Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross

When David Pepin first dreamed of killing his wife, he didn't kill her himself. He dreamed convenient acts of God. At a picnic on the beach, a storm front moved in. David and Alice collected their chairs, blankets, and booze, and when the lightning flashed, David imagined his wife lit up, her skeleton distinctly visible as in a children's cartoon, Alice then collapsing into a smoking pile of ash.
~~Page 3

Title: Mr. Peanut
Author: Adam Ross
ISBN: 9780307270702
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf/2010
Pages: 335

When Alice is found dead, David is assumed to be murderer. After all he was always thinking of her death. Not exactly murdering her, but in numerous ways she should die. The two police detectives who are investigating the death, have their own marital relationship in shambles.

Ward Hastroll's wife Hannah has retreated into their bedroom and has not surfaced for the last few months. Hastroll is in his wits end how to communicate with her. Long time back, Sam Sheppard too had been a suspect for his wife Marilyn, death but was set free due to lack of enough evidence. He had left his medical practice to become a detective.

While investigating, these men go over their own marital relationships, which still confounds them. When a hit men Mobius is found linked to David Pepin, things get murkier. Everything seems to be pieces of different zigsaw puzzles, unconnected with each other. The best and worst of conjugal relationship is depicted here. The love going side by side with tenderness and ugliness, the affection along with hatred. The killing impulses with protectiveness, each aspect has been dwelt very delicately by the author.

In the beginning everything that goes might appear haphazard, unconnected and unrelated but it all falls into place, giving us a great novel. One of the best police procedurals I read in a long time and I couldn't put it down until I finished it. With this book, Adam Ross has arrived.

A book to be read by all those who are married, all those who are contemplating marriage and those aren't. I say, go for it!