Published by Transworld, Black Swan
Publication Date 20th August 2020
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Book Description:
Everyone brings baggage to a new relationship.
When Alex met Natalie she changed his life. After the tragic death of his first wife, which left him a single parent to teenage daughter Jade, he’s determined to build a happy family.
But his new-found happiness is shattered when the family home is gutted by fire and his loyalties are unexpectedly tested. Jade insists she saw a man in the house on the night of the fire; Natalie denies any knowledge of such an intruder.
Alex is faced with an impossible choice: to believe his wife or his daughter? And as Natalie’s story unravels, Alex realises that his wife has a past he had no idea about, a past that might yet catch up with her.
But this time, the past could be deadly . . .
My Thoughts:
This book starts with a man returning from a night out with work colleagues to find the fire brigade at his home, his wife standing outside the property and no sign of his daughter. The lady in question is not Alex's first wife nor the mother of said child but it's not until later that we get the first hint that maybe this was not the accident that Alex's wife initially makes out. Then when his daughter states that she saw a man in the house just prior to the fire taking hold he really does start facing the horrible reality that his wife is not the loyal life partner he had assumed her to be.
The story then flicks back some two decades or so, back to when Alex's wife was young and throwing herself into situations she had no idea would change her life forever. Her obsession with the dark, mysterious Kaspar, owner of the club she frequented would take her into a world she had never considered she could be involved in - and not in the happy ever after way she was hoping.
The book is quite twisty and a sure-fire lesson in never taking anyone at face value. There are several characters within the pages who could have learned something from taking a step back and evaulating people before rushing in to making their acquaintance. I'm not sure any of the characters are particularly likeable or even reliable narrators but they do make for an interesting read which kept my attention as I tried to work out exactly what was going on.
This is my first read from this author and I am now keen to go back and read her debut novel The House Swap as I do enjoy a tale with slippery characters, which is what its synopsis suggests.
About the Author:
Rebecca Fleet lives in London and works in Windsor. Her debut thriller, The House Swap, was published in 2018 to great acclaim. The Second Wife is her eagerly anticipated second thriller.
No comments:
Post a Comment