A Quiet Storm

by Rachel Howzell Hall

In this vividly written, suspense-driven novel, the secrets shared between two sisters erupt in tragedy.

Rikki Moore was always the star of the family, easily outshining her younger sister, Stacy, at every turn. Smart, kind, and beautiful, it was no surprise when Rikki met and married the perfect man -- pediatrician Matt Dresden. Her students at 59th Street Elementary School adored her, the church matrons solicited her help on every committee, and everyone wanted the golden couple to put in an appearance at their parties. Stacy? She was just the overweight little sister who couldn't get her love life together.

But the world didn't know about the storms that rippled just beneath the surface of Rikki's image of perfection. Ever since she was a teenager there were emotional breakdowns and obsessive behaviors -- secrets that Stacy was left to bear alone. Folks whispered, but they didn't know. When Rikki's husband, Matt, mysteriously disappears, however, the Moore family's carefully constructed image comes crashing down.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Thriller, Mental Health, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Psychology

249 pages, Paperback

First published September 10, 2002

About the author

RACHEL HOWZELL HALL l is the critically acclaimed author and Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist for And Now She’s Gone, which was also nominated for the Lefty-, Barry-, Shamus- and Anthony Awards and the Audible Originals bestseller How It Ends. A New York Times bestselling author of The Good Sister with James Patterson, Rachel is an Anthony-, International Thriller Writers- and Lefty Award nominee and the author of They All Fall Down, Land of Shadows, Skies of Ash, Trail of Echoes and City of Saviors in the Detective Elouise Norton series. Her next thriller, These Toxic Things, out in September 2021, recently received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, calling the novel ‘cleverly-plotted’ and ‘a refreshing take on the serial killer theme.’

Rachel is a former member of the board of directors for Mystery Writers of America and has been a featured writer on NPR’s acclaimed Crime in the City series and the National Endowment for the Arts weekly podcast; she has also served as a mentor in Pitch Wars and the Association of Writers Programs. Rachel lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. For more information, visit www.rachelhowzell.com

Her next novel And Now She’s Gone will be published in September 2020. You can find her at www.rachelhowzell.com and on Twitter @RachelHowzell.

Reviews

[Reet · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have mental disorders in your family, you will especially relate to the themes touched on in this story. Bipolar disorder is a horrible illness that wrecks lives and families. Thankfully, the drugs to treat this are getting better than they were in the time period of this book's setting.
Another theme explored in this book is parents and their favoritism for one child over others of their children. This, combined with mental disorders, can be deadly. When a society, and families, refuse to admit to and treat mental illness, that's when the United States suffers as a country with one of the highest rated of gun violence in the world. Well, the NRA doesn't help.
Kudos to the author for a well-written work that deals with these difficult themes.

[Deborah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am participating in a year long #RoryGilmoreBookClub challenge. With February being Black History Month, I wanted to pick a book from the list by a Black author. I knew Rachel Howzell Hall from some of her thriller books so when I saw her debut book on the list, I immediately tracked down a copy of A QUIET STORM.

A QUIET STORM is described as a suspense read, but I don’t necessarily agree with it. The synopsis is also pretty misleading in my mind. The synopsis talks about Rikki who is the star of the family. She is a popular teacher, married to a doctor and living an ideal life until things go wrong and Rikki’s husband disappears.

Really at the core of this book is the relationship between Rikki and her sister Stacy. Stacy is the POV character and we are hearing from her what it was like to grow up in Rikki’s shadow. This book deals with the pain of mental illness and the impact on the whole family. We meet the mother who idealizes her gorgeous shining star of a daughter and is in complete denial about the storms within.

This book was entirely different from what I expected, but I wound up truly loving it! I picked this up during a weekend readathon and it was great to keep me hooked and wanting answers. There is a bit of mystery/suspense involved, but really I thought that the highlight was the depiction of mental illness. There were moments in the story that really rang true with stories I have heard from the families of the clients with mental illness that my company works with and the struggles our clients go through on a regular basis.

This probably is not a book I would have picked up had it not been for this reading challenge and I am very glad that I had the opportunity to read it!

