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Husband, Lover, Stranger
The author of Innocence presents the tale of Sophie Weston, a young and impressionable young woman whose newlywed husband vanishes and reappears five years later, mysteriously changed from the man she had known and now transformed into a dangerous stranger. Original.
- GenresRomance
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1998
2 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Suzanne Forster
62 books49 followersNew York Times and USA Today best-selling author Suzanne Forster is living proof of William Shakespeare’s maxim that the uses of adversity are sweet. Suzanne’s writing career began by accident. Literally. A car accident ended her dreams for a career in clinical psychology. During her recovery, she began writing to fill the hours, and before she was well enough to return to graduate school, she’d sold her first book and launched a new career.
Since then Suzanne has written more than thirty novels and been the recipient of countless awards, including The National Readers’ Choice Award for Shameless, her mainstream debut. She’s received recognition for outstanding sales from Waldenbooks and Bookrak, and her recent novel, Unfinished Business, was made into a movie for the Oxygen Network.
Suzanne has a Master’s Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, and she teaches and lectures frequently. Her seminars on Women's Contemporary Fiction at UCLA and UC Riverside were rated outstanding, and her most requested workshop, "The High-Concept Synopsis," is based on personal experience. Her breakout novel, Shameless, sold on a synopsis that triggered a bidding war and garnered her a six-figure contract.
Suzanne has received considerable media attention, including a feature segment on Extra, NBC's news and entertainment magazine, and an Emmy Award–winning "Special Report" on CBS Channel 23 News. Her many print appearances include the L.A. Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Redbook and Orange Coast Magazine
Since then Suzanne has written more than thirty novels and been the recipient of countless awards, including The National Readers’ Choice Award for Shameless, her mainstream debut. She’s received recognition for outstanding sales from Waldenbooks and Bookrak, and her recent novel, Unfinished Business, was made into a movie for the Oxygen Network.
Suzanne has a Master’s Degree in Writing Popular Fiction, and she teaches and lectures frequently. Her seminars on Women's Contemporary Fiction at UCLA and UC Riverside were rated outstanding, and her most requested workshop, "The High-Concept Synopsis," is based on personal experience. Her breakout novel, Shameless, sold on a synopsis that triggered a bidding war and garnered her a six-figure contract.
Suzanne has received considerable media attention, including a feature segment on Extra, NBC's news and entertainment magazine, and an Emmy Award–winning "Special Report" on CBS Channel 23 News. Her many print appearances include the L.A. Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Redbook and Orange Coast Magazine
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 27, 2009
Jay and Sophie Babcock met when she was still a teenage girl. He was virile, intense, and strong-willed. She was reeling from a lifetime of abuse, shy, and desperately in need of someone she could depend on. Jay almost entirely consumed her in those early days, and despite the objections of his wealthy pharmaceutical company owning family, Jay determined to marry Sophie. It was as good a marriage as it can be when one partner is super strong and the other super needy. They did truly love one another, but Sophie was never given the opportunity to realize how strong and independent she could be.
Then Jay disappears after a climbing accident, and five years later, Sophie has moved on with her life. In fact, she’s resigned herself to marry her therapist, a stable, solid man with whom she’s not really in love, but on whom she can lean for dependability and stability.
As this book opens, Sophie and her widowed sister-in-law are preparing for a family gathering at which Sophie will announce her engagement to her therapist. At the party, just as Sophie arises to make her announcement, her mother-in-law bursts through the door with three words that inexorably will change Sophie’s life: “They’ve found Jay.”
Naturally, the engagement is called off, and Sophie is stunned beyond belief that after five years, the husband she thought was dead was not only alive but returning to the family.
But as Jay and she spend time together getting reacquainted, Sophie begins to have her doubts as to his reality. Is it really Jay? Or is it someone who looks, acts, and talks exactly like him? This man wears an eye patch Jay never wore, and he seems somehow changed; yet, he has all of the memories that he and Sophie made together during their early years. Additionally, now that she’s running a day-care center and has proven herself to be a woman of real personal strength and independence, she has to ask herself whether she really wants anything to do with Jay. He is no less intense than he was before his departure, but now she fears the loss of her independence. In fact, if anything, he seems more intent to consume her sexually and to possess her more thoroughly than ever. So strong is his obsession with her that she often shrinks from it in fear. Is this man indeed Jay, her strong-willed protector? Or is he someone whom she must fear and hold at arm’s length lest he somehow destroy her physically and mentally?
The suspense just builds and builds, and you’ll enjoy a couple of pretty good adrenaline rushes as you read about attempts being made on Sophie’s life. This book is so well written that you as a reader will ultimately determine you can’t trust any of the characters other than Sophie—and she’s coming to the same conclusions you are; no one can be trusted. Reality is not what it’s cracked up to be, and Sophie’s indecision about whether Jay is indeed Jay will be your indecision as well. You’ll even come to question how easily memory can be manipulated with drugs and other methods to create realities that never existed. Then there’s Jay’s infertility: He couldn’t sire children in the early years, but after he and Sophie reconcile and she becomes pregnant, her doubts increase even more.
