The Governor's Wife

An opulent drama woven around the debauched political life of Texas, The Governor's Wife by Mark Gimenez is a subtle love story with some fast–paced action.   

Summary Of The Book

Bode Bonner’s life is perfect. He is the governor of Texas and he has all the things he wanted: money, authority and power. But something is awry because everything is too easy and settled. He waits for that one little moment of excitement and challenge. Lindsay Bonner’s life is a little different from Bode’s except for the fact that she too is supremely bored with it. As Bode's wife, she is fed up of all his womanising, the never-ending cocktail parties and the endless junkets she has to endure.

Lindsay wants to escape the insipid, glamourous lifestyle she is living. It’s when she saves a poor boy's life, that her life takes an about turn. From then on, things will never be the same for the Bonners. Their lives will change in more ways than they could have ever imagined.
Storytelling at its best, The Governor's Wife by Mark Gimenez is a book written in a flashback where it actually begins at the end and works backwards weaving the narrative perfectly into the present and the past when required.

The characters are marvellous -- Bode Bonner as the guy who is desperate for a ticket to the White House, Lindsay Bonner as the morose wife who finds comfort in tending to the sick across the Mexican border, Dr Jesse Rincon, the handsome doctor who falls for Lindsay while working with her and the mafia lord El Diablo as the baddie with all his villainous streaks.

Just as the events proceed and the stage is set for the final face-off, the unexpected behaviour by both the governor and his wife make for a convincing, if slightly uncanny, love story.

Although The Governor's Wife has been appreciated alongside Mark Gimenez’s other books, some felt that the book was too much of a pot-boiler at times. It has been censured for becoming too far-fetched in places like when the governor suddenly becomes a changed man and rushes to save his wife. While the Bonners are reunited, the doctor is promptly disposed off.

Nonetheless, the ingenious drama, the nifty twists and turns and the racy narration all make The Governor's Wife an addictive read that gives a peak into the deep and often manipulative affairs of Texas’ politics.

About Mark Gimenez

Mark Gimenez is an American author and a lawyer.

His debut novel, The Color of Law, became a New York Times bestseller. Besides The Governor’s Wife and The Color of Law, Mark Gimenez is the author of other books like The Abduction, The Perk, The Common Lawyer and Accused.

His style of writing has often been compared to that of John Grisham’s and his books have been called ‘fast reads’.

Along with writing books, he also has his own law practice. He gave up working with a big Dallas law firm to practice solo and write. Mark Gimenez earned a B.A. with honors from the Southwest Texas State University and J.D. degree magna cum laude from the Notre Dame Law School. He lives in Texas with his wife and two sons.