A Happy Marriage is a twisted diabolical story that captures the readers attention from the first page when we learn what Joe wants to do to his beloved wife.

To the outside world Joe (a psychiatrist) and Dinah ( a very successful detective) their marriage seems ideal and they are the unique couple who's realtionship only gets stronger.

Until it doesnt.

Both Joe and Dinah have explosive secrets and neither can afford for them to come to light.

I must say neither Joe or Dinah have many redeeming qualities but I do love crazy.

A. R. Torre takes the reader down a twisted path that will have you shaking your head and guessing that this cant end well . Can it?

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the privilege of reading and reviewing A Happy Marriage.

This was an intense read that had me feeling so confused through most of it. The dynamics between husband and wife was definitely interesting (and has me thinking I need to convince my husband thst we need a double bed each too). At no point did I have any idea where the story was going, although I figured out early on the connection between Dinah and Jessica.
This was fast paced and engaging, and I look forward to my next read from this author.

Title: A Happy Marriage
Author: A. R. Torre
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: June 24, 2025
My Rating: 3 .2 Stars
Pages 254

Story is told from the POV of Los Angeles homicide detective Dinah Marino and her husband Joe a psychiatrist.

Dinah and Joe have been married for ten years and their marriage seemly is happy!

However, when one of Dr. Marino’s patients had been admitted to his hospital but now is missing and has a connection to his wife, Doctor-patient confidentiality keeps him from saying anything revealing.

Soon find out that both husband and wife have secrets.

The story is full of twists as Dinah investigates a missing woman’s case that brings her close to Joe’s world, and the realization things are not exactly what they seem.
Alternating POV of Dinah and Joe kept me interested but I reached the point I could not trust either one of them.

I read and totally enjoyed " A Fatal Affair" so was expecting another great read.
Hmmm ~~~ that is not what happened. I will read another but this was somewhat disappointing. But the Epilogue was interesting!


A.R. Torre is a pseudonym of Alessandra Torre] and is her dark alter ego. While Alessandra writes spicy romances, A.R. focuses on twisted stories filled with secrets, suspense, drama, and danger.

Want to thank NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for granted me this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for June 24, 2025.

A Happy Marriage was twisty and absolutely bonkers. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I for sure was not expecting that. I could not put it down and finished it within 24 hours. I was sucked into this story when I read the first sentence. The first sentence, people. Highly recommend.

I was given an advanced copy of this book. All opinions expressed above are my own.

Dinah, a police detective, and Joe, a psychiatrist/professor. They have been married for a decade. Their relationship has no secrets, so they think. Dinah has a secret she is willing to do anything to make sure Joe never finds out.
I enjoyed the intense chapters that weren't that long. I wasn't sure where this story was going, but I was hooked and needed to find out wtf was going on. Dinah and Joe seemed a bit weird, and boy, was I right.

I LOVED this book.

This was my first book by Torre, and I am in love. Perfectly twisty, beautifully told, fully invested, and finished it in 2.5 hours.

Dinah is a detective at the local PD and when a terminally ill woman is found dead, it seems to be a suicide until they realize her 20 year old daughter is missing.

Dinah has a shadow- Freddie, who is fresh, green, and ready to solve the case and pushes Dinah to investigate further, but Dinah doesn’t want to dig, she doesn’t feel like anything is wrong-

And for Dinah, nothing is. She has the perfect beautiful husband, an amazing solve rate, a beautiful home, and everything she’s ever wanted- the only thing wrong is her family, but she’s able to deal with it, because her husband is supportive, perfect, and with her every step of the way- but as secrets come out, her perfect marriage falters, and the missing girl and her mother become so much more important than any of them could have known.

The story ended perfectly, the twists were vague, perfectly timed, and well executed. The chapters were descriptive yet concise.

One of the best books I’ve read this year.

We are fully hooked over here at Thriller Book Lovers The Pulse!

This one is giving psychological suspense in the most unsettling, addictive way. On the outside, Dinah and Joe seem like the perfect couple…she’s a homicide detective, he’s a charming psychiatrist. But behind closed doors? Let’s just say not everything is as it seems…
Secrets, mind games, and the slow unraveling of a “happy” life, Torre knows how to build tension that creeps in and doesn’t let go.

This was definitely an interesting psychological suspense novel. Dinah a homicide detective is ‘happily’ married to Joe a psychiatrist. As one of Dinah’s cases intersects with Joe’s clinic we learn more and more about the dynamics of their very unconventional marriage. The suspense ramped up throughout the book as secrets were exposed. This one definitely had a creepy vibe. I was engaged with the plot throughout the book and suspected some of the twists and was surprised by others.

A Happy Marriage delivers a psychological suspense story wrapped in domestic drama, secrets, and the slow unraveling of a seemingly perfect relationship. The premise is gripping—Detective Dinah Marino and her psychiatrist husband Joe seem like the ideal couple, but both are hiding secrets that run deep. The tension builds nicely as Dinah’s latest case hits closer to home than expected, and the dynamics of trust, privacy, and deception keep the pages turning.

That said, the pacing can be uneven. Some parts drag with introspection, and a few plot developments feel a little too convenient. While the character development is solid, especially with Dinah, there are moments where the emotional stakes could have been pushed further.

Still, the blend of marriage drama and criminal intrigue makes this a compelling read. It’s not a thriller that will shock you at every turn, but it does offer an insightful look at how secrets—even those kept with the best intentions—can spiral out of control.

"𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝑰 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅."