[drcarr08 · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may not be a literary classic, but this book is one of my all time favorite books. I love how she addresses mental illness with such clarity and familiarity. It was almost as reminiscent as dealing with mental illness in our family. The author's detailed account of the time period's pop culture was surreal; I felt as if I was transported back to the day and time when I was a teenager. I loved this book.

[V · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author portrayed a very difficult situation - a family living with manic depression. I was impressed with the depth of information and the sensitive way each member was described. Living on the edge is exhausting. The young sister ages at each step of her sister's illness. In the end, who can judge?

[Kim G. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a captivating story I truly enjoyed its a dark and sad novel. The Moore family gives you insight into what they deal with when a family member has a mental illness. You have parents who are in denial, ashamed, and embarrass of a mentally ill child. It is a domino effect that will destroy a family-the father who has his extra activities outside of his marriage. The mother denies her daughter's mental state, the younger sister, who became her older sister keeper and not truly having a life of her own. So in this novel, you get a spark of what a family goes through with mental illness. It is very heartbreaking. But I feel it is a must-read. The author Rachel Howzell Hall wrote a remarkable story that truly makes you think. Can't wait to get into Mrs. Hall mystery books.

[Jackalacka · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a hard book to find but well worth it. It's about two sisters growing up together in California, one seems to have more of a difficult time than the other in some ways but not in others. It eventually becomes painfully clear that one of them has a mental illness. Maybe the end is a bit over the top but the lifelong love and struggles these two sisters share is heartfelt. I have a friend who volunteers with NAMI (shout out to Wendy!) and she always says how misunderstood and in the closet mental illness is and how it's more common than we think and it's time to bring it out of the dark shadows of societal taboos and talk about it.

[Lauren McDonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book, fascinating insight to mental illness, family relationships and so much more

[MISSed Bandwagon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored reading this novel. I think it's a wonderful look into mental illness in the Black community that continues to be on the back burner or swept under the rug. I empathized with Stacy much more than sympathizing for Rikki. I know it must sound like a horrible thing to say because after reading through Rikki's plight you know how depression can have a grip on your life where you can't even control your actions. But I loved this book because it helps people understand what it means to be affected by someone else's mental health or addiction problems.
There are people who go "Oh, woe-is-me, someone that I know is having problems and it's making it really hard for me to have fun with them." No, those people are fake.
The ones that get called up in the middle of the night staying on the phone so someone doesn't hit their breaking point; who gets vented to all the time while never being asked how they're feeling; who are emergency contacts for those who are CONSTANTLY getting themselves into trouble, locked up, in the hospital, in a financial crisis, etc. The ones that are just as much in the muck as the person going through hell, but they're the only person around so if they leave the other one will sink. This book is for them. Think of this book as the mental health version of Jodi Piccoult's, My Sister's Keeper. If you liked that book then you'll be sure to enjoy this one.

1) THE CHARACTERS DON'T DEPICT THE STEREOTYPICAL "SUFFERING" OF BLACK PEOPLE

Too many times have I read books, movies, and television shows about the struggle and oppression of People of Color. Drugs, crime, prostitution, gangs, poverty. It gets old really fast and it's not good for the human psyche to see people of your hue always depicted this way. So it was pleasant to see that this family grow up in a safe, respectable neighborhood in a 2-parent household (on the outside at least) with the children not wanting for anything and getting a quality education.


