My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
Published by Penguin UK
Publication Date: 26 March 2019 ebook, 2 May 2019 hardback
Genre: Psychological Thriller/Mystery
384 pages
My sincere thanks to Michael Joseph, Penguin Books for the opportunity to read this advance review copy of this belter of a debut novel via NetGalley. The review herewith is completely unbiased and entirely my own personal view of the book.
Book Description:
This is a story about a married couple. They met, fell in love, had two beautiful children. So far, so ordinary.
But they have a very dark secret.
It's a story with a twist. And then another. And another.
You might think you've read stories like this before.
You'd be wrong.
By the end of the first chapter you'll be hooked.
At page fifty you might not sleep until you finish.
And when you turn the last page, you'll ask yourself one question:
How well do you really know the person you love most?
My Review:
You will struggle to read a book with more secrets, more lies and more twists than this one any time soon. We know from the outset that our main character is not who he appears to be; we are first introduced to him as Tobias, a handsome deaf man who is looking for companionship. He 'talks' to women he notices in bars via the screen on his mobile phone, looking for the right girl - but right for what? He makes sure he stands out to the barman, yet everything he tells people about himself is a lie. Including his name.
The truth is he's a family man, a tennis coach with a wife, two children and a lovey home which he and wife Millicent have built together. Or is it the truth? Millicent knows he's out looking for the right one, they discuss possible candidates and he checks that his wife is happy with his choice. That is his part of the deal done. It's over to Millicent to take it from there. It was only meant to be once. But things change. People change. And boy, the changes we see throughout this book are pretty shocking - not just to us the reader, but to our couple who find things out about each other which were never part of the plan; to their friends whose lives will never be the same again, and the children who are far more perceptive and involved than even they realise.
It should have just been the two of them. But neither of them stick to the rules. And ultimately this changes the game into something far, far more sinister.
This is a story of trust and what happens when that trust is betrayed. How easy it is to open yourself up to the person who is supposed to have your back, and how vulnerable that can leave you. My analytical skills in trying to work out where the plot was going in this book fell woefully short of where they needed to be with Samantha Downing's writing talent. Just as I thought I had the characters weighed up, in came another curve ball proving I was way off target. Again! I am blown away by the fact this is the author's debut work, which makes me really excited for her future writing.
You will struggle to read a book with more secrets, more lies and more twists than this one any time soon. We know from the outset that our main character is not who he appears to be; we are first introduced to him as Tobias, a handsome deaf man who is looking for companionship. He 'talks' to women he notices in bars via the screen on his mobile phone, looking for the right girl - but right for what? He makes sure he stands out to the barman, yet everything he tells people about himself is a lie. Including his name.
The truth is he's a family man, a tennis coach with a wife, two children and a lovey home which he and wife Millicent have built together. Or is it the truth? Millicent knows he's out looking for the right one, they discuss possible candidates and he checks that his wife is happy with his choice. That is his part of the deal done. It's over to Millicent to take it from there. It was only meant to be once. But things change. People change. And boy, the changes we see throughout this book are pretty shocking - not just to us the reader, but to our couple who find things out about each other which were never part of the plan; to their friends whose lives will never be the same again, and the children who are far more perceptive and involved than even they realise.
It should have just been the two of them. But neither of them stick to the rules. And ultimately this changes the game into something far, far more sinister.
This is a story of trust and what happens when that trust is betrayed. How easy it is to open yourself up to the person who is supposed to have your back, and how vulnerable that can leave you. My analytical skills in trying to work out where the plot was going in this book fell woefully short of where they needed to be with Samantha Downing's writing talent. Just as I thought I had the characters weighed up, in came another curve ball proving I was way off target. Again! I am blown away by the fact this is the author's debut work, which makes me really excited for her future writing.
About the Author:
Born in the Bay Area and now living in the Big Easy, I consider both to be home. Along the way I went to school, worked a few jobs and learned a thing or two. Throughout it all, I wrote. Never studied writing, it's just a hobby that grew into a passion. A dozen books later, my first novel will be published in 2019. My Lovely Wife is not the first one I wrote, it's the first one I submitted (trust me, the other eleven are terrible).
When I was a kid, my mom brought me to the library every two weeks. I checked out a stack of new books and new worlds. The best thing was becoming so absorbed in a book I couldn’t put it down. I walked around with it in front of my face, I took it to the bathroom, the kitchen, the book came with me wherever I went. I tripped, ran into walls and stubbed my toes because I never watched where I was going.
This is why I write. I want to tell stories that make people walk into walls.
Social Media Links:
Twitter: @smariedowning
@PenguinUKBooks
@MichaelJBooks
Website: www.samanthadowning.com
No comments:
Post a Comment