Sleeping with the Enemy

Plots: A librarian fakes her death to escape her abusive marriage and start a new life elsewhere, but her husband manages to track her down. Laura and Martin have been married for four years. They seem to be the perfect, happiest and most successful couple. The reality of their house- hold, however, is very different. Martin is an abusive and brutally obsessed husband. Laura is living her life in constant fear and waits for a chance to escape. She finally stages her own death, and flees to a new town and new identity. But when Martin finds out that his wife is not dead he will stop at nothing to find and kill her. Wealthy Laura and Martin Burney have a passionate marriage. Martin’s passion manifests itself in a need for complete control and order, which in turn results in violence against Laura when that control and order is lost. This violence is generally followed by an act of controlled forgiveness. She is scared of his violent tendencies, which are hidden underneath a public veneer of perfection. A non-swimming Laura supposedly drowns during a sailing accident. The accident however was really a premeditated escape plan by a swimming-able and still alive Laura, who knew that Martin would never allow her to leave him as long as she was alive. Rechristening herself Sarah Waters, Laura travels from their Cape Cod home to Cedar Falls, Iowa to be closer to her blind, wheelchair-bound and nursing home residing mother, who Martin believes is dead. Although apprehensive at first, Laura begins a relationship there with Ben Woodward, the local college’s drama professor who is attracted to her despite the many secrets he knows she is keeping from him. Meanwhile, Martin stumbles onto evidence that Laura may still be alive, and stops at nothing to discover the truth so that he can carry out his promise of never letting her go while she’s still alive. That promise extends to anyone who may be helping her, such as Ben.