Book Review: The Fidelity Files

    Wonder if he’ll cheat? There’s only one surefire way to find out: Call Ashlyn. Ashlyn is the pseudonym of Jennifer Hunter, the self-appointed “fidelity inspector” heroine of Jessica Brody’s steamy new novel, “The Fidelity Files.” For a fee, Ashlyn will test the faithfulness of your boyfriend, fiancé or husband at bachelor parties or on business trips and report her findings. Her only ground rule: No sex.

Ashlyn operates strictly on referral. After all, who would have to advertise that kind of service? Brody got the novel idea while working for MGM Studios in Los Angeles.  

Divorce360: How did the seemingly mundane corporate world lead you to such a provocative concept?  
Jessica Brody: I think “seemingly mundane” is the key phrase here. In the corporate world that I inhabited, there were a certain number of “alcohol-related” events that you were expected to attend where I would often find myself observing the interactions between single and non-single co-workers as their behaviors gradually declined from professional to something else entirely. Some of the disturbing things that I witnessed upset me on a profound level. I secretly wished that someone would tell the “conveniently” absent significant others about what their husbands/wives/boyfriends/ girlfriends/fiancés really did while attending these functions, but I certainly wasn’t going to be the one to do it. You know what people tend to do to “the messenger.” So instead I created a character whose job and purpose in life was to do just that.  

Divorce360: Did your research with friends and family about infidelity change your view of marriage and commitment?  
Brody: After witnessing the inappropriate behavior that I mentioned above, I started to become pretty cynical about love. In fact, it was probably my cynicism that compelled me to write the book in the first place. Then I was introduced to a few books about the law of attraction. I was immediately intrigued by the philosophy that what you focus on is exactly what you get, and I translated this into how I was feeling about men and relationships. I stopped attending the happy hours and other functions where I witnessed things that made me uncomfortable and I started focusing on surrounding myself with people who had the kind of relationship that I wanted to have someday. People like my parents, my married friends and other family members. It was in interviewing and spending time with these people that I obtained a perspective on the other side of the equation.  

Divorce360: Have you ever been personally involved in infidelity?  
Brody: The short answer is yes. There was a former colleague who had a tendency to flirt heavily with girls at the office, including me. It was only after he took our flirtation to the next level that I found out he was engaged. Sadly, I didn’t divulge the truth to his fiancée. I really struggled with that decision, but in the end I convinced myself that it wasn’t my place, that I shouldn’t interfere. But to this day, I really wish I’d had the guts to tell her the truth. Although who knows if she would have even believed me?  

Divorce360: Many people have fantasized about testing their partner’s “intention to cheat.” Were you tempted to run a little trial run yourself?  
Brody: Of course! I think a lot of women who read this novel will feel at least a small temptation to either hire Ashlyn or be her. The latter has always intrigued me, mostly because of my obsession with exposing the truth. But I don’t think I’d have the stomach to knowingly flirt with a married man.  

Divorce360: Ashlyn admits her work changed her. How do you think being a fidelity inspector would change you?  
Brody: Great question! If I were really to do her job, I think the hardest part would be breaking the bad news to the women who hired me. That would probably harden me very quickly. All in all, I think being a fidelity inspector would make me extremely cynical. I probably would have a very hard time trusting men again.   

Divorce360: Some of our readers would no doubt be interested in hiring someone like Ashlyn. Do you know if any “fidelity inspectors” actually exist?  
Brody: Most of the real-life fidelity inspectors (sometimes known as “honey traps” or “love decoys”) simply test to see if someone’s husband or wife will flirt, ask for a phone number or invite the subject out to dinner. Ashlyn obviously takes things a lot farther in the book. And while finding out if your loved one is going to ask out another woman or get a phone number might be valuable, I don’t know whether or not that really proves he is the cheating type. In the book, Ashlyn’s inspections leave much less room for doubt.