A Fatal Affair

Mental Madness Suspense #0.5

by Pamela Crane

He's the perfect husband. Until she asks for a divorce.

Allen Michaels has everything—a Hollywood career, a stunning wife, and now a positive pregnancy test in the trash can. Fatherhood, finally.

But before he can celebrate, his wife drops a bombshell: she's leaving him. And she's taking most of his fortune with her.

Allen swears he'll do anything to win her back. Anything. But as the truth starts to unravel, it's clear Allen's past is darker than anyone knows. When "'til death do us part" turns into a deadly promise, someone won't make it out alive.

A gripping psychological short story about love, obsession, and the terrifying line between devotion and madness.

Note: Written as a companion book featuring characters in The Admirer's Secret, but can also be read as a standalone.

Genres: Thriller, Short Stories, Mystery, Suspense, Fiction, Novella, Mystery Thriller

102 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 10, 2013

About the author

To know PAMELA CRANE, you first need to know her husband. He sleeps with one eye open. He checks the knife block to make sure none are missing. Why? It could be because they have four kids and a farm full of mischievous animals. Or it could be because she writes murder mysteries, and about the occasional woman who has lost her marbles (not based on her real-life psyche, she swears!) Don't worry—her husband is safe...for now. Her books range from witty whodunnits to psychological suspense and even humorous women’s fiction thrown in for good measure. She’s a USA TODAY bestselling author of over a dozen novels (who’s counting?), but her biggest accomplishment is keeping her zoo of animals alive…and her husband in check. Grab a free book at www.pamelacrane.com.

Reviews

[Selene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Theme: A husband’s revenge
POV: Multiple, first-person alternating with third-person

Susan and Allen Michaels have been married for two decades. When Allen stumbles onto a positive pregnancy test in the couple’s shared bathroom, his heart soars and he begins to plan for this unexpected role of fatherhood. His wife is much younger (twenty-nine years younger than him!) and it comes as a shock to him that she didn’t mention the pregnancy results to him. Unfortunately, Susan has other plans and announces to him that she’s already filed for a separation! She even moves out of their home that very night!

Broken-hearted but not ready to give up just yet, Allen sets out to closely monitor his wife’s daily activities and it’s then that he finds out that he may not be the father of his wife’s baby.

► Not a single character in this book was sane, unselfish, or caring! It made for delicious drama, though!

[Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book along with "The Admirer's Secret," to review. Having already read the other book, I was anxious to see what all happen in this story.

This is a prequel to "The Admirer's Secret." It centers around the screen writer Allen Michaels. Successful in his work, but unsuccessful in his marriage, life just spirals out of control for this man. The only problem is, his decision to handle his problems is not the best way. (That's all I can say)

This is a short 56 page story, so I can't give you any more details other than what I just said. It'll give the entire story away. It's always nice to see workings of another person's thought process. Ms. Crane did a wonderful job allowing us into Allen Michaels head. Granted, I don't ever want to revisit the place.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novella is the prequel to 'The Admirer's Secret', and as I haven't read it the characters made little or no sense to me. The main character is Allen Michaels, and although he might be a success in Hollywood, his personal life is not so lucky. His wife wants a separation and divorce, but he has just found out that she is pregnant, and he has always wanted to be a Father. What can he do to try and make his marriage work?
When he discovers that his wife is in the midst of an affair, he begins to question whether the child might not actually be his. So he takes a rough course of action, and abducts his wife.
His wife later turns up dead, but is he responsible? For a novella the author has packed in enough plot twists and surprises to keep the reader guessing.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review for this book will be posted on Night Owl Review site soon!

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon & on iBooks today (3/27/2019)! 🎁

[Sheri · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fatal Affair by Pamela Crane

Allen Michael is a high power man in Hollywood. The perfect life with a wife he loves. When his wife comes to him with words he doesn't want to hear his life is about to change forever and so will hers.

A fast paced nail-biting psychological thriller(Short story). I was hooked from the first page until the last. Pamela Crane writes with passion, you can feel the emotions and inner feelings of her characters, she knows how to bring them to life. I look forward to reading The Admirer's Secret the follow up to A Fatal Affair

[Faouzia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you Pamela Crane for giving me a copy of your novella!

An interesting and enjoyable novella, i enjoyed it and i liked that little twist about who the criminal was :)
It surely made me curious about the Novel The Admirer's Secret and i guess i'll be discovering it soon :)

[Morgan Harrigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bad.

