Anatomy of a Scandal

Author: Sarah Vaughan
Genre: Suspense
Type: e-book
Source: NetGalley
Publisher: Atria Books
First Published: January 23, 2018
First Line: "My wig slumps on my desk where I have tossed it like flattened road kill."

Book Description from GoodReads: An astonishingly incisive and suspenseful novel about a scandal amongst Britain’s privileged elite and the women caught up in its wake.

Sophie’s husband James is a loving father, a handsome man, a charismatic and successful public figure. And yet he stands accused of a terrible crime. Sophie is convinced he is innocent and desperate to protect her precious family from the lies that threaten to rip them apart.

Kate is the lawyer hired to prosecute the case: an experienced professional who knows that the law is all about winning the argument. And yet Kate seeks the truth at all times. She is certain James is guilty and is determined he will pay for his crimes.

Who is right about James? Sophie or Kate? And is either of them informed by anything more than instinct and personal experience? Despite her privileged upbringing, Sophie is well aware that her beautiful life is not inviolable. She has known it since she and James were first lovers, at Oxford, and she witnessed how easily pleasure could tip into tragedy.

Most people would prefer not to try to understand what passes between a man and a woman when they are alone: alone in bed, alone in an embrace, alone in an elevator… Or alone in the moonlit courtyard of an Oxford college, where a girl once stood before a boy, heart pounding with excitement, then fear. Sophie never understood why her tutorial partner Holly left Oxford so abruptly. What would she think, if she knew the truth?

My Rating: 2.5 stars (aka 'just ok')

My Review: This book started off strong - interesting characters with questionable pasts, secrets and lies - setting it firmly in the suspense genre. But around the half way mark it turned into more of a contemporary fiction/weak legal thriller. 

I liked the premise of the book but, besides the slight twist in the middle, this was more of a boilerplate read -- nothing too jarring, assumptions were proven true and nothing caused me to reconsider my initial assumptions about the characters, many of whom remained stereotypical.

With the number of men who have recently come forward about their sexual misconduct (or worse) in the media, the topics discussed in this book (consent and women's rights) are quite timely. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like Vaughan followed through with enough depth with these issues or her characters leaving me without a connection to any of them. 

I'm a big reader of suspense books but unfortunately this book fell short for me. While this book gives readers some food for thought about sexual consent it fell short for me in suspense, character development and a hard-hitting ending.

Disclaimer: This ARC was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.