2) USING FOOD AS A SOURCE OF HEALING AND PATCHING NEGLECTED FEELINGS

I want to know if anyone else noticed that whenever something MAJOR happened in Stacy's life it wasn't healed or responded to with positive feedback or care. It was always patched up with food. People aren't animals. Food can be a treat, but you can't use food to replace apologies, communication, misunderstandings, and guilt. I first realized this on pg. 33 when Stacy had to stay home on suspension because of her fight with Pamela Keller. Stacy got in one helluva fight to defend Rikki (something she was involuntarily charged to do as a YOUNGER sister), was scolded by her father which hurt more than anything, and 3 days of missed school. But the most Rikki can conjure up as an apology are those 0.25 coffee cakes from school. Their mother replies with "Isn't that sweet, Anastasia? She didn't have to do that. So thoughtful." You can almost hear the “you should be more like your sister" behind that statement. Stacy goes on to say, "And that's how it went, and how it continued to be. I'd take the heat whenever Rikki couldn't handle it. She offered gifts as payment." I don't want a relationship with anyone where they think they can buy my love, forgiveness, apologies, and silence.
When she applied for the private school her father took her out for ice cream. It's like, well, ya didn't get in. Instead of trying to comfort you, I'm going to take you out for ice cream, hit the green, and just be silent. If it were Stacy, her parents would have smothered her with gifts and treats to make her feel special.
Pg. 55. When Jacques tells the parents that Rikki beat up Stacy the parents immediately go comfort Rikki even though Stacy is in bad shape. Rikki gives Stacy pints of ice cream and donuts as an apology for the physical and emotional pain. It wasn't mentioned anywhere that Rikki received punishment for her wrongdoing. It's like Stacy has to literally stomach the hurt that she receives from the people that she is supposed to trust the most while everyone is dismissing how these things affect her.

3. DO THE PARENTS EVEN love STACY?

I wondered if the parents had loved both children equally, loved Rikki more than Stacy all along, or if the love had increased for Rikki because of her fragility? I wouldn't say that the parent's love was the reason she started to get way better in her academics and social life. Because if love were fueling her well-being she would have been more compliant with taking her medication and seeing the people around her as a source of strength, manic depression aside. Chapter 6, Walk in the Light, is the aftermath of Rikki's suicide attempt. Stacy is terrified of being in the large house by herself and none of her family members even bother to check up on her. No phone call, no short stop to say, "Hey, how are you faring?", not even asking a neighbor to poke their head in and make sure she wasn't dead from starvation herself. Apparently, the girls aren't allowed to cook on the stove even though they're 17 (what, really?) and Mom comes in to make a half-assed, unpalatable meal for Stacy. Dad doesn't look her in the eye and they spend the days until Rikki comes home floating around one another like ghosts in a haunted house who can't even keep one another company.
This part of the story made me upset because Stacy was just trying to be a good girl and not go on the stove and her Mom snaps at her telling her that she's old enough make her own food. Which is true, but there are times when you KNOW you're old enough to do something, but your parent, for some reason, prevents you from doing it. Then all of a sudden they get on you like, "Why aren't you able to do this thing, you're grown!" And it's like, "Yeah, I know but I'm not going to try and argue with you about this thing that I've known I COULD do for years."
Being real for a minute and just pointing out that a lot of parent's rules are bullshit. Sometimes they just make up rules because they're young and strong enough and they've got enough patience to pay attention. But as they get older or the more children are spaced chronologically the less likely they'll care and nothing matters. Like, your 1st born daughter wasn't allowed to be on the phone with a boy after 5, but your 3rd daughter could have male company stay over IN the house until 8???

IS RELIGION MERELY A STATE OF MIND?

Religion, at first played a large role in the way this family operated. Buuuuut, when their faith was put to the test the foundation of their family crumbled. When Stacy wanted to continue going to choir practice the Mother snapped at her and told her that she didn't need to go to church to worship God. But if the family is in a state of crisis, shouldn't they turn to God for strength and fortitude? Even when they came up with the lie that she had been bitten by a black widow (cause that's a thing, right?). You know why they didn't go? Churchfolk. They live in the kind of community where people who label themselves as "Christians" are nothing but hypocritical, gossipy, backsliding heathens who are always talking smack about people and secretly wishing them unwell so that they're OWN families will look better in comparison. Exhibit A is Matthew's Mother, Zenobia. She wanted Matthew to marry another chick and the assumption made was because she was "high yellow". Pg 23

On. pg. 88 it mentions that the Father stopped going to church when his own daughter stopped going. Aforementioned above I feel like parents just put their energy into bullshit that they don't really care about or go about with the motions. If they were true Christians they would have kept going, with or without her, if even just to pray for her. And then he tells Stacy, "...Rikki's smarter than that. I thought you were too." Ummm, excuse me, don't put me BELOW the person who tried to commit suicide. And how can you chastise me for not being woke to the hypocrisy of a way of life that you've embedded in me since birth???