At the heart of this book is a high-stakes battle for the direction of the pharmaceutical company Jay’s dad started. If Jay is indeed truly Jay as even the DNA tests suggest, then he is the one who will take over the empire from the trust attorneys who are running the company into the ground. But the widowed sister-in-law, whose dead husband was the oldest son, wants her piece of the company and wants to take it in a very different direction from that of its founder. It’s all about Jay’s memory, and that memory ultimately leads him to an explosive climax you won’t see coming. I found this book’s denouement satisfying indeed, helping to tie things together in a pleasant enough way.
There’s a good bit of profanity in this book, and the descriptions of sex can get a little lengthy here and there. But this is every bit as much suspenseful as it is romantic. In fact, I’d probably have put this one in the suspense category rather than the romance one. But I’m certainly no librarian, so far be it from me to suggest what category a book should be assigned to. The bottom line is, this book is a well-written study in human nature and it wonderfully examines that thin and all-too-flexible line between truth and deception.
Then Jay disappears after a climbing accident, and five years later, Sophie has moved on with her life. In fact, she’s resigned herself to marry her therapist, a stable, solid man with whom she’s not really in love, but on whom she can lean for dependability and stability.
As this book opens, Sophie and her widowed sister-in-law are preparing for a family gathering at which Sophie will announce her engagement to her therapist. At the party, just as Sophie arises to make her announcement, her mother-in-law bursts through the door with three words that inexorably will change Sophie’s life: “They’ve found Jay.”
Naturally, the engagement is called off, and Sophie is stunned beyond belief that after five years, the husband she thought was dead was not only alive but returning to the family.
But as Jay and she spend time together getting reacquainted, Sophie begins to have her doubts as to his reality. Is it really Jay? Or is it someone who looks, acts, and talks exactly like him? This man wears an eye patch Jay never wore, and he seems somehow changed; yet, he has all of the memories that he and Sophie made together during their early years. Additionally, now that she’s running a day-care center and has proven herself to be a woman of real personal strength and independence, she has to ask herself whether she really wants anything to do with Jay. He is no less intense than he was before his departure, but now she fears the loss of her independence. In fact, if anything, he seems more intent to consume her sexually and to possess her more thoroughly than ever. So strong is his obsession with her that she often shrinks from it in fear. Is this man indeed Jay, her strong-willed protector? Or is he someone whom she must fear and hold at arm’s length lest he somehow destroy her physically and mentally?
The suspense just builds and builds, and you’ll enjoy a couple of pretty good adrenaline rushes as you read about attempts being made on Sophie’s life. This book is so well written that you as a reader will ultimately determine you can’t trust any of the characters other than Sophie—and she’s coming to the same conclusions you are; no one can be trusted. Reality is not what it’s cracked up to be, and Sophie’s indecision about whether Jay is indeed Jay will be your indecision as well. You’ll even come to question how easily memory can be manipulated with drugs and other methods to create realities that never existed. Then there’s Jay’s infertility: He couldn’t sire children in the early years, but after he and Sophie reconcile and she becomes pregnant, her doubts increase even more.
At the heart of this book is a high-stakes battle for the direction of the pharmaceutical company Jay’s dad started. If Jay is indeed truly Jay as even the DNA tests suggest, then he is the one who will take over the empire from the trust attorneys who are running the company into the ground. But the widowed sister-in-law, whose dead husband was the oldest son, wants her piece of the company and wants to take it in a very different direction from that of its founder. It’s all about Jay’s memory, and that memory ultimately leads him to an explosive climax you won’t see coming. I found this book’s denouement satisfying indeed, helping to tie things together in a pleasant enough way.
There’s a good bit of profanity in this book, and the descriptions of sex can get a little lengthy here and there. But this is every bit as much suspenseful as it is romantic. In fact, I’d probably have put this one in the suspense category rather than the romance one. But I’m certainly no librarian, so far be it from me to suggest what category a book should be assigned to. The bottom line is, this book is a well-written study in human nature and it wonderfully examines that thin and all-too-flexible line between truth and deception.
July 31, 2020
Cripes, this book is dumb! The plot twists *spoiler* are obvious and disappointing (who knew that the therapist who ended up dating his patients was a bad guy!). The characters are dumb and unappealing. Bad!
May 21, 2016
Sophie Weston was young and impressionable when she married Jay Babcock, a rich man with a wild heart. Her passion suddenly turned to pain when her new husband vanished without a trace. Now, five years later, Jay's reappearance sets her heart on edge. She sees something different in his eyes, and she wonders: is this mystery man truly her husband, her lover or a deadly stranger?
Sophie's husband died in Nepal, five years ago.. she has moved on.. is even engaged to someone else.. yet Jay (the husband) has now returned, five years later. His wife Sophie barely survived loosing him once can she take a chance again? And by the way -- who is trying to kill her?
It had major angst, is that really her husband?!
June 6, 2011
shore book
February 2, 2016
Good story with a surprise ending.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews