Our Kind Of Cruelty by Araminta Hall

 

Mike and Verity have a perfect relationship.  Mike came from poverty and foster homes and institutions but he's an investment banker now and doing well financially.  Verity came from wealth and position with a supportive family and she now works in IT.  They are bonded in every way and they like to play a game.

They all it The Crave.  They go to a pub and Verity flirts with another man until he is interested.  Then Mike comes over and pushes him away, claiming ownership of Verity.  It is stimulating for them both and some of their best times start this way.

Mike takes a job overseas but Verity can't leave her own job.  They agree that a long distance relationship will work but as the months add it, it starts to have issues.  Both stray and when Mike returns for Christmas, it's to Verity breaking up with him.  He can't believe it; they are meant to be together.  But eventually he returns overseas to his job and tries to convince Verity from afar that he still loves her and that they should be together.

But when he finally manages to get transferred back to London, it's to a horrid surprise.  Verity is getting married to another man, a man she loves and who everyone believes is a perfect match.  Mike decides that this is another version of the Crave and he knows how to play.  What will happen?

Araminta Hall is a British author.  She worked as a magazine journalist before she started writing books and also teaches.  She writes in the thriller genre and this book is chilling.  The pace is rapid and we get to see what's it's like inside the mind of a stalker, someone so obsessed with another that they can't imagine a world where their interest is not returned.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.