Sarah Pinborough | DEAD TO HER

Plot (via Goodreads):

Being the second wife can be murder . . .

“Once a cheat, always a cheat,” they say. Marcie Maddox has worked hard to get where she is after the illicit affair that started her new life a few years ago. But her world of country clubs, yachts and sumptuous houses in Savannah, Georgia, isn’t easy to maintain, no matter how hard she tries. Nor is keeping her husband, Jason, truly interested.

So, when Jason’s boss brings home a hot new wife from his trip to London, the young Mrs William Radford IV isn’t quite the souvenir everyone expected. Sexy, drop-dead gorgeous and black—Keisha quickly usurps Marcie’s place as the beautiful second wife. But when Marcie sees the extra spark in the room when Keisha and Jason are together and their obvious, magnetic attraction, the gloves come off.

Revenge is best served cold, but in the steamy Savannah heat, blood runs so hot that this summer it might just boil over into murder.

Review:

Sarah Pinborough absolutely killed me with Behind Her Eyes. It was so shocking and I loved the supernatural element that she weaved in this storyline. With her second novel, Cross Her Heart this was more into the crime fiction world and while I enjoyed it, it felt like such a different read than Behind Her Eyes. When I read the synopsis to Dead to Her, I was immediately intrigued and curious as to where she would go with this story.

Dead to Her doesn't disappoint and really went back to the roots of Pinborough's debut novel by weaving in a supernatural element. I found this one to be immersive and Pinborough's writing is captivating right from the beginning in such a bewitching manner. The plot to this one definitely takes some interesting turns and features some reveals that I never saw coming. I loved the characters of Marcie and Keisha and their interactions. This one definitely combines the domestic suspense feel of the plot with murder mystery, a little bit of a voodoo, and rich people secrets. Between the characters, the setting, the loads of money just dripping off these characters, and the relationships between all of them, I found this one to be a great read for fans of The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine and for fans of the darker storylines of Desperate Housewives based on the characters alone.

My only drawback with this one was that I felt like the plot could've kicked things up a bit with the pacing. Pinborough's writing is obviously exceptional, the characters were enjoyable and fun to read, and I loved the reveals, but between the twists and turns some of the plot felt like it was being drawn out too much and I wanted the pacing to stay the same throughout. Other than that and a few secondary characters that I could've done without, this was definitely a unique and entertaining read that in my opinion would make a great miniseries on HBO or Netflix. After this one, I am even more curious as to what Pinborough will do next.

Special thanks to William Morrow for this copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: 4/5