Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Review - The Second Wife

Title:   The Second Wife
Author:  Rebecca Fleet
Publisher:  Transworld Digital
Genre:   Mystery/Thrillers
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:   384
Date of Publication:   March 5, 2020
My Rating:   4 Stars
DESCRIPTION:

Alex is walking home along the seafront one evening when he smells smoke and realises his house is on fire. His wife, Natalie, has escaped, but his daughter, Jade, is still inside. She is rescued by a firefighter, but when she wakes, she tells her father that she was hiding when the fire began, because there was a man in their house.

Her words prompt Alex, already furious with his new wife for leaving Jade behind, to start asking questions, and as the narrative flicks back and forth between Alex and Natalie, and between past and present, it starts to become clear that there’s a lot she hasn’t told him about her past. 

MY THOUGHTS:

Alex is walking home and is feeling no pain due to a few drinks after work. As he approaches his home, he soon recognizes there is a fire, and it is his house! His wife, his daughter! When Alex gets close enough he sees that his wife Natalie is relatively safe, but where is his daughter Jade? He spots an unconscious Jade in the arms of a fireman and while he has an incredible sense of relief, he gets a tingle of real annoyance that Natalie came out of the house without Jade.

They rush to the hospital and Jade's prognosis is grim. Later, when Natalie is awake and able to talk she tells Alex that she was hiding in a wardrobe at the time of the fire because there was a man in the house and she was terrified. That annoyance that Alex had toward Natalie begins to grow, and he begins to try and find out what happened, even questioning Natalie about certain things.

The story then shifts to the past and gives the point of view of Sadie and the shady past she experienced. Who was Sadie and what do her experiences have to do with Alex and Natalie? Well, this is where the story proves to be quite intriguing and more than a bit chilling. 

Lies, motives, obsession and secrets, combined with duplicity, all play very dangerous roles in this compelling book by Rebecca Fleet. This incredible book has so many twists and turns and a major shocker that this book proved to be impossible for me to put down. I loved Alex in his role as a father with a teen daughter. Their relationship was strong and his protective nature shown through time and again. 

Many thanks to Transworld Digital and to Edelweiss for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rebecca Fleet was educated at Oxford and works in brand strategy. She lives in London. The House Swap was her US debut; The Second Wife, her second domestic thriller, is forthcoming from Pamela Dorman Books/Viking.


6 comments:

  1. This sounds amazing! Definitely a mystery I would enjoy reading :) Great review!

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  2. You find the best stuff and review them with such skill, I struggle to come up with the words I want and often feel I'm not doing the book justice with my paltry attempts, you nail it - Every Single Time!

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  3. Great review. I like the sound of this book.

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  4. Great review, this sounds good

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  5. This seems like a really interesting book.

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  6. sounds like an intriguing mystery

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