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The Marriage Pact

A Novel

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The Marriage Pact

By: Michelle Richmond
Narrated by: Tom Taylorson
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About this listen

Newlyweds Alice and Jake are a picture-perfect couple. Alice, once a singer in a well-known rock band, is now a successful lawyer. Jake is a partner in an up-and-coming psychology practice. Their life together holds endless possibilities. After receiving an enticing wedding gift from one of Alice's prominent clients, they decide to join an exclusive and mysterious group known only as the Pact.

The goal of the Pact seems simple: to keep marriages happy and intact. And most of its rules make sense: Always answer the phone when your spouse calls. Exchange thoughtful gifts monthly. Plan a trip together once per quarter. Never mention the Pact to anyone. Alice and Jake are initially seduced by the glamorous parties, the sense of community, their widening social circle of like-minded couples. And then one of them breaks the rules. The young lovers are about to discover that for adherents to the Pact, membership, like marriage, is for life. And the Pact will go to any lengths to enforce that rule. For Jake and Alice, the marriage of their dreams is about to become their worst nightmare.

©2017 Michelle Richmond (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc. Genre Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller & Suspense Exciting Scary Christmas Thriller
All stars
Most relevant
Really uncomfortable to hear at times and a meandering but compelling story. Worth listening to.

Compelling

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I was gripped by this story - sucked in by some good ideas of how to keep your marriage healthy and then horrified at how quickly this can be taken to another level.

Well written and narrated.

Truely gripping story.

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❤️️ Remember The Game with Michael Douglas? If your answer is no, please let me know what it’s like to wake up without everything hurting. Anyway, this book is sort of like that. There’s a lot of disorientation and conspiracy and that idea that anybody could be in on it. All good stuff.

💜 Alice and Jack join a cult. They don’t know that that’s what they’re doing. They think they’re signing a marriage pact, a sort of promise to put their marriage first. But it’s a cult. An influential, powerful one with members everywhere.

💚 The idea is fantastic and I really enjoyed the listen. There are high stakes and interesting characters and intrigue. I’m about to say some less good things about this, but I want to emphasise that I genuinely liked it. I think that’s why I wanted it to delve deeper.

💛 However, I struggled with the unwieldy subject of motivation. I spent most of the time thinking that this was just an excuse for sadists to sadist. An elaborate power trip. But then why do you need a legal agreement for that? It’s not like they could get out even if they wanted to and that contract wouldn’t hold up in any real court. There’s an argument that they were the catalysts of their own demise, but that could be achieved with a prenup...

❤️️ It’s the exposition and pace however that really let this down. It feels rushed. Alice and Jack aren’t married long enough for there to be such issues. I was bewildered as to why Jack was so enamoured with Alice. Moreover, I didn’t feel familiar enough with the pact to appreciate the infractions. They should have at least had some good times in the cult before the bad. Otherwise there is literally nothing good about joining. They signed something and then their lives got ruined. Full stop. Basically, I wanted mooooorrre,
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SOUNDBITE

🎧 My first time listening to Tom Taylorson and he was very good. A gravelly voice, General American English accent. Good character differentiation. It was a simple production as it’s all from Jack’s perspective, but generally well done. One star deducted for occasionally dodgy accent.
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SHALL I COMPARE THEE TO…

As I said, this reminded me of The Game (1997). There’s also something of Eyes Wide Shut (1999), but without the kink. Or The Skulls (2000) sans college degree.

Captivating, Addictive, Flawed But Enjoyable

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I actually really enjoyed this - much darker than I expected and not as predictable as other reviews led me to think it would be. I really enjoyed the narrator. He had a nice tone and was easy to listen to.

The only thing that led me to give the story 3 stars was that I didn’t believe or trust in the marriage between the two protagonists. I didn’t feel the overall connection or shared history that we were told they had. There were points that they felt like strangers to each other (which may have been a point that went over my head). But it made the ending less satisfying for me.

Ultimately, I did really enjoy it.

Was a good listen

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I loves the story, the narrator who was very talented at the different accents. it was very thought provoking slso and will suggest this at my next book club meeting

fantastic

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