For my next read, I chose The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding. It’s the first for me from this author, but I’ve heard great things about it.
After her restaurant fails, and she falls deeper into debt, Lee Gulliver begins living out of her car. In Seattle, she parks in a secluded spot by the beach to plan her next move. She sees a sobbing woman throw herself into the ocean, so Lee jumps into action to save her. But the woman, Hazel, isn’t happy. She wanted to end it all. She is in an abusive marriage and feels like there’s no way out. Lee kept her from the chance to escape her life.
But Lee’s run-in doesn’t end there. Almost every morning, Hazel knocks on Lee’s car window, bringing coffee and some food she manages to get out of the house. Lee comes to depend on her, especially after she gets sick. Hazel brings her soup and cold medicine.
Lee also meets a guy named Jesse. He was at the body shop when Lee went to take her car in. He noticed she wasn’t feeling well and brought her an orange. Then he showed up at the diner where she works. They start up a relationship. A very slow one. But Lee wants so much more. Meeting and befriending Hazel, learning about what he hubsand’s been doing to her, and wanting an intimate connection with Lee has made her realize how much she’s longed for those. Especially since she’s tarnished the relationship with her sister, and then, of course, her parents. We learn that when Lee’s restaurant was failing, she tried to blackmail her sister’s husband, who had brought in another woman – someone he was kissing and hugging. Instead, her sister’s husband confessed to all and told her what Lee had tried to do. He got therapy. She was excised from the whole family. Now, she’s no one. Running from her own life. She wants those connections with people again. She’s missed them desperately.
After Hazel treated Lee to a much-needed spa day, she realizes how much Lee looks like herself. And because she needs a headstart from her husband, she implores Lee to pretend to be her. Right up to strolling into her house, so the cameras catch the Hazel look-alike. Will this work? Jesse isn’t too happy about it.
But Lee knows she has to do it. For Hazel. So, they meet at the gym, change clothes, and Lee’s on her way to Hazel’s home. She has to be convincing for at least 2 hours to give Hazel time to get to the airport and out of the country. When she arrives at the home, she takes in its beauty. She continues playing the part, even taking items out to make a salad. But when she sees an arm on a chair in the living room, she begins to panic. Benjamin should not be home. He’s not. It’s not him. It’s actually Jesse. And he’s been murdered violently.
Part II is from Hazel’s point of view. This has to be good!
She talks about meeting Benjamin. How the things he said and the way he said them should have been a warning. They weren’t. Now, she’s trapped in a Master/Slave relationship. The abuse was relenting. There were protocols for what she’d cook for dinner and what she’d wear to greet him when he came home. There were also protocols for when they were out. How far apart should they be, and how far ahead should she walk. She had to ask permission to use the restroom, and sometimes he’d refuse. She was to call him Chief out in public, and he would call her Missy, short for submissive.
New friends were not allowed. She could only associate with the wives of other attorneys he knew. And he’d have to know all the details about who, where, and when. Eventually, things spiraled to physical abuse. Then, he forced her to have breast implants. She feared he’d want her to have a butt lift next, so she kept doing squats at the gym. Which is where she met Jesse. Yes, that Jesse. Lee’s personal trainer boyfriend.
She eventually opened up to him and all the problems with her husband. Things between them escalated quickly. Jesse tells Hazel she’s got to go, but she can’t. He’d kill her. And Jesse. Jesse’s response was to make him think she’s dead. Jesse suggested an accidental drowning. She prefers a suicide, so Benjamin knows he drove her to it. Jesse had it all planned right down to the fake passport. Jesse would use a friend’s boat to scoop her out of the water. Then they’d fly to Panama, where she’ll become the baker she always wanted to be.
But when she went out into the cold water that day, Jesse and the boat weren’t there. But Lee was.
Jesse coerced Hazel into finding out who this woman was, and that’s why she showed back up in Lee’s life. And why Jesse came into her life, too. And why Hazel asked for her help in getting away. Jesse had planned to take out Benjamin with Lee’s knife when he came home to get his golf clubs. Things were starting to fall into place. To make it even more believable, Jesse punches Hazel in the eye. Lee will be even more willing to help and forgive her. But Hazel is also feeling a bit used. She knows that Jesse and Lee were sleeping together. And Jesse lied about it.
