The Stranger She Loved

February 15, 2015

In April 2007, Michele MacNeill, a much-beloved mother of eight, is found dead in her bathtub. The scene is grisly. Michele, who appears to have drowned after an overdose, was recovering from a face-lift and the sutures are broken and bleeding. Her husband, Dr. Martin MacNeill, seemingly attempts CPR but to no avail: Michele is pronounced dead at the hospital. Weeks later, MacNeill brings his eldest daughter to the Mormon temple so he can pray for someone to help him with the younger daughters. A woman in white appears--presumably an answer from above. In truth, he's seen her many times before: it's his mistress. When MacNeill shamelessly moves her into the family home days later, his already-suspicious daughters and Michele's family launch a dogged, well-publicized fight to bring the man to justice. The writing is histrionic at times and the portrayal of MacNeill is clearly subjective; he is universally despised by virtually everyone in the book, including the author. This makes it difficult to understand why Michele loved him--or why anyone would, really--regardless of the book's title. VERDICT Despite the issues mentioned, Hogan weaves a cohesive and engaging account, and her narrative chronology makes this a compelling read. MacNeill's bizarre and narcissistic behavior, his extensive criminal history (including identity theft and sexual assault), and a wide array of sources give the author a substantial amount of information to navigate, but she charters the waters with efficiency.--Erin Entrada Kelly, Philadelphia, PA

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 1, 2015
Former high-school cheerleader and local beauty-queen Michele Somers seemed to have it alland she was kind, too. But when she met and married the brash but handsome Martin MacNeill, her family was dismayed, with reason. Newspaper accounts found by Michele's mother, Helen, showed fraud and mental illness in Martin's past. Still, somehow, nearly 30 years of marriage passed before Michele's family's worries would bear fruit, when the mother of eight was found dead in the bathtub. It would take nearly seven years for her family members, especially her daughters, to gain the law-enforcement interest and expertise they needed to prove that Martin murdered his wife and that she didn't simply have undiagnosed heart problems. Hogan's top-notch recounting of this good life gone bad is skillfully woven by a practiced hand (Picture Perfect, 2013). The true-crime genre's demands are met seamlessly here. The characters are memorable, the suspense is palpable, every foreshadowing meets its shadow. A tragic tale, engrossingly told, and one that true-crime buffs might recall from the vast TV coverage it engendered.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)