The Anniversary

Secrets and lies are the name of the game in Cole Baxter’s twist filled book, The Anniversary. This proved to be a fast, dramatic, and dark twisted read.

People celebrate their anniversaries in many ways: some prefer to celebrate them at home and some, like Tom and Catherine, prefer to indulge in a lavish meal at a restaurant. But most make it home safely, but not Tom and Catherine. On the way home, there was a horrible tragic crash. When Catherine wakes up in the hospital, she learns she has been charged with being the driver in an accident which resulted in a fatality. But she wasn’t driving and has the bruises to prove it. This is only the beginning as Catherine learns more about her husband, things become more dire, more dangerous, and more twisted.

This book started strongly with a horrible accident, disbelief, blame, lies, secrets, and then with revelations which left Catherine reeling. Cole Baxter knows how to write controlling and despicable characters! I mean seriously, Tom was the worst. Try reading this book and not feeling some strong feelings about his character. Catherine was very young when she first met Tom who is 15 years her senior. She is naive, has little life experience, and is a little too trusting. I felt for her for most of the book, while also wanting to tell her to run for the hills.

This book (and characters) has a lot going on in a short amount of time. There are secrets, gaslighting, lying, manipulation and drama galore in this book. It’s entertaining and had me thinking of the show Desperate Housewives while reading due to the involvement of the neighbors in this book.

I had both the audiobook and kindle version of this book. I thought the narrator of the audiobook did a great job bringing the book to life.

Thank you to Bookouture, Bookouture Audio, and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.