The Complexity of Relationships
Relationships are complicated things, in both fiction and real life. I usually write romance novels, where the heroine meets a hunky male, they’re both attracted to each other but there is some conflict that keeps them apart, until finally the conflict is resolved and they profess their love for each other and often get married. That’s it. End of story. Even if the hero and heroine don’t get married the assumption is that there is a happy ever after – for now – because that’s what readers of romance novels expect. I wrote an article about the realism of romance in October last year, arguing that romance novels have realism at the core.
My next two books are a change of direction for me, but they too have realism at the core. Although they are also about relationships, they are psychological thrillers that explore the darker side of relationships. After all, no one knows what goes on behind closed doors, and relationships can be very complex.
My first book, The Stranger in My Bed, starts with a woman, Freya, about to leave her husband, Phil, when she is told that he’s been in a car crash and is in hospital, in a coma. When Phil comes around he can’t remember their often violent marriage, all he can remember is the blissful days when they were dating and their honeymoon when everything was perfect. Freya has to decide whether to give their marriage another chance.
The story is told through both Freya and Phil’s point of view, with the reader having to guess which one of them was the abusive one, which one of them is in danger. I wrote this story to highlight the complexity of abusive relationships and why many people remain in them.
The story has been brewing in my head for many years. It started with someone remarking to me that they couldn’t understand why people stayed in an abusive relationship. The typical picture of an abuser is either a cold, controlling man/woman that make their partner’s life a misery on a daily basis, or a drunk who comes from the pub and beats up their partner every night but not all abusers are like this.
Many are kind, loving people at times, the life and soul of the party, there are days when there is love and laughter and that’s what keeps their partner with them. They make allowances for the abuser because they know about their difficult childhood/other issues and gradually they start to believe what the abuser tells them, that it is they who are the problem, that they cause the abuse, they are too loud, too confrontational, too flirty, too everything.
This is the relationship I’ve tried to illustrate in this book, the complicated relationship that society often doesn’t understand, the one that starts with two people who love each other but one who can’t or won’t control the red mist that falls on them when thwarted in any way and their partner hangs on in there waiting for the abuser to return to the person they know they can be, the one they fell in love with and who loves them.
It’s a common trait of abusers to gaslight their victims, to deny all knowledge of the abuse, to say that their partner has imagined it, that they caused the injury themselves, to even pretend to other people they are the victim, and for the actual victim to never tell anyone, to cover up for the abuse. It’s this gaslighting behaviour that gave me the idea to write this story. I wondered, if the abuser or their partner had amnesia and had no memory of the abuse, could they start again and build a better relationship?
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Karen King is a multi-published bestselling author of fiction for both adults and children. She has also written several short stories for women’s magazines. Currently published by Bookouture and Headline. Karen has recently signed a two-book deal with Bookouture to write psychological thrillers. The first one will be out in November, and the second one in 2021. She is also contracted to write three romance novels for Headline, which will be out in 2021 and 2022.
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The Stranger in My Bed is now on preorder:
It will be published by Bookouture in November 2020
‘We have a patient who has been involved in a serious accident. We believe he’s your husband.’
When Freya first met Phil, she thought he was the man of her dreams. He bought her roses every week, booked surprise trips to sun-soaked destinations, and showed her affection like she’d never experienced before. But over time the dream had become a violent nightmare. And now Freya is packing her bags, knowing it’s time she escaped their increasingly broken marriage.
But then Freya gets a visit from the police. Phil’s been in a horrific car crash and – as he comes around – it becomes clear that remembers nothing since their blissful honeymoon two years before, back when their relationship was perfect. All he wants is to be happily married again.
Freya knows giving him another chance could be dangerous. But now he’s the one who needs her, it’s a chance to turn the tables, and to change the outcome of their relationship once and for all. After all, he will only know what she chooses to tell him…
But what really happened during those two years of marriage? And as they start over again, who is safe? And whose life is in danger?
Fans of The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors and Date Night who are looking for a dark, gripping psychological thriller, with a final twist that will leave their jaw on the floor, will love The Stranger In My Bed.
Preorder links
Amazon: https://geni.us/B08GKRRPWHCover
Apple: http://ow.ly/u5Po50B8dyr
Kobo: http://ow.ly/RvQb50B8dwv
Google: http://ow.ly/1IPa50B8lnh
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Thank you for inviting me over to talk about my forthcoming release, Barbara. xx