Honor Thy Wife

Forge Books, 2000. Very Good+. A crisp clean softcover, no markings throughout: This intricately plotted novel of family intrigue and ungovernable desire has all the ingredients for a compelling beach read: sex, love, lies, betrayal, hatred, revenge, threats of murder and eventual wish-fulfillment for an all-American guy. Bogner (To Die in Provence) follows the misadventures of charming lawyer Terry Brett from the 1960s to the present. Against his better judgment, Terry finds himself captivated by Allison Desmond, a beautiful, fearless young woman who was brought up in an orphanage and has led a gritty life on the edge of society. When their ill-fated romance ends, heartbroken Allison flees to India, while Terry moves to Southern California. There he marries elegant, sophisticated pediatrician Valerie Holland, who rebuilds his shattered self-esteem. But marital harmony is disrupted when Terry is summoned to his Pacific Northwest hometown to learn shocking news: Allison is back in AmericaAaccompanied by a child she says is his son. Torn by his love for two very different women, Terry decides to marry Allison under an assumed name and legitimize the boy, Sean. Thereafter, he divides his time between his two families until Valerie learns of his double life and the two wives confront Terry and each other. Forced by Valerie to make a commitment, he chooses her, and decides to let Sean think he has died. Terry's bigamy is exposed when, years later, Sean discovers the deception. Bogner's opening chapters are bogged down by detail, but all the threads are satisfyingly tied up in the novel's last half. To some readers, the novel may be an annoying male fantasy.