Kate White | SUCH A PERFECT WIFE

Plot (via Goodreads):

On a sunny morning in late September, Shannon Blaine, a blonde, green-eyed 34-year old wife and mother of two, sets off on a jog along the rural roads near her home in Lake George, New York.  It’s her usual a.m. routine, her “me time” after dropping the kids off at school…except on this day she never returns. The residents in the idyllic lakeside town—which is popular with summer tourists—are stunned. Would Shannon have just taken off, overwhelmed with the pressures of being the perfect wife and mother? Did a stranger snatch her? Or could her husband be responsible for her disappearance?

The hot new online magazine Crime Beat wants to cover the case and they hand the assignment to noted true crime writer Bailey Weggins. It doesn’t take long for Bailey to see that the story has fars more facets than she initially realized:  a bitter sister, an unfaithful brother-in-law, an evasive deacon, and a creepy motel owner who watched Shannon run every morning. When an anonymous caller reaches out to Bailey and gives her the cryptic clue that Shannon was a “good Catholic girl,” the tip eventually leads Bailey to the grisly discovery of Shannon’s body. And suddenly, based on what else Bailey finds, everything about the case shifts, suggesting that Shannon’s murder isn’t an isolated incident but rather the work of a serial killer with a very specific calling card. Bailey sets out to expose the killer before another woman has to die, including herself.
Review:

A while back, I read The Secrets You Keep by Kate White and thus far it has been the only novel by Kate that I have read. While I really enjoyed it, I found it to be more of a beach read or lighter thriller and didn't find it flirted with the darker elements nor was it violent. Well, that is basically what I was expecting with this one and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was 100% wrong.

Such a Perfect Wife is the newest addition to the Bailey Weggins series, and while I can't read this series I found it was very easily to read and enjoy without any distractions and can be enjoyed as a standalone. With what began as an intense and rather creepy prologue, I knew this was not going to be a light read and was stunned at how quickly the pages flew by and also how captivated I was within the first few chapters. I absolutely loved the setting to this one and could visualize this area so well. I've been to Lake George a few times in my life as I live in Upstate New York, so reading such a thrilling book that takes place in a location I have been to added another layer of enjoyment while I feverishly devoured the pages to this novel. About halfway through, the story really took a drastic and dark turn that let me know I was 100% not reading a lighter thriller now and a backstory emerged that brought the intensity of this story to an all new high.

I absolutely loved reading about Bailey Weggins and all of the characters in this book. The only thing I wish I could change was that there were a lot of characters introduced in this one. I can imagine that White something very specific in mind when writing this book, but I just found I wanted to read more about some characters and others showed up to be red herrings, or to just disappear, etc. Fear not though, because due to White's strong writing capabilities and her ability to tell a brilliant story, this did not distract me from the story whatsoever. Now, all I have to do is patiently wait until I have some spare time to enjoy more from Kate White.

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

Rating: 4/5