MY LOVELY WIFE
SAMANTHA DOWNING
*****
Millicent and her husband are a team in everything they do – whether that’s buying all organic food at the supermarket, going to gala nights with their upmarket housing community or luring and killing women together…
My Lovely Wife is an absolute rollercoaster of a read and one I really enjoyed from beginning to end. I enjoyed the way that Samantha Downing keeps the book completely in the narrative of the husband, and it is only now in writing this review I realise that his real name is never mentioned! I have read a few similar books before that have split narrative perspective over two or more characters, but you then tend to get a more watered-down version of the characters and the plot becomes a little too predictable for it. The husband is a great narrator and the story has a great pace, keeping up the shocks and the twists and turns but never in a way that felt too unrealistic. there are also flashbacks woven in the narrative about parts of the relationship between husband and wife which gave backstory and motive for the events unfolding in the present.
I liked the inclusion of the way that the murders impacted everyone in the family, in ways that the couple did not expect. I liked the way that you never got the explicit details of the crime and were left to wonder about them in the same way the husband was. The ending itself was a bit of a shock twist but one that I really enjoyed - it is a refreshing change from a few thrillers I have read recently where the ending is only drawn up for shock value and goes against the plot as a whole. I’m very impressed that this is a debut novel and will certainly look out for other books from Samantha Downing in future.
Overall My Lovely Wife is a rollercoaster read full of twists and turns that will leave you hooked. Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.