My Lovely Wife

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
Guest review by @kxmrann
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This debut novel tells the story of a married working-class couple who carry a very dark secret. They live in Florida with their two teenage children. Unbeknownst to them, their parents seek out young women to torture and murder.

Narrated through the eyes of the husband, we also learn about marriage, parenting & social class which really add flavour to the overall mix. As someone who thoroughly enjoys crime/mystery/thriller novels, this particular book didn’t quite push me over the edge with it nor was it entirely gripping. The characters at some points seem rather two-dimensional and for the most part, they don’t actually have a cause to commit murder, except for one reason - to keep their marriage alive.

I found that 70% of this book is a build-up and mostly spent on meandering backstories about the couple which hardly have much relevance to the present day. To conclude my unpopular opinion (this book has had mostly positive reviews), I feel the story had a few holes that I couldn’t quite ignore. I found myself working things out well before the narrator did and from around 15% of the way through I could already guess one of the twists. I would recommend this book IF you have time to spare and want a quick light read but for me, it’s going back on the shelf for good.