A FATAL AFFAIR

by Bryony Douglas

Some secrets bring you together... others will tear you apart.

A seemingly perfect life is shattered by a passionate encounter and a chilling obsession. Successful marketing executive Dana Monroe thinks she has it a beautiful home, a loving family, and a career she thrives in. But a chance meeting with Justin Birch, a charismatic CEO, throws her carefully constructed world into chaos. Their passionate affair quickly spirals into a nightmare when Justin becomes dangerously fixated on Dana, refusing to let her go.

As Justin's harassment intensifies, Dana's life unravels. Her career is on the line, her marriage teeters on the brink of collapse, and even her young son becomes a target of Justin's twisted games. Desperate to protect her family, Dana finds herself caught in a web of lies, manipulation, and escalating danger. But the deeper she digs into Justin’s past, the more she realizes the terrifying she’s not his first victim.

With time running out, can Dana onfront her own demons and uncover Justin’s twisted secrets before it’s too late?

Fans of Frieda McFadden will devour this pulse-pounding psychological thriller which will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

Genres: Thriller, Suspense, Mystery, Fiction

270 pages, Paperback

Published April 23, 2025

Reviews

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

Obsession at its finest! This was one of the most unhinged MMCs that I have read about in a while. I enjoyed seeing this story unfold, as it made me feel like I was watching a movie. The suspense and the way this author built tension was an experience in itself. Dana & Ben are existing in their marriage but have lost their spontaneity & don’t connect as well as they use to. Feeling lonely, she allows her self to make a mistake with horrible consequences when she meets Justin. There should be a limit of how much havoc one person can wreak, but this story has no limits.

Overall a highly enjoyed read that I recommend for fans of domestic thrillers. My first from this author but I’m definitely interested in reading more!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a Good Read and Very Disappointing

The author repeatedly used the same words and phrases - chaos, air waa heavy, felt hope for the first time. Story line was not believable and far fetched. Several typos. Nothing endearing about any of the characters.

[Ainsley owens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great storyline

I enjoyed this book, definitely full of twists and turns that kept me guessing. There were several grammar and spelling errors that I felt distracted from the story itself.

[Thewhittlelibrary]

DNF @ 7%

Okay, maybe I missed something, but this book is not making sense to me in some parts. At one point, Dana is at a coffee shop with someone & then as she leaves to go towards her car, she is thinking about the exchange. Then in the next paragraph, it says “later that evening, Dana sat at the kitchen table w/ her phone pressed to her ear. The house is quiet. Ethan (her son) is upstairs & Ben (her husband) is working late.”

So she’s at home & talking to Ben on the phone. He says “don’t work too hard, we miss you around here when you’re buried at work” & then before getting off the phone, she says she’s on the way home.

The next paragraph mentions that the house is on edge when she gets home & she hears her husband & son arguing.

Am I dumb? Did I miss something? How is she at a coffee shop, then she’s at home, but then she’s telling her husband she’s on the way home? It’s made clear in the book that it’s all the same day/evening.

Anyways, it just totally launched me out of the book & I’m not gonna continue. It seems from other reviews that I won’t be missing out on much

[Haien Cecee · Rating 5 out of 5]

52 (𝙢) 𝙄 𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙢𝙮 husband 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖 girlfriend 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙥𝙮 𝙟𝙤𝙗 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙬. 𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣'𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩. 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 woman 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖 3:30 𝙖𝙢 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙎𝙖𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙙𝙖𝙮. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 him. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙤𝙛 his 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙢𝙖𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙛𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙮𝙧𝙞𝙭@𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙡.𝙘𝙤𝙢 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙨𝙣𝙤𝙤𝙥 𝙤𝙣 him 𝙎𝙣𝙖𝙥𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙩, 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙨𝘼𝙥𝙥 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 his 𝙞𝙈𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 he 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙨 𝙤𝙣 his 𝙈𝙖𝙘𝘽𝙤𝙤𝙠, 𝙢𝙚𝙝𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝 𝙞 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙙 husband 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 girls 𝙤𝙣 his 𝙥𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢, 𝙞 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙚'𝙖 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙤𝙣 𝙞'𝙢 𝙞 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙞'𝙢 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚. 𝙄'𝙢 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙬. 𝙄 𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙣'𝙨 𝙗𝙞𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙬𝙞𝙘𝙚. 𝘼𝙨 𝙨𝙤𝙤𝙣 𝙖𝙨 𝙄 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠, 𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙮 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚. 𝙒𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙨𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙙𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙧. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣. 𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚?

[KnittaPhd · Rating 1 out of 5]

This feels like it was written by someone who was cheated on and wanted to write the most absurd consequences for a cheater. Oh you had a one night stand?? Well now you're being stalked, your friend gets murdered, your SIL gets murdered, your cat gets murdered, your husband leaves you (at least at first), your kid gets stalked at school/soccer games, you get humiliated at work, you lose your job, you get pregnant and have to get an abortion, the police don't believe you, you get spied on, etc etc. Christ, what else?? This book is ridiculous.

[Iqra Umar · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the start of the book, it was very intense as the story just kept getting worse and worse and worse and worse. It almost seemed like it was out of control which I now understand was the intention.

I felt like it was a bit unnecessary to kill the sister. They would’ve made more sense to scare her in my opinion but I understand why it led to the next location.

I thought the story concluded nicely at the end. I don’t understand Dereks role in the book truthfully as he was injured so easily.

[Lei Doyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by this author and I was very pleasantly surprised by how captivated I was with the characters and storyline. It kept me guessing and holding my breath as to what was coming next. Definitely a must read for anyone who loves thrillers. I can't wait to read more from this author.

[Ellen Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dana’s mistake has the potential to ruin everything she loves. This book was good and shows how one mistake can cause everything to tumble down around you.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Charlotte Lees · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bit of a different read for me this one. A mistake by Dana to sleep with another man who turns out to be a psycho puts her family at risk.

Didn’t really have a start - middle - end plot but was well written and of course it was a ‘happily’ ever after.

[Elizabeth R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will make you hold your breath

What an exciting, suspenseful book. It shows what one foolish choice can lead to—how many lives it can impact. I recommend this book,

[Susan Murphree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Susan

Great read that grabs you from the first page and you will not be able to put this down until the end. Add this to your list for a great read.

[Christina Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I basically just read a Lifetime movie. Storyline was okay but full of repetition and redundancy. The only two likable characters were murdered.

[Sandra Roonzani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing special

This really dragged out and nothing special. I got tired of reading this cause it seemed unrealistic but would not recommend

[Mark A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good story and fast moving. toward the end it got a little dragged out but overall very good book

[Samantha Pockett · Rating 2 out of 5]

dragged on

Took me a while to read this book, seemed to drag on forever everything seemed over exaggerating. And predictable sometimes

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hate to leave a negative review but this was a very amateurish read.
The story was basic and the plot so predictable and childish.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

not all that good.

Kind of boring after awhile repeating the same thing over and over.Abrupt way to end it !! Some things a little far fetched

[Jonna Sherock · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing mystery

This book was almost impossible to put down.read it in one day.Have to read more by this author. Looking now!!

[Suzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

enjoyable read

[Joy Feazell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, a great story about stalking.