But Hazel isn’t going along with the plan. She got Lee’s knofe and threw it into the ocean. She realizes that both she and Lee are being manipulated by Jesse. He dreams of a life of luxury. Hazel just wants to escape. She walks home, but things aren’t right. When she enters, Benjamin is in the chair. And he’s very angry.
Part III, and we’re back to Lee.
And Lee is panicking. Why is Jesse dead in Hazel’s home? She realizes she’s been set up. But why? She runs out of the house and has the presence of mind to grab the bag. Inside is a message from Lee telling her not to trust Jesse because he’s not who he says he is. There’s plenty of money for her, as well as a new identity and a ticket to Panama City. But her first priority is to find out who Jesse really is. And she finds out Jesse (real name Carter) and his brother (Sean) are ruthless criminals who have rap sheets. Jesse is dead. But his brother? He’s still alive, and she must find him to learn more.
Lee finds Sean in a halfway house and promises to tell him everything she knows. Sean says Carter was a bad seed from the get-go. He always had multiple women and got off on the torture and pain he caused others. Carter’s the one who beat the elderly man so badly, then turned on his brother, saying he was the bad influence. The prosecuter belived him and got him a good deal. That prosecutor was Benjamin. And Lee is leaving with more questions than answers.
And as she’s making her way to the airport, Benjamin calls her. They meet at a park, and Benjamin tells Lee everything he knows. He’s the one who got Jesse the gig at the gym. And since he knew the owner, he heard about how they were trying to kill him and frame Lee for it. But Benjamin’s security detail took care of Jesse first. The body is now gone, and no one will ever find it. Jesse doesn’t even exist. He also says Hazel will pay for what she tried to do. But Lee still feels sorry for her. She was manipulated by Jesse, too. Benjamin offers her a job as a sous chef in Austin and a plane ticket there. She takes it. What choice does she have? So, now she knows she must disappear. But to where? Austin, TX or Panama City?
Part IV is back to Hazel.
When she walks into the home, Benjamin tells her that Jesse was there. But she’ll never see him again, and he knows all about the plot. She’s punished of course, but returns to her normal submissive self. She’s still planning to leave. But this time, a real suicide. To make Benjamin pay, she records a message of all the things he was doing to her. And just as she’s about to take the sleeping pills and vodka, a knock comes at the door. Hazel sees her husband being arrested for the conspiracy to commit murder. Whose murder? Hers!
Hazel goes to the police stations and tells them everything. Except for Jesse. Or Lee. After that, she goes to a lawyer. Probably the only lawyer who would take her case against Benjamin. It’s too much for her to handle though. And when Venessa, the wife of one of the other attorneys, visits her, she reveals this happened to his first wife, Karolina. Hazel never knew about her.
She tries to get ahold of Karoliina, but she died 4 years ago. Not what Hazel wanted to hear. Hazel finds out how the cops were able to arrest Benjamin. A thumb drive with his voice asking Jesse to kill her was dropped off at a station. But it wasn’t enough. He’s getting out soon. So Hazel packs what she can, buys a cheap car with the cash she has, and heads out. She thinks about Lee and how she had to sleep in her car. It’s interesting to me that Hazelnis now homeless with nothing but what she packed in her car. So similar to Lee.
And just like that, Benjamin found her. At another seedy hotel. It’s so easy for him to get his own way. He’s planned everything so well. And now he plans to have Hazel committed. But she still fights back. This time, she jams the key into his neck and jumps in the car. She’s racing away though she knows he’ll never let her go.
She parks her car where Lee used to park hers, calls a cab, and heads to the airport with her new identity. Hazel Laval is now dead.
The epilogue tells us that Lee did in fact escape to the Caribbean. She now owns a restaurant on a snack island. And someone is there to see her. Nora Harmsworth aka Hazel Laval. She apologizes for what she did but tried to protect her as best she could. Lee acknowledges that. Hazel also admits that she felt their friendship was real and hat she was completely honest with her.
Lee offered her a job right then and there. It was a perfect ending to an amazing story! So much sadness, hopelessness, manipulation, and seduction. Again, I’d watch the crap out of this movie!