Her marriage to retired Navy admiral John Perry seemed almost too good to be true. Because it was…At the start of her relationship with the intelligent and worldly John Perry, Barbara Bentley couldn't believe her luck—so when things didn't add up, she struggled to ignore her doubts. She kept trying to put the pieces together—unaware that some of them were simply missing. Even as he drained her credit, dodged her questions, manipulated her and misled her, she stayed with him, suppressing her growing suspicions. Ultimately he would try to kill her, proving himself not a protector and provider, but a predator.
This is Barbara’s courageous, compelling story, in her own words—of the slow, choking darkness that fell after the honeymoon was over, what it took to finally drive her to escape and start her life anew, and her tireless efforts to protect other women and help them learn from her example.
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Barbara Bentley met John Perry at a double date dinner party where he impressed with stories about the World War 2, Vietnam, his status as Navy rear admiral, multiple medals and especially the Medal of Honor.
Attracted to the worldly man she soon falls for him and his spoiling presents and agrees to marry him even after he abused her credit card. From the beginning he claimed a huge family that he kept hidden from his wife and who would consider him as the black sheep and her as a gold digger that wants to get to the family fortune.
What follows are years of him spending money they don't own, maxing out credit cards, disappointments and trust issues but Barbara enjoys the happy side as well. Being an admirals wife opens doors she'd never thought would open for her, it gave her status as well.
But the sore spot for their bad financial situation nags at her and every time she stresses this point with her husband he successfully uses his medical condition to soothe her.
Trust finally erodes when the FBI turns up at their door and Barbara decides to investigate her husband and his stories. Discovering his web of lies she brings herself into the dangerous situation of him almost killing her through suffocation with ether.
What follows are months of discovering the man she'd lived with for years and the fight to change the California divorce law that victimized surviving victims even more.
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A clear plus is the author's timeline in telling the story. She doesn't reveal what happened in the end at the beginning of the book which keeps the book very interesting although the reader most certainly knew that in the end the protagoist barely survives an attempted murder.
Bentley wrote her book in the memories she had from this time so she doesn't hold back the mistakes she did. She wanted him to be happy so that he wouldn't leave her and she'd stay happy.
In the end the book is a sad example of a women that discovered her voice after she endured a life along the side of a psychopath that spared her life longer than expected.
It is difficult to comprehend a women accepting visible lies, not getting suspicious. I didn't get it and couldn't understand the feeble attempt to justify why she did what she did. She often enough told me how proud she was to be the admirals wife, which certainly made her look the other way.
I had the strong feeling the author isn't over what happened to her yet. There seem to be a lot of questions she should ask herself and maybe someone who can help her in finding answers. Maybe she did that but she didn't tell the reader.
In the end I felt for her but I'm not as wowed by the book as other readers.
Rating:
Visit Barbara Bentley.
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Berkley Trade (November 4, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0425221180
ISBN-13: 978-0425221181
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