Rikki's illness truly did a number on the family. Everything seemed to have been going well and good when there was no one and nothing to worry about. But as soon as a crack or fissure happens to destroy the family dynamic you truly get to see what people are made of and how strong people's ties are. The role of a nurturing, kind, patient Mother is replaced by a chastising, reproachful, and spiteful being. The protective, leading, wise Father is replaced by a chiding, physically and mentally absent ghost.

4. THIS IS WHY MENTAL HEALTH THERAPISTS ARE IMPORTANT

On pg. 88 Rikki confesses to Stacy that she's been having terrible nightmares and strange thoughts. The only thing Stacy can think to say is, "Okay." And I'm not mad at Stacy either. This is proof that you need to go to a professional when it comes to mental health. I believe in a lot of people's minds that that's ALL they can do. It's ok to be there for people when they need you to offer support, but you have to help them while they help THEMSELVES. You're not supposed to be someone's whole rock because if you can't provide in some way then you'll feel like you let them down and that you're responsible for what happens to them.
I think there are degrees of what people should be able to handle in relation to other people. For example, don't take on the bulk of your co-workers problems. You can sympathize, empathize, send them little cherry notes throughout the day, ask them how they're doing the next day, but you can't be their human comfort animal. You can't come running every time they have an anxiety attack, or remind them to take their medication, or to keep a lookout for maladaptive behaviors and triggers. Tell them to go get therapy or to see in the in-house therapist if your job offers that kind of service. A life partner is better suited to take on the heavier things but it's still not a good to burn them out where your mental illness defines your relationship. It should be "you and that person" not "you and your caretaker". Don't make it so that they can't leave if they're unhappy but only stay to keep you alive.

It pissed me off to read that Rikki wasn't taking her medication. I mean, throw you sister a bone here. If you're not going to take your meds then leave her out of your mess. Don't call her up in the middle of the night, don't let her foot the bill because you were shopping on impulse BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T ON YOUR MEDS, and stop telling people you're going to kill yourself because you're not in the right frame of mind!

DON'T BE AFRAID OF MEDICATION

On page. 94 Stacy states that her mother can't comment on Rikki's status because that would mean acknowledging her condition before the pills and that Rikki was better off because of them. This is a realization that some people just need actual medication. Our brains won't always think and function the same way from birth to death and trauma can cause some kind of imbalance that wasn't there before. It's sad that someone may need pills to regulate themselves, but if that's what they need to become whole again then that's what they need. Like heart medication or an asthma inhaler, it's just something to make your days easier and healthier.

THE GUILTY TRUTH ABOUT MENTAL ILLNESS

Pg 241. "For so many years, I had wished her out of my life. The religious fanaticism, the drug abuse, the mental illness: She was tortured and she made life so unbearable for all of us who were around her. I know: it wasn't right that I wanted her to succeed in ending her life. But it wasn't that I wanted her to succeed, it's just that I wanted my phone to ring and to have ordinary conversations. I wanted my mother to see me, not as my sister's keeper *wink wink*, but as a woman with my own problems, with my own successes...I wanted, for once, to be free of shame and guilt."

This is where the official review ends, the rest are more discussive peices. Thanks for your time!

Final Notes
I used to believe that parents were almighty individuals who knew everything and their decisions were always the right ones. As you get a little older you foolishly believe that you knew more than them. As you get older still, you realize that you may have been right about some of it. As a 28 year old I'm still trying "figure it all out". However, I have a lot of friends who have children of their own. I think to myself, "What makes them more qualified or 'all-knowing' to be rearing a child? Which is why I enjoy books that show the fragility of parents. Books that show that parents are just older versions of "Us", trying to crawl through the muck of parenthood to the other side.

Did they paramedics take 35 minutes to get there because that's literally the amount of time it takes for them to get there or because it's a Black neighborhood and they took their time? I've never been in an ambulance so I don't know the average time it takes. The way the paramedic says, "Sorry, sweetheart, but your dad's gone. Probably a heart attack." Pg. 91. I don't know the race of the EMT so I can't say for certain it was a race-based remark. It's probably because he's an EMT and he sees this kind of stuff all the time that he can talk so flippantly.

