Michelle RichmondThe Marriage Pact: The bestselling thriller for fans of THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR

Jake is thrilled when Alice agrees to marry him. He is a therapist and she is a lawyer but was previously a rock musician and is way cooler than Jake. Through her work, Alice meets a folk musician and on impulse invites him to their wedding. And so begin their trials. The wedding gift they are given by this musician is somewhat unusual. They are invited to join The Pact, an organisation which protects marriage. But this is no ordinary membership. It is for life and as they soon find out, The Pact is not easy to get out of. At first all seems well. There is a manual of rules: buy each other a gift once a month; always pick up your phone when your spouse calls; arrange to go away as a couple every three months; never read your spouse's emails etc. They are expected to read and learn the manual. Any infringement of the rules is punishable and this is where it becomes very sinister. Alice soon infringes the rules by 'putting work before her marriage' and Jake starts to worry when another member, Joanne (who he knew when he was a student) warns him that she is in danger from The Pact and hints at nefarious goings on. Before long, he finds out just how dangerous it is.This is an intriguing book. The author has cleverly made Jake a therapist with lots of experience in marriage guidance so throughout the novel we are party to his knowledge about what makes marriages work. He is full of statistics: marriages are more likely to succeed if there is less spent on the wedding; more likely to work if the couple are older; over work can be a factor in marriage breakdown and so on. He also majored in psychology with a dissertation on the infamous Milgram experiments on obedience in the 1960s so this enables him to reflect sensibly on what is going on in The Pact. It is written in the first person from Jake's point of view. Jake is a sympathetic character, with flaws for sure but we are rooting for him throughout, both in his attempts to free himself and Alice from this cult and also in his insecurities about Alice. Alice is perhaps less well formed and we never quite get a grasp on what she is actually like as a person, perhaps reflecting Jake's view of her. He comes across as not quite able to believe his luck in getting Alice to agree to marry him. Nonetheless she too is likeable. What they both are though is incredibly naive. Would a lawyer really sign up to something like this? I'm not sure.However this was a really good read, unusual and keeps the reader's attention throughout.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher Penguin UK-Michael Joseph Penguin via NetGalley, for a fair review.I admit I don’t know if I liked this book or not. But the subject was so annoying that I kept reading. At first sounded like fun and something different from the usual psychological thriller. A couple in their mid thirties (he is psychologist specialising in families counselling, she is an attorney moving in the world of music, bands and singers) on their wedding day receives from the famous singer a packet called The Marriage Pact. Everything looks like some game about how the marriage should work, what it should be about. Some suggestions included in “The Manual” are just common true until the point when someone is trying to ”enforce” them and the whole point is how it is done…. I am not overly religious person (especially when the religious ideas become too “pushy”) and any cult ideology is completely out of question for me. So reading this story I couldn’t understand how two well educated people, clearly knowing something about life, could have signed it (because there is an official procedures of signing it – at this point I would be more than suspicious about the whole thing). It had a feeling of mixing The Stepford Wives and Scientology. Why when it went too far they never called the police but blindly followed the rules? Why none of them have ever talked with their friends what they got involved into? Unless this is to show how the cult or any similar movement is working. You are blindfolded, you are on your own, you are trapped.The story plot is very good, I don’t thing there is a boring moment in the whole book. It is fast paced, you are curious so cannot stop reading. You want to know if these two are going to find their way out. And here I have the problem with the end: it is too abrupt, too open, too much left to our imagination. Just one chapter more would help.So, even if I am not sure if I liked the book, I would still recommend reading it. Just in case you will meet one day someone with the offer of The Marriage Pact.

I really enjoyed this book: it is well written, had some nexpected plot turns and was a real page turner.The only thing I found slightly disappointing was the ending ( but I won't give anything away).

I had not read a book like this before and found it quite challenging. The theme seems quite futuristic but slowly unravels to being about a couple who find they have unknowingly joined a cult to which there is no escape. It was well written and compelling to read but nevertheless quite sad because of the storyline.

Great idea. Its about a couple that receive a very intriguing gift for their wedding. Things go from strange to downright evil in a few short months.

I actually couldn’t put the book down towards the end - it was very exciting. A few too many discussions about the ‘perfect marriage’ for my liking - and my reason for not awarding it 5 full stars. However, well worth the read.

Man wartet irgendwie darauf, dass noch was Spannendes passiert, aber irgendwie kommt da nicht viel..Fand es ein bisschen langweilig und sehr einfach gehalten.Schade ich hätte mehr erwartet :(