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Domestic abuse is center stage in “Madwoman” a gripping mystery/thriller by Chelsea Bieker. Though this subject is frequently written about in novels, what sets “Madwoman” apart is the manner in which it delivers details of abuse, how its cycle is passed down through generations, how abuse intensifies, and the effect abuse has on its victims.
This factual information is wrapped up in a fast-moving story of a family destroyed by a husband and father whose “dark traveler” takes over causing him to rage, leaving his wife battered, depressed and awaiting the next onslaught after the honeymoon period has passed.
Clove grew up seeing her mother threatened and physically abused. Now Clove has two children of her own, Nova, a 7-year-old girl and Lark, who just turned 3, a child she’s attempting to wean off breast feeding when the book opens.
Clove is married to a man completely unlike her father. He’s a good-hearted, loving husband—yet the past haunts Clove, causing her to numb her feelings with purchases she doesn’t desire and constant worry about being a perfect mother, not entrusting her children to anyone else’s care.
The Everest of Clove’s anxiety lies in a secret she keeps, the horrific memory of her mother killing her husband 16 years ago, pushing him off a multi-storied balcony in their Waikiki home. After Clove fled this shocking scene, she adopted a different identify using resources provided by a friend her mother made when the family moved from California to Hawaii.
Since the murder, Clove’s mother has been in prison, and Clove’s whereabouts has remained a mystery. Though the police knew a daughter witnessed the crime, they have been unable to discover Clove’s whereabouts.
Clove has lived in fear of her husband finding out her dark secret, as she tries to maintain a façade of calm, a stay-at-home mother devoted to her family. Emotionally, however, Clove is a wreck—her anxiety ramping up when her mother starts sending letters to her from the correctional facility where she’s serving time. Clove’s mother eventually had success in locating Clove thanks to a lawyer interested in helping women who were incarcerated for crimes they committed when their lives were threatened. Will her mother soon be released, and Clove’s ugly secret revealed?
Written in first person throughout, Clove addresses her mother, making for a narrative that’s personal and heartfelt. Readers will feel for Clove, see the child in her attempting to make sense of her past and understand the complicated feelings she has for her abusive father. Moving back and forward in time, bit and pieces of Clove’s past are revealed—paramount her first romance with a man she entrusts with her secret—a man who later resurfaces in her life.
Though some parts of this thriller seem a bit far-fetched, overall “Madwoman” is an addictive read with an unexpected twist at the end. It’s an entertaining story, but a sad one too, its content too often played out in real life.
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