The Eden Test
A Novel
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3.6 • 63 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
"A galloping and exhilarating thriller." —Laura Dave, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me
From Edgar Award-finalist Adam Sternbergh, an electrifying domestic suspense novel for fans of The Perfect Marriage and Rock Paper Scissors, about a couple who are forced to the ultimate extremes to save their marriage—and themselves.
Seven Days. Seven Questions. Forever Changed.
Daisy and Craig’s marriage is in serious trouble. That’s why Daisy has signed up for The Eden Test, a week-long getaway for couples in need of a fresh start. Yet even as she’s struggling to salvage her marriage, it seems Craig has plans to leave her for another woman. In fact, his bags are already packed—long before he arrives to meet Daisy in this remote cabin in the woods of upstate New York.
At first, their week away is marked by solitude, connection, and natural beauty—and only a few hostile locals. But what Craig doesn’t know is that Daisy, a slyly talented actress, has her own secrets, including a burner phone she’s been using for mysterious texts. Not to mention the Eden Test itself, which poses a searing new question to the couple every day, each more explosive than the last. Their marriage was never perfect, but now the lies and revelations are piling up, as the week becomes much more than they bargained for…How far are they willing to go?
Adam Sternbergh brings his wit, originality, and a Hitchcockian sense of dread to this chilling, surprising, and wholly entertaining portrait of a marriage on the brink.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of this outstanding psychological thriller from Edgar finalist Sternbergh (The Blinds), seemingly picture-perfect Gotham pair Daisy, an actor, and Craig, a frustrated writer moldering as a "brand advocate," are observing their second anniversary by heading to a remote cabin in Upstate New York to participate in a weeklong device-free program designed to help troubled couples repair their relationships. The premise of the so-called Eden Test program—"Seven Days, Seven Questions, Forever Changed"—couldn't be simpler, though Craig and Daisy's experience veers off-script almost immediately. Which may hardly be surprising since one of them has essentially been hoodwinked into participating, both are surreptitiously texting on forbidden phones—and neither has been anything approaching honest with the other concerning some explosive secrets, which the author skillfully teases to fan suspense. Toss in menacing locals none too fond of "citiots" (short for "city idiots"), firearms, a game-changer third-act curveball, and Gone Girl–level deception, and the result is one masterfully manipulative chiller just waiting for its close-up. Sternbergh has outdone himself.
