was writing about.

Lisa Gardner never ceases to amaze me with all of her amazing writing capabilities and this book is no exception. I was quite hesitant to start reading this series because I fell so in love with the DD Warren Series, and I wasn't sure that anything could compare to that, but she certainly did an exquisite job on creating another series just as wonderful, but totally different and compelling in new ways! The two series aren't even comparable with totally different styles, but both equally as spell binding. I don't think that I could pick one over the other as my favorite.

I did enjoy the bit of romance that was thrown in to the story just because it wasn't overwhelming, it was just enough to make it different!

I am so glad that I finally jumped into this series, as I've been holding on to it for about a year now, and I can't wait to read all of these!

[garbostyle1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lisa Gardner never disappoints and The Perfect Husband is no exception. I could not put this one down and read it in record time. Be sure the doors are all locked when you pick this one up and sleep with the lights on, I did,lol.

[daddyofattyo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good story, so-so writing, too rough and heavy on the sex scenes. Would a woman running from an abusive psychopath husband really hook up with a guy who thrashed her aroung and 'fucked her hard'? I think not.