Sarah Pekkanen & Greer Hendricks | THE WIFE BETWEEN US

Plot:

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife.
You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love.
You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle.
Assume nothing. 

Twisted and deliciously chilling, The Wife Between Us exposes the secret complexities of an enviable marriage - and the dangerous truths we ignore in the name of love.

Read between the lies.

Review:

Oh. My. LORD! This novel is so good. So. Good. I just finished it and tried to get my thoughts together, but it may take me a while. This novel is twisty, dark and psychological fun. Where can I even begin? I guess from the beginning...

This one starts off seemingly innocent...so innocent, that I found myself forgetting I was reading a thriller. It was romantic, devastating, and honestly light and fun. Part One of this novel is kind of similar to an Emily Giffin novel and really reminded me of Something Borrowed and Something Blue. It spins the two tales of two different women together who have one thing in common...the same man. The same man who left one broken-hearted and the other eagerly anticipating their future wedding. Part One is just the beginning. Pekkanen and Hendricks told two different stories so well, ensuring the reader knows both Vanessa and Nellie so well, you could write an autobiography of their  lives up until this point. I am a sucker for solid characterization and these two women blew my mind. I also got to know the character of Richard, a savvy businessman who may or may not be perfect. I got to know the fun-loving Sam who is wild, loving, and carefree (we all have a friend like Sam), an I got to know the sweet and kind-hearted Aunt Charlotte who you automatically want to love and keep safe from the outside world. I loved these characters so much that I could barely imagine finishing this novel and having to say goodbye to them within a day or so.

While the first 100 pages or so is light and really character-driven, there are some rather ominous and hard hitting sentences completing the chapters that quickly alert you to the fact that this is a thriller and something wicked this way comes. After entering Part Two, I was not only shocked by the twists and turns this novel was taking, but Pekkanen and Hendricks did so in such an addictive way that I was already too hooked and at the point of no return. I was shocked and speechless at the brilliance of some major plot twists and found myself hungry for more. The characterization was fantastic before and was only getting better, allowing the reader to not only gain more of the plot, but really enter the minds of these two women and providing the reader with some really interesting subplots that were written beautifully.

Now without spoiling anything, the pacing and setup of this plot is not only sheer brilliance, but fantastically executed. Get your reader hooked on these diverse and interesting characters and then take the whole plot and throw it in a blender. Utterly fantastic. I quickly found myself not knowing what was fully going on and having 100% no idea where this one was heading. That feeling stuck with me until the very end of this exciting and addicting novel. Adding in a setting of Manhattan luxury and a great deal of the vulnerability of the setting not only was crucial to the plot, but also built the characterization even more. The twists and turns with this one kept coming for roughly 150 pages until the finale and I was left speechless. Then, just to really make the readers head spin, Pekkanen and Hendricks threw one last wrench in the whole thing with probably the best epilogue I have ever read with a novel. I was dumbfounded and left hanging on to one of the best final sentences of a novel that I have yet to read. Utterly fantastic and very well thought out, this is one you will be thinking of, talking of, and obsessing over long after completing.

Special thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4.5/5