The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

This book popped up everywhere. It kept being recommended to me on Goodreads, I saw it on other blogs, a friend read it, so when I saw it on special online for one day only, of course I snapped it up.

It didn't help that I'd just read Red Sparrow and The Father, both of which whet my appetite for a good crime thriller.

And because I hate spoilers, all I'm going to tell you about the story line is that Richard the hedge fund manager is about to marry Nellie, the pre-school teacher, whose best friend is Sam.

Vanessa is Richard's ex. And she's watching, drowning her sorrows and hating her job as a sales assistant at Saks. 

I enjoyed this one - the writing was good. Here are some excerpts.

“Gaze detection, it’s called—our ability to sense when someone is observing us. An entire system of the human brain is devoted to this genetic inheritance from our ancestors, who relied on the trait to avoid becoming an animal’s prey.”

“She is oblivious to what I have done to her. She is unaware of the damage I have wrought; the ruin I have set in motion. To this beautiful young woman with the heart-shaped face and lush body-the woman my husband Richard, left me for-I'm as invisible as the pigeon scavenging on the sidewalk next to me. She has no idea what will happen to her if she continues like this. None at all.”

Yet, if you've had a similar experience to me - been recommended this book, that is - the 'selling point' is those twists you 'won't see coming'. Here's the thing. I don't really read a book for the twists. 'Assume nothing' says the blurb. I never do. I don't even really try to guess, because I'm not very good at it. And here's the thing about this book. The twists didn't really make it, they almost messed it up. Like the authors tried a little too hard to make the twists so good, they forgot about the story, which wasn't bad.

Now you're curious, aren't you? Well, read the book. It's a quick and easy read, once you've persevered a little.

3 stars

ISBN: 9781250130921

You may also enjoy Peter Swanson's The Kind Worth Killing, or My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry.

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