[Jackie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Suspense from the beginning. Scary at its best.

[Katie Tingle · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had the potential to be very good. However, within it's many floors (like there always are in short books) the characters were not explained enough. I know it's only a short story, but common, at least make it a little bit longer, if only for the readers to attempt to enjoy it.
Allen was a pretty boring character for me, for instance - I laughed when it came to him kidnapping his soon to be ex-wife. Like can you not think of a more original way, this has been done way too many times before. Anyway, it was done on totally the wrong pretence. He wanted to win back her love? Yeah right. If anything that might have put her off his oblique ways more than his annoying male gender role. I found this book a big cliché. With it once again thinking that by bringing a baby into the world it would solve the worlds problems (or theirs). Although, I was surprised at the ending.
This book is a very short read (which it should be for only 54 pages :o). I suppose it's good for a quick time waster. Although, I can't really moan a lot I got it for free off Amazon. I recommend if free, however if not 'it's a no from me'.

[Kathleen Yohanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a surprise!! This little novella was packed with so many twists and turns that it keep me reading till the end. It is the prequel to "The Admirer's Secret" also by Pamela Crane. Allen Michaels employs a strange method to deal with his wife Susan's affair. It pretty much changes his life forever or at least until the next book.

I received an e-copy of this book for free through the Goodreads site. Thank you.

[Ted Tayler · Rating 4 out of 5]

"An entertaining package"

This made a very pleasant change from the short, novella type offerings I have read recently.It has a well constructed plot, some finely drawn characters and witty dialogue. Add in the fact that the story had been fairly carefully edited, and professionally presented, and you have the perfect companion for a few hours relaxing on the beach. Don't leave home without it!

[Joe Kenogbon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished reading this book on my way to a weekend break. It was short and enjoyable. I liked the characters and the twist in the story. If you are looking for a short and sweet book to read, I will certainly recommend it. I like Pamela Crane's style of writing and I will love to read more of her books.

[Kaylie Sudlow · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are after a quick story that has a bit of everything in it I would recommend this book. There are twists and it is quite dark showing what someone can do if they are pushed to the limits. Read if you have a quiet day and fancy a break from the long novel you are reading.

[DOROTHY SILLS · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fast read on the edge of your seat thriller. Sorry it ended so soon, I will have to buy “Admirer's Secret” so I can read more about Allen Michael. I recommend this book to everyone who likes thrillers.

[Babus Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

When Allen finds out his wife is pregnant his life takes a huge turn and he inadvertently is arrested for her murder. Will the real killer be caught?

Short, relatively gripping and hugely predictable, I was left wanting more, which I think was the point of this novella.

[Sima · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book just when you think you know the answers it spins around and you are left flabbergasted.

[Shell Swinscoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

great story if you want a short story!

[Blkvelvet · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good who-done-it.

[Milissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good plot

This was a very good book. Good plot. Good plot twist. I can't wait to read the sequel. Great author.

[Janeandjerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Fatal Affair

Great book good characters short story one that can be read in one short setting and worth the time spent reading

[Paula Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a keen reader, the hardest thing sometimes is finding books that suit your mood and something that you will enjoy at the moment. It's like you want to read, but sometimes every book that you pick up is a stalemate and blurgh. When I get like this, I find the best thing to do is grab those books that are novellas or short stories, the quick reads as they just hit the spot and leave you satisfied till the next story. A Fatal Affair by Pamela Crane is the prequel to her book The Admirers Secret which I have on my kindle to read. This book starts with us meeting Hollywood icon Allen Michaels and his estranged wife Susan. One night Allen reaches his point and learns that his wife is pregnant, this sparks his wanting to reconnect with her and finally be a family. The thing is though that his wife has different ideas and wants a divorce and the baby is her lover’s and both of them have been having an affair as he is married also. Allen decides that if he can't have his wife then no one can, but then someone else wants Susan dead. Has Allen made it easy for the other person to get away with murder? Find out in this quick-read novella - A Fatal Affair filled with love triangles, mayhem, and murder.

[Avid · Rating 1 out of 5]

Huh?

