The Rule of Three

One night at Kingsland, a luxurious by invitation only Long Island, N.Y., community—the setting for this turbo-plotted, character-challenged domestic thriller from the pseudonymous Scott (In Case of Emergency)—Vicky Barnes returns home from her weekly Sunday book club spent with sister Laura Mathers and friend Monica Nichols to find Terry, her disgraced former congressman husband, shot dead in their den. In short order, 911 calls come in concerning the other two men with whom Terry had just finished his weekly poker game: Spencer Nichols, former tech CEO convicted of defrauding investors (and Monica’s husband), is missing, and Gil Mathers, #MeToo’d motivational speaker (and Laura’s spouse), has been found collapsed on the road with a gunshot wound to the head. While each of the men has numerous enemies, the wives are initially the primary persons of interest—except they appear to have airtight alibis. Readers should be prepared for a mash-up of familiar plotlines, as recounted by half a dozen largely unreliable narrators, and the lack of anyone to root for. Nonetheless, this twist-filled tale makes for fast-paced diversion. Agent: Christopher Schelling, Selectric Artists. (Aug.)