The Lying Wife

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Manufacturer: Kathryn Croft
Brand: Thriller, Psychological Thriller
Brew: Paperback
Steeping Time: 336 pages
Tea Service: Tea and Book Box
Strength:

Synopsis: Callie has known sadness, and sometimes doubted she would ever have the life she wanted. When she meets James, also no stranger to grief, it seems as though her luck has changed. She becomes his wife, and in the process a stepmother to his two sons. Callie has finally got what she always imagined for herself.

But things don’t go to plan for Callie. She tries to get things right, but at every turn she makes mistakes. If she can only show her new family just how much she cares, perhaps everything will be okay. Yet the harder she tries, the more she fails. A split-second decision leads to her spiralling out of control, and there is no way back for Callie.

When the police arrest her for murder, the dark tale of Callie’s shocking fall from grace slowly unfolds. But how much is Callie willing to reveal about the choices she made? If those she cares for the most learn the truth, they will hate her. Will her secrets be her undoing? Or will she tell the truth, no matter the cost?

I wanted to throw this book against the wall 90% of the time I was reading it.

Reading The Lying Wife was like watching a train wreck. I spent a lot of time screaming at the pages while Callie made one mistake after another. Maddening? Yes. Entertaining? Also yes.

Callie was a bit of an infuriating character. Honestly, every single character in The Lying Wife was infuriating. I didn’t actually like anybody. None of them. They all could have gotten hit by a bus and I wouldn’t have minded. A terrible thing to say, perhaps, but it is what it is. There were moments I thought I might DNF and move on, but…train wreck, ya know?

But let’s start at the beginning.

I’ll try to make this a concise review instead of just screaming into the void. Callie is an unreliable narrator. We learn that her father has late-onset schizophrenia, and Callie is worried that she will also develop the disease. This was a bit of a turn-off for me because a family member of mine suffers from schizophrenia. Dealing with it in person is a lot. I didn’t particularly feel like reading about it too, but I was interested enough in the story by the time it came up to keep going.

Without spoiling anything, Callie is one wrong choice after another. She desperately wants her life as a new wife and mother to her husband’s children to work, but nothing is going right. The kids treat her like crap, the husband doesn’t really do anything about it, Callie’s friends are too busy to be in the picture, and the husband’s assistant at work is a potential threat to Callie’s marriage. There’s a lot going on and none of it is good.

The story’s pace moved along just fine, but I think I was purposefully reading it slowly because of the mental health issues and my reluctance to dive into that too deeply. There was a tipping point, though, and then I couldn’t put the book down. I sped through to the end. The tension was so high and the stakes even higher, so the last half of the book flew by and I couldn’t stop turning the pages. I don’t know how many times I set it down and then picked it up less than five minutes later because I wanted to know what happened next.

Without spoiling it, the ending really got me.

It’s been a while since a book gave me the type of reaction this one did. My husband actually came into the living room to ask me what was wrong because I was involuntarily yelling about it, and he was rather concerned that I’d gotten some sort of terrible news. So yeah. Great ending!

I’m glad I stuck it out and finished The Lying Wife. There weren’t any redeemable characters in my opinion, but that didn’t make it a bad story at all. It was gripping, entertaining, and a page-turner in every sense of the word. If you enjoy thrillers, unreliable narrators, suspense, and a great twist, then definitely give The Lying Wife a chance.

Have you read The Lying Wife? Leave a comment and let me know what you thought about it! Want to read it for yourself? Click here to get a copy of your own.
Cheers,
Lydia