Confessions on the 7:45

Starred review from August 3, 2020
In this exquisitely crafted psychological thriller from Edgar finalist Unger (The Stranger Inside), Selena Murphy trades confessions with a stranger named Martha while the two are trapped in a stalled New York City commuter train. Martha admits that she’s having an affair with her boss, and Selena tells Martha that she suspects her husband, Graham, is sleeping with their nanny, Geneva. In truth, Selena knows Graham and Geneva are having sex thanks to a surveillance camera she placed in the playroom, and sends Graham packing when she arrives home. Selena resolves to fire Geneva, but then Geneva’s sister reports her missing, forcing Selena to question just what her husband is capable of. Compounding her anxiety are texts from Martha, to whom Selena never divulged a last name or phone number. Unger explores the complexities of marriage and the devastation wrought by infidelity using keenly rendered characters and a prismatic narrative. Though Geneva’s disappearance drives the plot, smaller puzzles abound, heightening suspense and connecting seemingly disparate story lines in diabolically clever ways. Unger just keeps getting better. Agent: Amy Berkower, Writers House.

Starred review from August 1, 2020
Another brilliantly crafted psychological thriller (after The Stranger Inside, 2019) from the New York Times best-selling author Unger. When a commuter train stalls on the tracks, Selena Murphy frets because she won't get home in time to tuck in her boys. The woman in the seat next to her, who identifies herself as Martha, strikes up a conversation, and, after a few too many shots from her vodka stash, owns up to a dead-end affair with her boss. Selena confesses that her husband is having sex with their nanny. A few days later, the nanny disappears, and Selena's perfect life, as she portrayed it on social media, begins to disintegrate, one layer of deceit at a time. Selena takes time out from her now-frenzied days to meet with Martha, oddly drawn to the magnetic woman, never imagining what an astonishing connection exists between them and how Geneva, the nanny, fits in. The backstory of Martha and Geneva is absorbing and, at times, disturbing, but there is no turning away once you fall under the spell of these two characters and the intricate web the author spins from snippets of the past and the present. Reminiscent of two venerated noir films, Strangers on a Train and The Grifters, Unger's novel provides a master class in plotting.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)