Title: The Power Couple by Alex Berenson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense
Length: 428 pages
Book Rating: B
Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss
Summary:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award winner Alex Berenson comes a supercharged thriller about marriage and the dangerous secrets spouses keep.
Rebecca and Brian Unsworth appear to have it all. A nice house in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Two well-behaved, healthy teenage children. Important government jobs—Rebecca working in counterterrorism for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Brian serving as a coder for the National Security Agency. Their lives stand to improve even more as Brian, in his off-hours, has just developed and sold a highly profitable app.
However, the Unsworths’ marriage isn’t as perfect as it seems. After two decades together, they’ve drifted apart, talking little and having sex even less. Seeking to revive their strained relationship, they decide for their twentieth wedding anniversary to take their two kids, Kira and Tony, on a European getaway.
They have a blast…until one night in Barcelona when Kira doesn’t come home from a dance club. She’s gone. Abducted. Over the course of a single weekend, the Unsworths will do everything possible to find her—as Kira herself discovers just how far she’ll go to break free of the trap that’s been set for her. And even as Rebecca and Brian come together for Kira, they realize their marriage is more tenuous than they realized.
The Power Couple is both a fast-paced, globe-trotting espionage novel full of surprising twists and a nuanced look at modern marriage—the challenges of balancing career, parenthood, sex, and love.
Review:
The Power Couple by Alex Berenson is a suspenseful mystery about a couple whose daughter has been kidnapped during a family vacation.
Rebecca Unsworth is an FBI agent stationed in Washington, DC. Her intense dedication to her career lands her a job working Russian counterintelligence. Her climb up the career ladder has had an impact on her marriage to Brian and her kids, but things are finally settling down at home. Brian works for the NSA as a coder. Their daughter Kira is nineteen and attending college and son Tony is seventeen. Rebecca and Tony are celebrating their twentieth anniversary with a European vacation with their kids.
Their first stop is Paris, where unbeknownst to her parents, Kira meets a young man. The family is leaving for Barcelona the next day and she is delighted by his suggestion they meet at a bar he knows in town. When Kira fails to return after her night out, Rebecca and Brian are afraid something dire has happened to their daughter. When their worst fears are realized, they frantically hope for word from the kidnappers in hopes of arranging her release. And Rebecca and Brian cannot help but wonder if their daughter was targeted at random. Or is her kidnapping related to either one of their careers?
Rebecca always planned on having children but she failed to realize how dedicated to her she would be to her career. With Brian staying home with Tony and Kira, she concentrates on ensuring she makes the most of her transfers to different cities. With several successes under her belt, Rebecca is thrilled with the transfer to Washington. But instead of working less hours, Rebecca continues to put her career before her family.
Despite her flourishing career, money is always tight for the family and Brian is not always happy to be pushed into taking jobs he does not like. He also resents Rebecca’s spendthrift habits. Despite the growing rift between them during one of their moves, Brian is happy to stay home with the kids and they are quite close. After their move to Washington, he finds his niche at the NSA and when he sells an app he designed, they family is much more financially stable.
When Kira goes missing, Rebecca utilizes her FBI resources to get the local authorities to begin searching for her daughter. She is frantic with worry but Kira is resourceful as she tries to placate her captors. She also intends to escape if at all possible because she is afraid of what the kidnappers plan to do with her. Using any means necessary, Kira plots her escape but will she be successful?
Unfolding from Kira, Rebecca and Brian’s perspectives, The Power Couple is an engrossing mystery with a clever storyline. The chapters from Rebecca and Brian’s points of view provide an intimate look into their marriage and the effects of Rebecca’s career on the home life. Kira’s chapters reveal an intelligent young woman who keeps her wits about her during her harrowing ordeal. With very shocking plot twists, Alex Berenson brings this riveting mystery to an edge of the seat conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this twist-filled thriller.
