59 pages • 1 hour read
Jeneva RoseThe Perfect Marriage
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 22-32Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 22 Summary: “Adam Morgan”
Eleanor visits Adam in jail. Eleanor does not want Sarah defending Adam and suggests he should get a different defense attorney. Eleanor blames the entire situation on Sarah: “If she would have been more focused on loving you than her career, you wouldn’t have been diddle-dipping elsewhere in the first place” (122). Sarah arrives. Eleanor insists that Sarah join her for dinner.
Chapter 23 Summary: “Sarah Morgan”
Sarah and Eleanor have dinner together. Eleanor tells Sarah, “Husbands don’t typically cheat on loving wives,” implying that Sarah is to blame for Adam’s infidelity (126). Eleanor complains that if Sarah had “paid more attention to [him] and upheld your wifely duties,” then “Adam wouldn’t be in this predicament” (127). Sarah finally replies, “You’re right, Eleanor. I should have been a better wife to Adam. But I promise you this, I will be better now, and I’ll make sure Adam gets the justice he deserves” (127).
Chapter 24 Summary: “Adam Morgan”
Scott visits Adam. Adam accuses Scott of abusing Kelly/Jenna, which Scott denies. Scott explains that the black eye Kelly/Jenna had two weeks prior was an accident: “I accidentally caught her in the face with my elbow when I was hanging drywall in our home” (130). Adam asks why Kelly/Jenna would lie. Scott suggests Kelly/Jenna wanted Adam’s sympathy.
Scott and Adam discuss Kelly/Jenna’s past. Scott says that when he was a police officer in Appleton, Wisconsin, Kelly/Jenna told him that her then-husband (Greg) had abused her. Adam tells Scott how Kelly/Jenna claimed Scott was holding the Wisconsin incident over her head. Scott retorts, “I never talked about him. I never brought that part of her life up. When we left Wisconsin, we left that chapter of our lives behind us” (131). Adam asks Scott where he was the night that Kelly/Jenna was killed. Scott says he was with his friend and (police) partner, Deputy Marcus Hudson, all night.
Sarah, accompanied by Anne and Matthew, enters and interrupts the conversation between Adam and Scott. Sarah is angry that Scott has been allowed to enter Adam’s cell and talk to him, given that Scott tried to previously attack Adam. Scott leaves.
Sarah asks Adam if he knew that Kelly Summers was originally Jenna Way. Adam confirms that he knew. Sarah is angry that Adam did not tell her. Sarah tells Adam that he has to enter a plea when he is officially charged for Kelly/Jenna’s murder. If Adam pleads guilty, he will get 25 years with no possibility of parole. If Adam pleads not guilty, the District Attorney (DA) will try for the death penalty. Asked how he wants to plead, Adam replies, “Well, not guilty of course. I didn’t do this” (135).
Chapter 25 Summary: “Sarah Morgan”
Sarah, Anne, and Matthew go to a nearby coffee shop to discuss Adam’s case. Sarah says they need to find out who sent the photo and threatening note to Adam. Sarah also asks Anne to contact a list of witnesses, including Sheriff Stevens, Scott Summers, Deputy Hudson, and a relative of her dead husband’s—“someone that has bad blood with her” (138). Sarah also wants to find out who the third set of DNA belongs to. Matthew will dig into Kelly/Jenna’s old phone records.
Chapter 26 Summary: “Adam Morgan”
Adam, accompanied by Sarah, prepares to attend the hearing officially charging him with Kelly/Jenna’s murder. Eleanor is there too. Again, she urges Adam to get a different lawyer. Adam refuses.
Chapter 27 Summary: “Sarah Morgan”
Sarah has another conversation with the DA trying Adam’s case. The DA offers a new deal: 20 years without the possibility of parole if Adam pleads guilty. Sarah presents Adam with the deal and the following exchange ensues:
‘What would you suggest?’
‘As your lawyer, I’d say take the deal.’
‘What about as my wife?’
I take a moment to decide what to say. ‘As your wife, I’d say fight like hell’ (146).
The hearing takes place, and Adam enters a “not guilty” plea. The judge sets bail at $500,000 and puts Adam under house arrest. Sarah will get the money together for Adam’s bail, and Adam will receive an ankle monitor and go to the lake house.
Afterward, Sarah talks to Sheriff Stevens about the investigation’s progress. Sarah asks if there are any leads on who sent the threatening photo and note. Sheriff Stevens says they pulled fingerprints and ran them through a criminal database, but there was no match.
Chapter 28 Summary: “Adam Morgan”
Sheriff Stevens accompanies Adam and Eleanor to the lake house. Sarah arrives shortly after. Adam notices a strange energy between Sheriff Stevens and Sarah: “Why is she offering him coffee? Why does he feel comfortable in my house? Why did she come here? Was it to see me or to see Sheriff Stevens?” (154). Adam is so suspicious, he wonders, “Is something going on with Sheriff Stevens?” (156). Sarah leaves shortly after, making Adam even more suspicious.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Sarah Morgan”
Sarah visits Seth’s Coffee, where Kelly/Jenna worked, and talks to one of her coworkers. The coworker reveals that Kelly/Jenna had a regular customer at the coffee shop who seemed overly interested in her, Jesse Hook. Sarah texts Anne and asks Anne to run a background check on Jesse. This is the same Jesse who Adam saw the text message from, saying “I’m sorry” (24).
