In Anne Stark Gallagher’s Collateral Wife, Anne is a Chicago communications professional when she reconnects with Ben at a friend’s wedding, and the meeting quickly develops into a serious relationship. Nearly a decade older, Ben speaks with certainty about business, while Anne is building a consulting career of her own. Their rapid courtship leads to marriage, followed by two children and a life rooted in Chicago, where Ben pursues mortgage ventures as Anne’s company succeeds. As the years pass, Anne finds it increasingly difficult to make sense of where Ben’s money comes from. His explanations begin leaving questions behind, bringing unease into a marriage she believed she understood. The memoir follows Anne as Ben’s dealings move closer to home, leading her to reconsider what she has accepted about the man she married.

Anne Stark Gallagher’s Collateral Wife is an exceptional memoir, and the author writes about deception inside marriage with honesty that makes her reasoning understandable even as she is piecing together what Ben has done. She is especially good at showing how dishonesty operates inside familiar domestic routines, where trust gives each new explanation room to survive. That understanding is evident when Anne learns that a quitclaim deed on the family’s beach house has a misspelled forgery of her signature, exposing a second mortgage she had already rejected. She is equally effective with technical banking material, translating unfamiliar processes into language a general reader can readily follow. When federal investigators place Anne’s brokerage statements before her, the significance is instantly understood. Well written and fiercely candid, readers who appreciate memoirs about coercive relationships will embrace this.

Anne Stark Gallagher’s Collateral Wife: A True Con Marriage is the author’s memoir, opening at rock bottom. Anne stands on a Chicago L. platform, ready to jump in front of a train. She can't handle her husband’s growing debts, including a $500,000 loan from a mob-connected lender. The memoir takes us back to 1992, when Anne first met the charming, impulsive Ben at a wedding. She was a successful PR professional then. He proposed on the spot and swept her into marriage. Over two decades, she ignored the growing number of red flags: forged signatures (he even misspelled “Gallagher”), drained accounts, a secretly mortgaged beach house, and schemes that put Anne’s life and that of their two children in danger. With help from her loyal office manager Paz, a wise therapist and lawyer, Anne finally escapes and becomes the government's star witness when the FBI indicts Ben for bank fraud.

Anne Stark Gallagher’s honesty makes this memoir gripping; at times, you will feel like you're reading a stunningly imagined, well-crafted novel, but it is the story of her messy marriage and the ordeals that came from ignoring the red flags. In a confident voice, she avoids casting herself as foolish and instead examines her thoughts and feelings at each step, exploring the relationships, the chaos, and the growing uncertainty that defined her marriage to a conman. Her memoir shows you how an intelligent woman can be used. Her self-awareness, paired with her journalist’s eye for detail and snappy dialogue, infuses the book with the kind of pull you find in gripping thrillers. Collateral Wife is a memoir about manipulation, financial abuse, trust, and resilience, and it is an eye-opener on how sweet-talking, charming men easily prey on women, even the most informed and intelligent. It is a compelling, cautionary page-turner.