Craig and Daisy, a couple whose marriage has been in trouble for some time, go on a couple’s retreat to examine their lives together. But Craig has a mistress he’s secretly planning on leaving Daisy for, and Daisy has secrets, too.
The pitch from the Eden Test's two founding therapists is “Seven days. Seven questions. Forever changed.” A week in a remote cabin in the woods. What could possibly go wrong?
THE EDEN TEST, the latest novel by author Adam Sternberg, is not only a brilliant domestic thriller but a riveting deconstruction of a marriage. The main characters, Daisy and Craig, have a hidden history of keeping secrets from each other during their three-year relationship. Each day of their week-long retreat presents them with a new question to get them to talk and, hopefully, evaluate where they are in terms of each other in their marriage. Each day, the new question builds on the ones before it and delves into how far each spouse would go for the other. The questions prompt the couple to open up to each other in ways they haven’t previously, and there are not only some thought-provoking questions but answers as well. There is hope for a new beginning for these two.
But as they work through the questions, strange encounters with a couple of the oddly hostile local townspeople turn ugly, bringing unexpected trouble their way. However, just when I thought the plot would be an us vs. them cat and mouse game in a remote cabin in the woods, shocking twists in the story elevated the mystery and suspense to a whole other level. I was completely engaged by this story and read it in one afternoon!
With its flawed main characters, secrets upon secrets, and twists and turns I never anticipated, I recommend THE EDEN TEST to readers who enjoy domestic thrillers, tense edge-of-your-seat suspense, delightfully clever plot twists, and fans of the author’s previous work.
"A galloping and exhilarating thriller." —Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me
From Edgar Award-finalist Adam Sternbergh, an electrifying domestic suspense novel for fans of The Perfect Marriage and Rock Paper Scissors, about a couple who are forced to the ultimate extremes to save their marriage—and themselves.
Seven Days. Seven Questions. Forever Changed.
Daisy and Craig’s marriage is in serious trouble. That’s why Daisy has signed up for The Eden Test, a week-long getaway for couples in need of a fresh start. Yet even as she’s struggling to salvage her marriage, it seems Craig has plans to leave her for another woman. In fact, his bags are already packed—long before he arrives to meet Daisy in this remote cabin in the woods of upstate New York.
At first, their week away is marked by solitude, connection, and natural beauty—and only a few hostile locals. But what Craig doesn’t know is that Daisy, a slyly talented actress, has her own secrets, including a burner phone she’s been using for mysterious texts. Not to mention the Eden Test itself, which poses a searing new question to the couple every day, each more explosive than the last. Their marriage was never perfect, but now the lies and revelations are piling up, as the week becomes much more than they bargained for…How far are they willing to go?
Adam Sternbergh brings his wit, originality, and a Hitchcockian sense of dread to this chilling, surprising, and wholly entertaining portrait of a marriage on the brink.
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