The Infidelity Chain (Tess Stimson)****

I enjoyed this book a lot, but, if I were Tess Stimson’s spouse, I would be very very worried. Not only is this book all about infidelity, her last book was called The Adultery Club. Maybe she’s just a little bit obsessed?

The book is not totally pro-infidelity, but it is far from being against it. Not that I’m in a position to object to anyone else’s infidelity, and it could be argued that if a relationship has gone so far wrong that one or both of those involved has found themselves an outside interest, it’s probably too late as far as the marriage is concerned so they might as well get on with being happy. But, at the same time, the book does seem to be saying that infidelity is worth it if it’s in the name of true love, and I’m not really sure that’s true.

But, leaving all those issues aside, it’s a great book. It’s not exactly a comedy, but Stimson can be very witty when she wants to be, and has a wonderful way of leading into tragedy or horror with a light-hearted scene that catches me out every time.

The structure of the book is unusual. Four of the six members of the ‘Infidelity Chain’ take it in turns to ‘write’ a chapter from their point of view. Not so unusual, but each round of chapters usually (although, confusingly, not always) takes place at more or less the same time, so a number of the conversations come two or more times, as we see the scene from the point of view of every protagonist who is present.

It’s a great idea, but I read quite quickly, and I tend to remember people’s conversations while I’m reading the book (if only my memory was as good in the rest of my life). So it did seem very repetitive, and not always illuminating. There were occasions where something that seemed offhand or hurtful suddenly seemed completely understandable once the story was re-told from a different point of view, but mostly I could see the conversation from everyone’s point of view the first time, so reading it all again didn’t really add anything. But it works really well a lot of the time, especially when Stimson hasn’t written out all the same conversations word for word.

The characters are great. Ella is probably the one you’d call the main character. Ella is a doctor, and she’s actually intelligent. She really is. Okay, so cheating on her husband probably isn’t her best demonstration of it, but you can tell she’s good at her job. Even when Ella starts to doubt her abilities and becomes a much more vulnerable character, I can still believe she’s been to and passed medical school.

But more than that, Ella is a married woman with an adorable husband called Jackson and is sleeping with a married man called William – and I like her. I like her a lot. I know there are plenty of lovely homewreckers in real life, but it’s more difficult to separate the crime from the person in fiction because you can’t stand in a room with the character and get to know them in your own way.

I really like the other characters too. Beth (William’s wife) is a very convincing depressive. The multiple-viewpoint style is most successful with Beth because life does look totally different when you’re depressed, so she always has something new to bring to the story.

At the same time, you do have some sympathy with William (if you can forget about the infidelity issue for the minute) as he’s a really lovely man, and even though it’s definitely possible to enjoy the company of a depressive, you can tell it does take a great deal of energy, and sometimes you feel so helpless, and in need of some time away from them. William’s daughter Cate is amazingly nice for an adolescent – I even got used to the bizarre spelling of her name once I realised it was short for Caitlin rather than an emulation of Cate Blanchett. (I always want to call her Sate Blanchett. Has anyone else done that?)

Not that I’m saying you should go out and try it, but infidelity has never been so romantic.