Michele Campbell | THE WIFE WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

Plot (via Goodreads):

Tabitha Girard had her heart broken years ago by Connor Ford. He was preppy and handsome. She was a pool girl at his country club. Their affair should have been a summer fling. But it meant everything to Tabitha.

Years later, Connor comes back into Tabitha's life—older, richer, and desperately unhappy. He married for money, a wealthy, neurotic, controlling woman whom he never loved. He has always loved Tabitha.

When Connor’s wife Nina takes her own life, he’s free. He can finally be with Tabitha. Nina’s home, Windswept, can be theirs. It seems to be a perfect ending to a fairy tale romance that began so many years ago. But then, Tabitha finds a diary. "I’m writing this to raise an alarm in the event of my untimely death," it begins. “If I die unexpectedly, it was foul play, and Connor was behind it. Connor—and her.”

Who is Connor Ford? Why did he marry Nina? Is Tabitha his true love, or a convenient affair? As the police investigate Nina’s death, is she a convenient suspect?

As Tabitha is drawn deeper into the dark glamour of a life she is ill-prepared for, it becomes clear to her that what a wife knows can kill her.

Review:

Michele Campbell is the kind of storyteller that has impeccable prose, sensational characters, and a plot that is relentless in its twists and turns. I find her stories compelling, immersive, and damn-near impossible to put down. What I love about her novels is that each one has a completely different setting, a great cast of characters, and a story-line that is unlike anything else. Combining equal parts of psychological suspense and domestic suspense, Campbell is an author who is at the top of her game and only gets better with time. Each book I read is better than the last and this one is quite possibly my favorite.

I loved how this one started off and then had a little time jump. It was great getting the backstory on Tabitha and Connor and I was immediately in love with their summer fling and could have read an entire book about it. Nonetheless, Campbell has a story to tell and did she ever tell it! The chapters are dispersed between Tabitha reuniting with Connor and Nina's harrowing and eerie diary entries that are so ominous and psychologically creepy that I could again read an entire book about them. This story was a journey and there was so much (but not too much) going on that it was impossible to put down. The story of Connor and Nina and then the story of Connor and Tabitha had some similarities, but some major differences that made me question who was the good guy and who was the bad guy in all of this. As usual, Campbell has a fantastic set of secondary characters that build the tension, create red herrings, and help the central characters carry along a brilliant story.

I cannot tell you enough how enjoyable this one was. I love movies about people who go from rags-to-riches and this was such a great take on it and I enjoyed the glamour combined with the suspense and all of  these people who are diabolical taking stabs at one another. It was one I completely lost myself in and found impossible to put down. The ending was amazing, harrowing, and twistier than I thought it could be. With summer finally here, if you haven't already, please check out Michele Campbell's books as they are all fascinating and perfect summer reads.

Special thanks to St. Martins Press for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5