Blurb

His wife wants him dead, discovering why might kill him faster.

Cold and calculating, insurance executive Michael Azodo has built a life on refusing mercy to others. Then he meets Rebecca, a compassionate nurse with shadows behind her smile who breaks through his carefully constructed walls. Their intense romance leads to a happy marriage—until Michael collapses.

Hospital tests reveal someone is poisoning him. Evidence points to his beloved wife, but Michael, refusing the police, seeks her hidden motives alone. His investigation uncovers a devastating truth: Rebecca’s true identity is tied to a tragedy he caused but cannot remember—one his psychologist mother made him forget. As his health deteriorates alongside his crumbling marriage, Michael confronts who he’s been and who he could become.

In a race against his failing body, Michael faces the ultimate question: what price is too high for redemption?

Review

You know when you finish a book and you sit there like… hmm. I enjoyed this, but something is just not clicking the way it should. That was me with A Decent Man. I genuinely like the story. Truly. The message is beautiful, the plot is strong, and the book has heart. It’s just that the emotional beats sometimes felt lighter than the heavy themes the story carries.

From the beginning, it’s clear what the book is trying to do. A lot is happening, and the pace is fast—maybe a bit too fast. I often felt things slipping past before I could sit in them. The characters are messy and flawed in ways I usually enjoy, but I never fully felt like I knew them. Not because they’re bad people (they absolutely are in different ways, which I didn’t mind), but because their emotions and choices didn’t go deeper than the surface.

I could also feel the cinematic influence in the pacing and structure. The story moves in tight, scene-like beats, which makes sense considering its screenplay origins. It keeps the plot moving and gives the book a clear visual rhythm, but it also means some of the emotional moments don’t get the space they need. They don’t linger; they move on before the weight can sink in, which feels more like a stylistic choice than a flaw.

Reading this book felt like watching someone through a window, and I wanted to be a fly on the wall, wanted to see the emotional cracks, the contradictions, the little moments that make you understand why the character is the way they are. Instead, they all stayed neatly inside the roles the story gave them.

The book touches on grief, betrayal, guilt, love, forgiveness, childhood trauma… very heavy things. But the writing style made scenes that should have hit hard come briefly and go faster, and instead of feeling them, I found myself simply thinking, “Oh, this is sad,” rather than actually feeling that sadness in my chest. I could sense what the book wanted me to feel, but I didn’t fully get there.

I also noticed how quickly characters moved past huge, messy choices. Decisions with serious emotional weight were resolved neatly, and reactions sometimes felt too calm for what actually happened. Real life isn’t that tidy, and I wanted a bit more emotional fallout, a bit more grounding.

Because everything moves so quickly, I could often see where things were headed before they happened. It didn’t ruin the story, but it did make some of the intended suspense before the big reveals next to non-existent.

That said, the heart of the book—the message—is genuinely lovely. It’s warm and hopeful, touching on kindness, accountability and choosing to be better. The ending ties that together in a meaningful way, and that’s the part that stayed with me the most.

So yes, A Decent Man is a story with a beautiful message, and I’m glad I read it. It has potential and a core that will resonate with a lot of readers. If you enjoy books that get straight to the point and keep the plot moving, you’ll probably vibe with this. But if you’re the kind of reader like me who prefers a bit more emotional depth, there’s still something here that stays with you.

If you end up reading A Decent Man, come back and tell me how it hit you. I’m curious to see if you felt the same or something completely different.

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