I must have missed something. 🤔

This was a fast neck breaking speed murder mystery. It jumped around continuously. The characters were shallow and self-absorbed even with very little development added by the author. Frequent changes in the story without explanation made my head spin. Eventually, you can piecemeal what's happening. It's not my type of enjoyable reading

I also don't know what type of genre I would call this? It seemed more like a sick joke. Everything from the relationship, the jobs and lifestyle, the way they treated others, view on money, view on death, torture, etc. Was this supposed to be funny?

As I said... huh?

I obviously missed something. 🙄

Not recommended. Read other reviews.
📚

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short prequel to the The Admirers Secret. My mistake was I read the second book first, but I wasn't all that confused. I just knew Allen was crazy in the second book. I will definitely read more from this author!!

[Cece Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

a short novella with well timed switches from first person to third person POV, husbands revenge & twists & turns! this was a book i got from a Stuff Your Kindle day & the second book in a series so i’ve downloaded the first & plan on reading it to get a true feeling of this novella

[doreen elixman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Allen Michaels has decided he needs to kill his wife. Now, he just has to do it, without getting caught.

Susan seems to be a heartless bitch, not caring that she’s taking Allen for everything in a divorce after finding out she’s pregnant. So twenty years of marriage means no more to her than packing her life and leaving tonight.

Allen goes to her apartment trying to make amends, bringing wine, dinner and a really nice Rolex watch he hopes that she’ll love forever. Once they have dinner, she says she’s tired, being pregnant and all, and needs to retire. She thanks him for the watch, asks if they can be friends, making him more hopeful, and he leaves.

On his next visit to her place, he sees her so beautifully glowing in red, only to kiss another man on the sidewalk. His heart drops as he watches the man help Susan into his fancy car. When Allen awoke from being passed out for the last few hours he devised a plan.

He went to her apartment with some chloroform he’d purchased from the internet. Once she’d been fully out, he’d decided he’d take her to his cabin retreat in Tujunga, where they used to take vacations. She’d pleaded with him to get back together, but he hadn’t fallen for it. He knew better, he knew Susan. She attempted using the baby. Bad idea. He didn’t think it was his.

Two days later LAPD Detectives showed up at Allen’s apartment asking questions about Susan. Allen told them he’d spoken to her a couple of days ago, dropping off mail when she’d told him she was going to the east coast to visit relatives not saying for how long. He managed to talk his way out of suspicion, fending off the detectives and sending them on their way.

Allen was going to Westfield NY, there was a job there for him in creative writing, he just had to figure out what to do with Susan. Not intending to let her go, he wasn’t planning on killing her either. He’d left her in the cabin with a bottle of water and a loaf of bread. Her lips were cracked and bleeding. When she broke free from her restraints and found the phone, she rang up her boyfriend, Brett. The only consolation he gave her was, “I’ll see what I can do.” Susan was beyond livid. He didn’t want to be caught by his wife. Susan threatened to tell his wife about being pregnant with his baby. Allen had come in, unbeknownst to Susan, he’d heard enough of the conversation to know her boyfriends name was Brett and the baby belonged to him. He got out the chloroform again, tied her up better this time and went outside to think of a plan.

Allen was on a plane to Westfield. He’d been accepted for the creative writing position, so he’d be starting a new life there. What he didn’t expect when he had to return to LA was two uniformed officers waiting for him to ask him about having found Susan’s body. The last he’d seen of her was tied in Tujunga, passed out but not dead. He’s found himself sitting in a jail cell.

I have followed Pamela Crane since the first book of hers I read. As all of her books, this one was great! In A Fatal Affair, the husband, unable to impregnate his wife, finds out she’s taken a positive pregnancy test. At first, he gets excited but his bubble soon bursts when he comes to the realization that she’s cheated. He has no idea with whom, but he’s not the father. He quickly abducts her after she’d served him with legal papers and promptly moved out. Hello! She’s got a boyfriend!! That sucks! I really enjoyed this short story and all of Pamela Crane’s books. The Psychological Thrillers are my favorite, she’s definitely in that category!

[Lizzy Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a punchy story with a twist and is the prequel to Crane’s popular thriller ‘The Admirer’s secret.’ However this little book holds up on it’s own as a short bedtime read! We know it is going to be a knockout when the book starts with the line ‘I knew she had to die, but how I’d get away with killing her was a question I didn’t have the answer to.’ Powerful eh?

