32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
WOW...What a Story!!, May 19, 2003
I must admit I was kind of scared to read this one. I attempted to read "Theives Paradise" but I could not get into it. But I loved many of his other novels.
The narrator, who is dedicated news producer, describes her marriage as strong and loving. She works nights, weekends, holidays, birthdays and all of the other very important dates. Her husband Charles is a middle school teacher - lots of free time. Her world turns upside down when she receives a call from a David Lawrence-the antagonist- who has been trying desparately to track her down. You see... his wife has been having an affair with her husband. Things begin to get ugly. Yet, the unique part of EJD story is the relationship between the narrator and David Lawrence. There is passion, lust, excitment, pain and craziness that is shared between these two couples as they try to save their marriages and find themselves. I definately was not prepared for what happened next.
EJD....excellant. It was wonderfully written. I really enjoyed the relationship between the narrator and her friend. David Lawrence was my favorite character.
Peace and Blessings!!
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A non-stop page-turner, July 17, 2004
I usually eschew "popular novels" like the plague, because so many of them are formulaic messes churned out by people who should never be let near a word-processor, but I have to give Dickey his props -- the brother can write. It's especially impressive that Dickey, a man, was able to tell his story from the POV of the betrayed wife, and make it sound totally convincing. No mean feat.
"The Other Woman" brings us a young African-American woman (the book wraps us up so totally from the first page that we don't realize until the end that we never learn her name) who supposedly has it all, or most of it -- a prestige job as a news editor, a '64 Mustang and a handsome husband named Charles. She works nights and holidays; he works days as a middle school teacher, and they're too busy to have a family. But she's totally devoted to him, when she has time from her job, and he's devoted to her, or so she thinks. But a message from an unknown individual named David Lawrence blows her complacency to smithereens: he tells her their respective spouses have been cheating on them both.
Shocked and furious, the wife confronts Charles, who admits it all but says it's over. But she doesn't believe him, and David isn't about to let it go. His manhood has been insulted, and he's out for blood. Charles and Jessica, David's wife, a phys ed teacher at Charles's school, have been careless enough to leave all the sordid details in e-mails and instant messages; he hacks into Jessica's account, prints out the evidence, and everything hits the fan. Meanwhile, Charles' wife is about to show him that two can play at this dirty game, and the mess replicates exponentially.
Dickey is completely convincing in showing us the pain and confusion of the wife, and also the shame and conniving of Charles, the headstrong cluelessness of Jessica, and David's rage and lust for revenge. It's hard to determine who is the more contemptible -- Charles, who leaves Jessica hemorrhaging in a hotel room following a miscarriage while he runs home to his wife in a state of denial; or David, who sends the evidence of Charles's and Jessica's affair to their co-workers, students and the students' parents, effectively destroying both their careers. Jessica, meanwhile, is a pathetic individual, thinking she's found her soulmate in Charles and brought up cruelly short. And the book's very title, "The Other Woman", makes us wonder who actually is the other woman -- the wife thinks Jessica is the other woman, until she herself becomes the other woman, and Jessica accuses David of being so wrapped up in his career and neglecting her in the process, that his job is the other woman. How the whole mess gets sorted out in the end, I'm not saying -- suffice to say that messes like this one leave their sorry residue around to taint every life they touch.
"The Other Woman" is a riveting novel of sex, betrayal, marriage, friendship, and how lies and deception can undo it all. Dickey is a born storyteller, and this book is a compelling read.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
EJD's BEST!!!, May 21, 2003
I was completely FLOORED by this book. I am a fan of EJD, have read all of his work, and I think that this is quite possibly the best book that he has ever written.
I knew that the book focused on infidelity; obvious from the title. But I was completely unprepared for how events unfolded.
I was expecting fights, unhappiness, SOME level of drama prior to the infidelity; but there was none. What I was faced with was a seemingly happily married couple who seemed to be totally in sync--sexually, spiritually, financially. Until our narrator--who remains unnamed throughout--is contacted by the husband of the Other Woman. His name is David Lawrence--and he informs our narrator that her husband is sleeping with his wife.
What follows is a tale of revenge, betrayal and tragedy that the reader probably doesn't expect. What makes this tale so unique is that since the reader is seeing everything through the eyes of our narrator, all we see is a great relationship--until the Phone Call. And then we see a relationship unravel; and we find ourselves also the unwitting partner in a marriage who sees everything as being wonderful when it most certainly is not. We are truly the partner who "thought everything was fine," while the miserable other half seeks solace in another.
This book actually made me cry, and took me completely by surprise. It is quite possibly Mr. Dickey at the top of his game.
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