It must be so upsetting to see their father, the patriarch, the cornerstone, disappoint them in so many ways in death with no way to explain himself or to soothe the hurt. To not only find out that he knew about his failing health and heart as well as the affair was too much to handle. He could have lived longer, if not for himself then definitely for his daughters. What about the secretary? Did she gather that information the whole time or when he died and the wife requested it?

How freeing is religion? How binding is it? "I wasn't having no part of religion at that time of my life. Not with all the sex and free alcohol everwhere." Pg. 101. As a college graduate myself I can't argue with Stacy's way of thinking. (Minus the sex part, I wasn't about that life, lol). Even after college I think a lot of young people think that they'll get their sinning out of their system when they're young and hunker down into religion, maybe, when they're older and can't do much anymore. But that's just a fallacy of youth. Does religion free you from sinning because it gives you a pathway into divinity and you don't have to make the hard choices? Or does it coax you into sinning more because of Earth's pleasures of the flesh that can be felt in the now?

"I'll write the truth. Not a bunch of manufactured crap that lulls you to inaction ad pats you on the back even though you haven't done squat." Pg. 102 A brief summary for many members of my generation. We may be "woke", but a lot of us aren't UP. You know when you're being woken up for work or school and the person asks, "Are you up!?" And you go, "I'm awake!" "Yes, but are you UP!?" You can be awake all day but still be lying in that same position, but once you're UP you're about to make something happen. We need to GET. UP.

On pg. 178 you get a good description of Stacy's husband, Eric. Then I read pg. 187 and I was broiling. Super pissed because this dude was giving you SO MANY CHANCES to come work things through out with him. I'm so glad that she managed to keep her husband throughout all of this. I know that Stacy will almost never be the same, but I feel like their marriage will heal for a proper do-over. I also think that since Rikki died Stacy has no real reason to give into her Mother's whims and demands. Her deleting all of those voicemails and turning off her phone was her finally setting some well deserved boundaries.

[Jeannette Hartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rikki Moore has it all – beauty, brains, success as an elementary school teacher and a wonderful pediatrician husband.

Her “all” also includes bipolar disorder.

Her sister Stacy is also beautiful, intelligent and gaining a reputation as a crossword puzzle writer. But she’s not given much time to enjoy her gifts. From childhood on, she’s been assigned to take care of Rikki: be with her when the storms break, pull her away from conflict and confrontation and try to negotiate her sister’s extremes.

Mental illness is not allowed in the Moore household. The girls’ grandmother was institutionalized and kept secret from the neighbors. Community standing is important and the local gossips cruel.

When Rikki attempts suicide in high school and the family is advised to have her see a psychiatrist, both parents are opposed. When she’s prescribed lithium in college, she takes it erratically.

Hall does a good job of showing how confusing symptoms of mental illness can be: Rikki’s obsessiveness gets her good grades, scholarships to an exclusive high school and college. That same obsessiveness applied to spending costs her her credit rating and threatens to bankrupt her husband.

Rikki’s problems cause not only her own life to spin out of control, it threatens the happiness of her husband, her sister, her brother-in-law and her students.

This is a cautionary tale that mental illness is not an individual problem. Untreated and unsupported, it can have tragic consequences.

This is a well-written book that stays interesting to the somewhat predictable end.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rachel Howzell Hall did a great job describing mental illness in a way we can all understand. Part of the difficulty of mental disorders is that many people simply cannot grasp what they are or how they affect an individual. In this novel, two young girls grow up in a way many of us do but one of them happens to be afflicted with something much stronger. The author is able to relate to the reader as she depicts the day-to-day as well as the extraordinary hurdles this family goes through as they try to live next to this girl's condition.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives the reader a glimpse into the life of an individual who suffers from manic depression. It is rare that a novel can so accurately depict this illness but Hall does just that in A Quiet Storm. You know the big shock from the beginning but Hall does an excellent job of helping the reader see the end before it unravels. It is so interesting to see how these characters interact together as Rikki's life plays out. This is a super quick read and one that really can open your eyes.

[Shan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting for me. I remember its secretive story even though I read it over 15 years ago.
I may re-read it.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book! Was interesting the whole way through. A good portrayal of mental illness, the shapes that can take, and how people close to them are affected.

[Mikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This was kind of harrowing, with a very unhappy ending, but made riveting reading. The story surrounding one sister's battle with Pipolar Disorder (called Manic Depression in the 80s) and how it affected her family (her mother, an Adventist in total denial), her friends (including her church, especially the elderly pastor, also in complete denial), her husband, and others, but especially the sister who tried to hold everything together - almost losing everything she held dear in the process, including her own husband. It was certainly a page turner. I'll say no more as to do so would be to take away from the plot for other readers. The ending is shocking, so be prepared.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for the mystery book club.

It's not a mystery. It's the sad story of a dysfunctional family with one VERY dysfunctional member, who's enabled by the people who a) refuse to see the mental illness at play and b) enable and support the person until tragedy finally strikes. But I guess you really can't help everyone, even with the best intentions. Some of these folks could have done a little better though.

It's probably better than my rating seems, because it made me unhappy to read it, and I took off probably half a star for that. Not the author's fault really. I'm not not loving books that make me unhappy these days.

The pandemic has a lot to answer for, man.

[Tiara Nicole Chunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book! It was an excellent portrayal of someone with a mental illness and it reminded me of several members of my family. People who suffer from a mental illness should get help, proper help, and the people who enable them are losers.

It was an easy read and for a debut book the writing is descriptive and inspiring. I really enjoyed the downward spiral of this story, I was waiting for something like the ending to happen and when it did I felt strangely relieved 😅 because this story was exactly what I needed for the slump I was in.

I loved the main character as well! We need more black female characters like her who are imperfect and quirky and interesting. 👏🏽

[Lowrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story, but the writing was a bit difficult to follow sometimes. I love Rachel Howzell Hall's later books, so my guess is this was just her first foray into writing a novel, so she needed a bit more practice. And again, it's worth reading because it's a fascinating story and you really find yourself feeling like you are experiencing the universe that develops around someone like Rikki.

[Deborah Long · Rating 2 out of 5]

I put the book down when I was halfway finished. It was far too depressing to complete. Some books about dysfunctional families are funny, but this one is definitely not. I do not recommend this story about mental illness in a family with generational mental illness.

[Lyat Conyers · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was predictable and the actions of the main characters were a bit convenient to the plot.

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed looking at the caregiver role one sister had for the other. So realistic. Beautiful writing. This book may be enjoyed by fans of Where the Crawdads Are.

[Cynthia Cadenhead · Rating 2 out of 5]

About mental illness and its impact on a family. Well written but painful to read because of the subject matter.

[Jewell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely good book about family dynamics when one of the members suffers from the mental disease, bipolar disorder.

[yali (｀・ω・´) · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Everyone wanted something from me. I had nothing to give."
I'm really glad I gave this book another chance, it captivated me and made me feel so many emotionssssss.

[Luc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Appreciate this story and the underlying message.
Just also finished the book "Crazy" by Pete Earley. Similar in perspective but a true story.

[Madi Badger · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book hurts because living with someone knowing they’re inevitably going to Kill themselves is such a unique feeling. Loved this story though

[Monet Dekker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Way too many religious references that don’t quite make sense. Hard to read because of the ties of mental illness and religion with no clear point.

[Nisaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a great book and super dark too.

[Ivy Bambenek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many bible references and there was nothing really shocking or interesting about it.

[Mylissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to start reading happier books.

This centers around two sisters, one who is a Manic Depressive and the other, who helps calm her sister and fix her problems. Stacey narrates, with a lot of wit and self deprecation about her and her sister's (Nikki) history. It starts with Nikki as a shining star but she quickly becomes a troubled adolescent who attempts suicide. Growing older doesn't help and medication doesn't either because it makes Nikki feel better and then she stops taking it. The last intrigue is mentioned at the beginning so it isn't much intrigue- but odd Nikki kill her seemingly perfect husband because he was going to leave her? And does Stacey play any part in it.

The author is pretty sensitive to how mental illness can affect and devastate a family, even if she paints with some broad strokes sometimes. It's a strong book, and I would recommend it to most people.