Special thanks to @thrillerbookloversthepulse #netgalley @amazonpublishing & @alessandratorre4 for the #gifted eARC.

➡️ swipe for synopsis 👉🏼

🔪 Bibgeable
🔪 Read in 1 sitting
🔪 Super psychological
🔪 Messy characters
🔪 Multiple POVS
🔪 Lots of TW!

This one was so intriguing in true A.R. Torre fashion! Such a quick read i didn't even realize I was flying through the pages.

So excited to be on this tour for her, along with my fellow Pulse-mates.

𝙋𝙐𝘽 𝘿𝘼𝙔:
June 24, 2025

ℚ𝕆𝕋𝔻❓️⁉️❓️ Whats for dinner? Come Thursdays, I'm always striking out and sick of cooking!

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#mysteryandthrills #thrillersandsuspense #thrillerfriendsunite #thrillerlover #thrilleraddict #thrillerjunkie #thrillergirlie #bookbuzz #upcomingthriller #thrillerbooklovers #thepulse #pulsepoint #artorre #amazonpublishing #ahappymarriage
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Dinah: she’s a woman that will do anything to make sure her handsome husband loves her best.

She works as a police officer investigating cases for missing women. Her husband, Joe Marino, is a psychologist and teaches at a local college. They are the envy of others with their devotion towards each other.

Yet, Dinah has secrets that she’s afraid of sharing. She’s holding them inside and hoping they will never be revealed. If she slips, it may be a case where sparks will fly off the walls.

This is a psychological thriller that has twists throughout with short chapters. It makes you cringe at parts and other times, it’s like the unbelievable Netflix series. Yet, it’s full of entertainment.

My thanks to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of June 24, 2025.

I think this was A. R. Torre's darkest, most twisted thriller yet, and I loved every minute of it! This one is fast-paced and has unreliable narrators! I guessed one twist, but it was so multilayered that I continued to be shocked and surprised. With short chapters and the need to know how everything is going to end, this book is almost impossible to put down!

I'll be honest: this book started out interesting and intriguing to me, but unfortunately after the first 5 or 6 chapters, it failed to hold my attention. This was the 6th book I read from this author and the last 3 I've read were flops to me, and this one, in my opinion, makes some of the same mistakes (again, in my opinion) Torre has made in her 3 last novels.
The tropes are relentlessly clichés and over the top. It makes the characters not relatable and hard to believe they could be realistic people.
The setting was fine, but the conclusion I felt it was overwhelming.
Not a good recommendation to readers who have never read a book by this author before, and not a good one to hardcore thrillers readers, like myself.
On the other hand, readers who have never read a book by this author before and/or readers who have just started reading thrillers, might benefit more from reading this book.

This book had me intrigued from the beginning, despite me being a little confused throughout this book. I Walt don't want to say too much because then I'll be giving parts away and I don't want to do that. I didn't want to put this book down. I bright out to the kitchen with me to finish eating. It just took me awhile to feel like i had a good grasp on everyone and what exactly was going on.

Dinah is married to her psychiatrist husband Joe and they're both keeping secrets from each other and things aren't always what they seem.

A huge thanks to Thomas & Mercer and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Expected publication June 24, 2025

Let me start by saying that I enjoy A.R. Torre’s work! That said, this book had so much potential. It wasn’t a bad read, but it felt like something was missing from the story. I would’ve liked more background on how Dinah and Joe became who they were. There wasn’t much character development, which left me with a lot of unanswered questions.

Thank you, NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer, for the digital ARC.

A Happy Marriage
Rating: 3⭐️
Pub Date: June 24, 2025

this was WILD. i love AR Torre’s writing bc it’s so simole yet the dialect changes so seamlessly with the shifts in POV. i was maybe a step or two ahead of the plot but it didn’t ruin the twists at all. the ending threw me for a loop bc have we learned nothing?? very easy, quick paced read that i would recommend to everyone!

Whoa, so many twists. There were a few I saw coming and a few I definitely didn’t! This was an enjoyable book to read and kept me turning pages!

A Happy Marriage follows a married couple, the wife is a homicide detective and her husband is a psychiatrist. It takes about 80% of the book for us to realized why they had such a “happy” marriage in their own messed up way.

I felt like the build up was more impactful than the actual “plot twist” by the time we got to it i was just like ohhhhh okay. It was kind of flat for me. It had so much potential. It took way too long to build up the story and we got two lines on why her and her husband had the “happy marriage”

I appreciated the suspense of the overall plot but it deserved a better ending.

Thank you NETGALLEY Thomas & Mercer for the e-ARC

3 stars

This book was crazy, which you can expect from an A.R.Torre book.

The good:
The writing style was great and I was sucked in from page 1.
The drama and action was crazy and yet hilarious.
It was something a little different, which is always welcome.

So we are on our way to a 5 star review, right?

The first half seemed like a different book than the 2nd half. It somehow lost a little mojo for me.
I was left with unanswered questions - and I am not sure it was done on purpose?

Did I like this book a lot? Yes! Have I read better by this author? Yes!

I do want to thank #netgalley and the publisher for the ARC - this did not impact my review.

I was hooked from the beginning and read eagerly, until the middle - the dreaded middle when the story seemed to get in its own way, and lost it. Also, crazily implausible; you’ll *really* need to suspend your sense of disbelief for this one.

I’ve read other books by the author, and enjoyed the majority of them, but this one wasn’t really for me. However, I do look forward to reading the author’s future titles.



Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for the DRC