Review of "The Night Following" by Morag Joss

The quiet, unassuming wife of a middle-aged anesthetist has discovered that her husband is having an affair. It happens one day when she finds the unmistakeable evidence of a recent tryst in the glove box of her husband's car as she was driving it home from the supermarket. Her mind reeling from the implications, she accidentally hits and kills an old woman crossing an isolated intersection. Only half-aware of what she's done, she drives home, parks the car in the garage and waits for the return of her husband. Their marriage hadn't been working for many years, but it was truly over now. He leaves her to live with his lover, alone in their old house. Meanwhile, she's gotten away with her crime. Guilt-ridden about the woman she's killed, she ends up seeking out the woman's grieving husband. She gradually works her way into his world, convincing him she's his Ruth come back to be with him.

Its a dark tale of a woman whose life, as empty and full of pretense as one could imagine, has been totally shattered by the loss of her marriage and the guilt from the accident. Told through her thoughts mixed with a stream of notes from the grieving husband to his lost love, the whirlpool that drags her down takes us right along with it. The simple tragedy of her life is inexorably sweeping her on a path she could never foresee, much less change. Perfect for settling in for a good read on a cold, dark night.