Seven great books built around cheating spouses and affairs

Peter Swanson is the Sunday Times and New York Times best selling author of seven novels, including The Kind Worth Killing, winner of the New England Society Book Award, and finalist for the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, Her Every Fear, an NPR book of the year; and his most recent, Every Vow You Break.

[My Book, The Movie: The Kind Worth Killing; The Page 69 Test: The Kind Worth Killing.]

At CrimeReads Swanson tagged seven "favorite thrillers, all of which find interesting ways to incorporate the cheating spouse," including:

Soft Touch, by John D. MacDonald (1959)

John D. MacDonald actually wrote at least two novels that are what I’d call “adultery thrillers,” books that are entirely focused on marriages destroyed by lies. But Soft Touch, one of MacDonald’s finest noirs, is a fast-paced crime thriller in which two old friends try to pull off a heist while embroiled in a love triangle. It’s dark and merciless and shows how easily a marriage (and several lives) can be destroyed by lust and greed.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue