My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

Released: March 2019
Publisher: Berkley Books (an imprint of Penguin)
Pages: 377
Rating: 4/5

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Every marriage is different…

Okay, maybe not quite THIS different.

Right from the start you know that this seemingly average suburban couple have a dark secret under their shiny exterior, but you don’t discover how truly dark it is until the book’s shocking ending.

I was intrigued by the premise: a husband and wife serial killer team operating under the facade of a perfectly happy and normal family out in the Florida suburbs. I mean who doesn’t want to find out what goes on behind the closed doors of those who seem to have it all?

My Lovely Wife was well written and believable (to a point), and had me turning the pages late into the night. I completely devoured this in only a few sittings. Some of the twists you could see coming from a mile off, but quite a few I definitely didn’t see coming. For someone who reads a lot of books in this genre, that’s really saying something. I’ve been telling everyone and their mother about this one- it’s a really good read.

I teetered between 3 and 4 stars simply because I had a really hard time understanding how a milquetoast middle aged dad went from not being a murderer to suddenly finding in his 40’s that murder is “sexy.” There just wasn’t enough there for me to buy that he made the massive leap from not ever wanting to murder anyone to happily stalking women he has no qualms about killing. Millicent though- wow, what a piece of work. I completely buy her deviousness. She was a thoroughly terrifying villain.

Overall this was a wickedly fun read even if I had some issues with it. The latter half of the book was stronger, full of nail biting tension before coming to its explosive conclusion. I recommend it for anyone who is a fan of this genre, especially with vacation season coming up. Just be prepared to be questioning the secret lives of all your neighbors once you’re done!

(FYI during the month of April you can snag yourself a copy of the eBook for only .99p at Amazon)