THE NEW HUSBAND: DANIEL PALMER

The New Husband

Appearances and motives can be deceiving, and desperation and hope can blindside your when your focus is clouded with a strong mist. Teens can be more perceptive than adults at times. Maggie and her brother Connor are moving into a new home because their mother has fallen for the Social Studies teacher in their echo. Slowly, craftily and manipulating situations Simon Fitch managed to win Nina’s heart. Unknowingly he managed to learn her favorite foody, movies, music and anticipated her every want and need. Her first husband’s disappearance took a back seat as he went missing, committed misdeeds and yet her daughter found it hard to believe he would desert them. Simon claimed he just wanted to be a part of their lives but as you get you know him you will realize that behind the kind and benevolent look lurks a sinister and diabolical man .

Getting to know Simon you wonder why he wants Nina to remain under his financial supervision and not work. Claiming it would be difficult for her to deal with her two children and life in general but that won’t stop her. The author then takes us inside the mind of Maggie who sees something in Simon that causes here to beware that something about him is not right. Added in the author then takes Nina to her counselor so that we get to know more about Glen his disappearance and text that shows that he might have cheated on her but are these real or photo shopped? Nina has a hard time dealing with being alone and he’s only been gone a few months when Simon appears at her door to do a repair on her faucet. Odd that a teacher would do that.

Maggie her daughter becomes an outcast when Laura Able decides to indoctrinate her own bullying campaign against Maggie alienating her and causing her isolation at lunch but Maggie is strong and won’t allow her to take away her spit as Benjamin Odell comes into her life while her mother had to deal with the texts about Glen , the pictures and the woman in them while her friends support her. Finally getting a job will she take it and how will Simon react?

Simon is controlling but the hidden truths behind Glen’s disappearance will send shockwaves down the bodies of Nina, Maggie and Connor as a sick fatal attraction is at the heart of Simon’s motives and we learn about the police invite, where they searched and Connor’s frustration in not being allowed to help. Truths, lies and deceptions are at the heart of what motivates a sick and demented man who will stop at nothing to take control of a family and their manipulate their lives as Nina is looking at him with rose colored glasses but what will happen when that color goes dark?

Darkness will fall and the dangers will come as Maggie finds out something that could cost her, her life.

Glen Garrity went missing but just where is her when his boat was found with their dog Daisy. What caused the blood on the boat as the author brings the prologue in so that we get to understand just where Daisy the dog fits in and how Nina realizes that he is missing but there is someone out there that texted her pictures of someone named Teresa a waitress with Glen. Was this real or as I said photoshopped? Nina moved on but Maggie sees something in Simon that no one lese does and her distrust just might prove fatal to others. Told in many voices that of Nina, Maggie and another we get a picture right out of the Twilight Zone.

Maggie is more astute than the rest of the family and Simon is aware of that as another voice is heard and things take on a more sinister turn as we learn through her mother about Glen, meet Theresa in flashbacks and we understand just why her mother was fooled, controlled and manipulated and how.

When Nina goes to Dr. Wilcox, we learn about Glen getting fired from his job at the bank and the fact that their finances took a big hit. Some type of Ponzi scheme she thinks and now with Simon her finances are higher but getting a job as a social worker would give her some type of independence after what Glen did.

As events become more tense, we realize through Maggie that Simon is more than manipulating Nina’s actions, movements and even her appearance. Her voice is strong, but her mother does not believe her when she tells her that a trip that he claimed he booked never really happened. Getting back to work at the Davis Center as a Social Worker should enrich her life and hopefully help those she is assigned to assist. But Simon is diabolical, and Nina went to find Theresa who they claimed had an affair with Glen, but in more ways than one is being blindsided and believes what she wants in order to have her perfect new life but what about Maggie?

A text on an app changes it all and Maggie must decide where her loyalties lie. Trusting Ben is safe, but Simon is out to destroy her and take permanent hold of Nina hoping to eliminate her but just how remains to be seen. Nina decides to find Theresa will she believe what she is told. Just what was her relationship with Glen, and will she finally get rid of the cobwebs and see the path more clearly that Simon has created for her? He is dangerous and what he does at an assembly about bullying to embarrass Maggie should have proved that he is out for more than must revenge for what she did to his musket. Added in Nina tries to temper the situation with weekly meetings to discuss their problems, but Simon is smart and you can feel the stare and the coldness in his eyes as Maggie and the reader see what the author has created for us to visualize.

A text would change it all and a startling revelation will bring someone else into the mix that might change Nina’s direction, but will she finally see Simon for who and what he really is and what really happened to his wife? Did she commit suicide? What are his true plans for Maggie and when someone close to her is seriously injured why does she believe what she is told about the incident? Added in even her friends realize that she is being manipulated and not allowed to join them on different outings, workouts and Simon claiming that she is forgetting what he has planned, surprises that would take her away from them and then the final reveal and who else is being manipulated will shock readers, destroy more lives and hopefully awaken her naivety and teach her a lot about trust. The issues of trust, family relationships, control, money, lies, deceptions, work ethics and exactly why did Glen get fired, will not only shock readers but will teach everyone to look carefully into the backgrounds of new people that know too much about you even before you share your information. Getting a handle on why a person gets divorced and listening to a child that might just hopefully safe your life.

A young teens instinct, a dog that proved heroic and a family that was torn apart by deception, manipulation and deceit. Lives were lost, relationships tattered as author DJ Palmer brings to light why we should not judge people by appearances, social status, differences and race but kindness, humility, caring and understanding. Within this novel you will meet one family who will learn the true meaning of family love, hope, recovery and toxic relationships. Abuse, manipulation, defeat, denial and fear are at the heart of this novel at the end will Nina ever really know the true person behind the facade, the chameleon, the deception hoping to be known to her as THE NEW HUSBAND?

Fran Lewis: Just reviews