Christian White | THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW

Plot (via Goodreads):

Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, The Wife and The Widow is an unsettling thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband’s secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside when she’s forced to confront the evidence of her husband’s guilt. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives. Brilliant and beguiling, The Wife and The Widow takes you to a cliff edge and asks the question: how well do we really know the people we love?

Review:

The Wife and the Widow by Christian White was one tour de force of a read that kept me captivated the entire time. I loved the dual perspective with this one and really enjoyed all of the characters and the multiple secrets they held. I kind of went into this one expecting one thing and was immediately and pleasantly surprised to learn what this novel really had to offer.

The prologue to this one was really haunting and effectively creepy. It definitely did a great job of shocking me and making me want to fly through this one to find out the big mystery, and boy were there plenty of them throughout the book. The different perspectives between Kate and Abby were not only enjoyable to read, but I loved how each woman and their lifestyles were so different from one another. The contrast between the kind of psychological thriller aspect of this novel and the mystery aspect complimented each other wonderfully; it was like getting two separate stories thrown at you at the same time for majority of the book.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the setting in this novel and how it added the eeriness factor of the novel. The small town in this one almost plays a major key character in its own and I found this to be such a wonderful bonus in a story that was already fantastic.  I want to keep this spoiler-free, but there were a few reveals (including a big twist) that I never saw coming and I even had my theories as to what was going to happen debunked. I was flirtatious with the reveals, but never actually guessed most of  what was actually happening. There was one part where I just kind of jumped back and thought "why did I never think of that throughout this entire story?!" The ending was perfect and tied up all of the loose ends effectively in a really sensational final scene. I'm not sure what other tricks Christian White has up his sleeve, but I'm dying for more.

Special thanks to Minotaur Books for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5