The book follows Allen Michaels, who startlingly finds out that his wife Susan is pregnant. However this news is not entirely good news. Although Michaels is extremely excited about being a father, how can he not be? Susan is about to change that when she later comes home and unrelentingly slams down a separation agreement settlement on the kitchen work surface; she is leaving him, with her baby, and to plunge the knife a little deeper, for another man. As Allen’s life seemingly crumbles around him, no longer than two weeks later Susan disappears. Yes, disappears!

Allen abducts his now ex-wife bounds her wrists and feet in his second home; a tiny bungalow nestled in the Angeles National Forest. Leaving Susan with tiny amounts of food and water he leaves her. Days pass and Susan is almost unconscious; with her throat burning, her stomach aching and her lips cracking she breaks free and calls Brett, her new lover. Will he come to save her, will Susan escape, and could Allen really kill another human being? All will be revealed! (If you read the book!)

The main positive of the book is in the twist; it is unrelenting and a sudden shock. The book is short and snappy and therefore leads you down a tumbling path, which builds, and builds before finally showing it’s last card; a very interesting and surprising twist! The book is well written, with a good understanding of how to draw the reader in! There are unfortunately a number of negatives; firstly and I don’t know whether this is due to the length of the book Crane is unable to develop the characters succinctly. This means that although the twist and the events are traumatising and unexpected we as a reader do not feel a large emotional tug or pull due to our lack of empathy as we have little or no information about the characters as a whole. Although this is noticeably due to the book being a novella, leading into the book following Allen Michaels it would have been nice to have a little more description. Without it it means that the events are very suddenly placed upon us which means we are reader don’t react as strongly. However, this is a good little read and definitely persuades you to get Crane’s second book.

So, if you want something, short, but definitely not sweet!

[Thom Swennes · Rating 3 out of 5]

How excruciatingly and agonizingly pathetic! In the fleet passing of seconds lives and fortunes can change. Allen Michaels was going through his normal routine with no apprehensions when by pure chance he looked into the bathroom wastebasket. There an oddity caught and held his eye. Upon further inspection he discovered that it was the remains of a home pregnancy test and it read, positive. He had always wanted children (someone to carry on the bloodline and family name) but his wife Susan just wasn’t the mothering type. Their busy lives left him little time for thoughts of following generations but with this recent discovery everything suddenly stopped. The vision of little Michaels filled his brain and amidst all of this family delight the face of Susan appeared and then panic at the knowledge of how she would react to this unexpected development. Traveling from the pinnacle of discovering his future fatherhood to the depths of divorce, abandonment and loneliness, Allen’s world crashed and burned. Even amidst the destruction of his life and marriage, he refuses to recognize it and grovels at the feet of his oppressor. The reader is lead along a rough path surrounded by dismal scenes and depressing prose. Some books delight the soul and make the readers laugh and feel good about themselves and the world around them. This story pulls a dark shadow over a bright day and sends the reader into a bone-chilling depression. He is a man on a mission with absolutely NO plan. This novella is a prequel to The Admirer’s Secret. I enjoyed this literary interlude and look forward to reading its continuation.

[Danielle Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is also posted on my blog: http://theshortreviewer.blogspot.com/...

This novella is a prequel to the full length novel, The Admirer's Secret. It tells the story of Allen, a successful Hollywood producer, who is a twisted person in a terrible marriage that goes from bad to worse. There was no one in this story that was likeable. And I mean, no one. Allen's wife is a shallow, materialistic person, and even though she is victimized, I still had trouble feeling sorry for her. Yet, despite this, I still really enjoyed the story. The author's writing style flowed nicely, and it kept me hooked. It was engaging and easy to read.

It was interesting to read most of the story through Allen's point of view. He's clearly a sick person with a warped sense of the world, but that's what made his character so intriguing. He also wasn't completely devoid of compassion; it was just severely lacking most of the time.

I really liked the twist--it definitely threw me off! And now I am most certainly interested in reading The Admirer's Secret!

[Pamela Crane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allen Michaels always fascinated me, from the moment I met him. He's a real person in real life, with a perplexing past and eccentric personality that baffled me and often made people stare in wonder at his egotistical eccentricities. I simply couldn't pass up sharing his story.

I wrote this novella with the intention of making it a free companion book to "The Admirer's Secret" because I didn't want to squeeze his background in, distracting readers from Haley and Marc. But Allen deserved to have this part of his life written about, since I'm sure his mysterious past played a part in who he is today.

To Allen, thank you for your inspiration...even if you did creep me out at times. :)