Chapter 30 Summary: “Adam Morgan”
Adam remains uneasy about the supposed relationship between Sheriff Stevens and Sarah. He wonders, “Is our marriage over? Is she over me? I know I had an affair, but just because I slept with someone else doesn’t mean that I stopped loving my wife” (161).
Eleanor is staying at the lake house to keep Adam company while he awaits trial (162). She is out when a reporter, Rebecca Sanford, comes by the lake house. Rebecca claims to be a former student of Adam’s, and she seems willing to help him by doing investigative work for him. Adam, suspicious of Sarah after seeing her with Sheriff Stevens, does not trust her to represent him. Rebecca already knows a lot about the case, including that Kelly Summers was previously Jenna Way, and about the mystery third set of DNA. Rebecca offers to help Adam by doing some independent investigative work in exchange for $5,000 and an exclusive interview. Adam agrees.
Adam does not know that Rebecca is actually a private investigator hired by Sarah/Bob (her accomplice) to keep an eye on Adam. This will be revealed in the book’s final chapter.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Sarah Morgan”
Sarah goes by the lake house to bring Adam some groceries. Sarah tells Adam, “I just want you to know that I’m doing everything in my power to win this case. You have to trust me,” to which Adam replies, “I do trust you, Sarah” (174). Sarah and Adam share a passionate kiss and almost have sex, but she stops him: “I can’t do this yet. I’m still mad at you for everything you did to me” (175-6). Sarah leaves.
Chapter 32 Summary: “Adam Morgan”
Later that evening, Adam is at the lake house alone when he gets a call from his literary agent. Adam’s literary agent has heard about the murder charges and urges Adam to write a book: “This could be your In Cold Blood except even better, cause I mean you don’t have to interview the murderer… it’s you!” (178). Adam is annoyed and reluctant at first—but decides his situation is worth writing about.
Chapters 22-32 Analysis
These chapters further explore the theme of Power Dynamics and Gender Politics by providing greater insights into the character of Eleanor, Adam’s mother. Eleanor expresses an old-fashioned, “traditional” societal point of view: Women should be homemakers and caretakers for their men and children. Sarah’s independent, career-focused mindset is at odds with Eleanor’s traditional values. Eleanor is unable to blame Adam and instead blames Sarah for Adam’s affair.
Over dinner, Eleanor tells Sarah, “Husbands don’t typically cheat on loving wives,” implying that Sarah is to blame for Adam’s infidelity (126). She claims that if Sarah had been more loving and attentive, the entire situation could have been prevented. In depicting Sarah as a neglectful wife, Eleanor advocates for traditional gender roles, suggesting that Sarah’s more traditionally masculine approach to her career and marriage have damaged her marriage. Eleanor advocates the kind of stereotypically feminine qualities that Kelly/Jenna seemed to embody: nurturing, subservient, unambitious, and family-oriented (as Kelly/Jenna was already pregnant at the time of her death).
The book paints Eleanor as the antagonist and Sarah as the protagonist in these exchanges. The narrative thus appears to be arguing against traditional gender roles and power dynamics, with Eleanor clearly overindulgent toward her son. Meanwhile, Sarah is a successful, independent woman who appears willing to defend Adam in spite of his affair. However, this narrative argument is distorted when Sarah is ultimately revealed as a killer who sought control over Adam at every step of their marriage. The book implies that the power dynamic in a marriage should be one of equal partnership—imbalanced power dynamics, including those that make the woman the more dominant partner, lead only to abuses of power.
The plot becomes more complex in these chapters, as red herrings/false clues multiply. The character of Jesse Hook is a prime example. Sarah discovers that Jesse was essentially stalking Sarah, making Jesse a possible suspect. This red herring is furthered by the fact that Adam previously saw a text message from Jesse to Kelly/Jenna saying, “I’m sorry” (24). In fact, Jesse is a false lead.
Meanwhile, Sarah continues to represent herself as Adam’s faithful ally, bringing him groceries and keeping him company. Sarah’s actions once more tie into the theme Fidelity Versus Deceit, as she appears to be a loyal wife while in actuality framing Adam for her own crime. The theme of Revenge Versus Justice also becomes more prominent. Sarah tells Eleanor, “I’ll make sure Adam gets the justice he deserves” (127, emphasis added). In her own way, Sarah is doing precisely that—the problem, however, is that Sarah believes that the “justice” Adam “deserves” is the death penalty because he was unfaithful. Although as a lawyer, Sarah is meant to help uphold the integrity of the law, her own actions reveal her to simply be manipulating the legal system for her own ends, just as Sheriff Stevens does in manipulating the investigation to protect himself.
Finally, these chapters emphasize the symbolic significance of the lake house. After he enters his not-guilty plea, Adam is put under house arrest—at the lake house. The home serves as a representation of Adam and Sarah’s crumbling marriage. When Sarah visits Adam at the lake house, it is more as his lawyer than as his wife. The lake house, a quasi-prison for Adam while under house arrest, also represents his imprisonment within the marriage. The lake house represents all the various ups and downs of their marriage: At one point, it’s a symbol of hope for Adam and Sarah’s marriage. Later, it represents Adam’s affair. At the end, it will represent Sarah’s new marriage, when she moves into the lake house with Bob.
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