Title: When The Wife Cheats
Author: Frank Zaccari
Publisher: Frank Zaccari
ISBN: 9781452820026
Pages: 226 Paperback & Kindle
Genre: Memoir/Relationships
Reviewed by: Gary Sorkin, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
Frank Zaccari talks first hand in his narrative story about his life, wife, and children in his candidly revealing tell-all book titled When The Wife Cheats.It takes two to Tango. Googling the “Infidelity Statistics” shows that 22 percent of married men have strayed at least once during their married lives, however an astonishing 14 percent of married women have done the same. With the often all too common news of high profile men committing adultery, somehow the “other side of the coin” is less often discussed. What is even less common is for the man to come forward with his perspective about the events, partly because if reflects negatively on his machismo.
Frank Zaccari tells a great story – or perhaps I should rephrase it as a sad story told with great technique. The book started off as a love story with hot & heavy sexual attraction, a predator & prey duel of seductiveness, a welcoming of each other’s life and togetherness. What overweighed certain “red flags” was testosterone, which often is the case in human males – need I say more? Tony and Denise, the character names, seem appropriately matched for each other. He’s an up-and-coming high tech executive and she’s a hot and sassy office worker. From the onset they orbit closer and closer until they become a “secret love affair” behind the backs of other co-workers. Denise comes from a strong Catholic background, where she, as a teenager would sneak out of her home at night to party in the city, returning before her parents would awake. Tony was a straight shooting male wanting to have Denise as his trophy wife – and to do what most men do with trophies – mount’em. Right there was the foreshadowing of a disaster; a woman turned on by secret love affairs (even harmless ones from co-workers), and someone who lies to her parents, the people closest to her.
The book goes into detail of instances reflecting on the character values of Tony and the frustrations building up within Denise until the inevitable breach of trust, the extramarital affair occurs. Some of this detail could have been eliminated and the story would carry forth just fine, however I believe it made Frank Zaccari feel good writing it as much as it was interesting to read.
The saddest ramification of this dysfunctional marriage is what happened to the two girls, Courtney and Nicole, their daughters. It’s one thing for a woman to hurt a husband, but I became so angry reading the second half of the book dealing with the pain and torment caused to the girls that each time I turned the page I felt like ripping it out of the book. The book has shifted from a love story to one of human selfishness at its worst.
Frank Zaccari writes at the end of his book, “There comes a point in your life when you realize; who matters, who never did, who won’t anymore, and who always will.” He continued, “So don’t worry about people from your past; there’s a reason they didn’t make it to your future.” Most interestingly the book has an epilogue with revealing essays from the daughters’ perspective.
Frank Zaccari’s wish is his work will show the pain and suffering brought into a family by a cheating spouse, and that he does achieve. I would consider this book to be a sobering and highly charged story touching upon elements of marriage so apparent to the “outside observer” but impossible to see by the couple affected. By reading this book, a couple with an infidelity problem may be able to abate their course of action, heal with true forgiveness, and move on – especially for the sake of the children.
