Samantha Downing | MY LOVELY WIFE

Plot (via Goodreads):

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.

Review:

My favorite movie ever is The War of the Roses. The way that it tells this crazy story of the downfall of a marriage and how we get from point A to point B is astonishing to me - add in some dark humor and you have the perfect recipe for a great movie. What I've been nothing lately in some of the novels I've read is this type of story. The cat and mouse game between husband and wife. The dark humor within a marriage. Well, let me tell you - My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing has it all. 

It was kind of refreshing to see this type of story where one one catastrophic event could lead to something darkly humorous and rapidly paced. Right from the first chapter, I knew I was going to love these characters and consume this story. Well, I was completely right. Described as an equal combination of Dexter and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, My Lovely Wife is an engaging and diabolical read about the ups and downs of marriage and how to really keep things alive - even if you use death to do it. I found the story to be frightening, violent, and darkly humorous. Equal parts domestic suspense, psychological thriller, and serial killer thriller - this is the perfect read for the thriller fans who think they have seen (or read) it all. Without spoiling anything, the amount of twists and turns this novel took was fantastically syncopated with the pacing of the novel and I was blown away with how much I absolutely loved this story. Going into this one, I thought I was going to really like it and BOOM - I loved it. I mean Gone Girl loved it. I had some ideas as to some things that would happen, and while I was right on a couple of things I didn't find myself disappointed as it was even more fun to see how everything played out. Also, the one whopper of an ending that I didn't see coming was so satisfying and jaw-droopingly delicious that I just can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to read everything that comes next from Samantha Downing.

Special thanks to Berkley Publishing for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 5/5