Book Review: The Amendment | Kiersten Modglin

Buzz about Kiersten Modglin continues to dominate many online psychological thriller communities and it seems that the hype will continue. In fact, my review of The Arrangement from August of 2021 continues to be one of my most popular posts nearly a year after posting it. When I saw that a sequel had been released called The Amendment I dove back into the twisted world of Ainsley and Peter Greenburg and what a pair these two are! If you haven’t read the first book, start there and catch up for the second installment of this twisted trilogy.

About the Book

First, there was the arrangement.
A simple, yet salacious fix to the problems looming in their marriage.
But when things took a tragic turn, Peter’s and Ainsley’s lives quickly fell into disarray.

Now, their secrets have been exposed.
They know the truth—about each other and their marriage.
As they struggle to move on from their past and the damage they’ve caused, new problems begin to surface.

Someone they love is hiding a catastrophic secret. The fragile ground they stand on is starting to crumble. Their family is being torn apart at the seams. And, maybe worst of all, a threat from the past is lurking, ready to unveil the things they’d kill to keep hidden.

They thought the nightmare they’d made it through was over, but the worst is just beginning…

Once, they vowed to do anything to make their marriage work.
Now, that vow will push every boundary they have left.

In order to survive, they’ll need to completely trust each other.
But can they?
Last time they did, things went terribly wrong…
This time, it might be worse.
If there’s one thing that’s certain, their secrets are too big to let anyone walk away alive.

Reflection

This is going to be hard to review without giving away some spoilers from the first installment, so stop here if you haven’t caught up yet! If you remember where we left off, Ainsley and Peter had ended their arrangement from the prior book in a shocking cadence of twists that revealed that they were both hiding dark secrets, and a stunner move by Ainsley to ensure the two of them are truly bound together in their marriage. I guess that arrangement did help their marriage after all!

The Amendment starts with Ainsley and Peter in couple’s counseling to work through their issues following the events of the last book. If you are finding yourself wondering how a couple’s therapist could possibly begin to help a couple as twisted as Ainsley and Peter, you’d be thinking what I was! I often found myself wondering if I was more in awe of what they were doing or more in awe that two people who are so equally matched managed to find one another and form a relationship.

When I read The Arrangement, I noted that the book was a wild ride but at times I felt the twists came a bit out of left field. This made the twists feel larger than life and so much fun, but also had that small twinge of feeling like the characters lied to you for some of the book. The Amendment was almost the opposite. If you followed the first book, you’ll go into the second one with a good lay of the land and know where these characters might head. While this detracts a small amount from the sheer outrageous jaw-dropping fun of the first book, I also felt it allowed Modglin to get more nuanced with Ainsley and Peter as characters—they felt more developed and rounded out.

And I think I can safely say that while you’ll go through this book thinking you know where it is headed, Modglin still has some twists up her sleeve. I can say that immediately after finishing this I made a note to grab the third book as soon as it comes out because I have question for Ms. Modglin after reading this book!

A fun read that probably could be read as a standalone but is best enjoyed as a follow-up to The Arrangement. I am already looking forward to wherever this story ends!