The Atonement

Ainsley Greenburg's latest attempt to hold her marriage together has left it in worse shape than at any earlier point. Her husband Peter has become a man whose behaviour she can no longer predict, and she is now the one being played.

The book follows Ainsley as her suspicion of Peter escalates into paranoia. Her only guide is her own judgment of him, and the earlier books have shown over and over that this judgment cannot be trusted.

This is the third and final volume of the Arrangement trilogy. The first book had Peter and Ainsley try to rescue a failing marriage by seeing other people. The second covered the repair after that fell apart. This one deals with what the repair cost them.

It is not a standalone, and a reader should begin with The Arrangement. The question driving the book is whether Ainsley can tell what Peter is really doing before the damage becomes final.