My Husband's Wife by Carla Kovach
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller
Read: 10th September 2025
Published: 8th September
★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Five years ago I buried my husband. Today I saw him with his new wife.
‘Thank you for agreeing to be our wedding planner. Theo is on his way,’ Madison says as we meet to plan her dream wedding. The moment her fiancé enters the room, a newborn baby in his arms, my whole world shifts and I grab hold of my desk to stop myself from falling.
Theo shakes my hand as he introduces himself, but I already know who he is. He’s my husband. The man I thought had died five years ago.
‘Lovely to meet you, Eva,’ he says, carefully avoiding my frozen stare. I’d recognise his smooth voice anywhere.
I want to scream, ask him why he’s doing this to me. But I know just how good a liar my husband is. And he knows my darkest secret. I can’t risk him destroying everything I’ve worked so hard for.
At the end of the meeting, I watch the happy little family walk away, and I don’t miss Theo’s eyes staring at me just a second too long. He knows I’m onto him. But only I know what I’m going to do next…
Readers who loved The Housemaid, The Perfect Marriage and Gone Girl will love the jaw-dropping twist in this absolutely gripping psychological thriller.
MY THOUGHTS:
Five years ago I buried my husband...today I saw him with his new wife...
Well, that tagline drew me in instantly. While not entirely realistic, it was wholly entertaining and kept me glued to each page swiping them to uncover the truth of what was really happening. It was a little slow on the starting point but once it got going, I couldn't put it down until I discovered the truth.
Eva and her young son Caiden are packing up their life in Malvern (I think is around Worcestershire) and moving to picturesque coastal Devon and a place that held many happy memories before her husband Hugo died five years ago. Now Eva is married to Zach and realising it is a time for a fresh start, they have purchased a gorgeous home with stunning views over the ocean in Combe Martin where Zach has been busily decorating and getting the house ready for their imminent arrival. Eva and Caiden say a tearful goodbye to Hugo and their memories of him before they set off for their new start.
Caiden settles into school and meets Aaron and the two become inseparable. Eva befriends his mother Nicole but it isn't long before she starts questioning just how well she really knows her new friend when a few slips are made and nuances alluded to which give her pause to think. But she hasn't got time to second guess herself - she has a new job as a wedding planner at the Sea Horse Hotel to look forward to. A job she truly loves and thrives in.
Then in her first week in her new job of meeting new couples planning their big day, in walks Madison and her fiance Theo with baby Emily. Eva is shocked and speechless. Theo is the image of Hugo. But it can't be. Hugo's dead. Suddenly, a job she knows so well leaves her forgetting what to do. Eva muddles her way through the rest of the appointment before Madison and Theo leave with their daughter. And her name - Emily. It can't be. Can it? But he moves like Hugo, speaks like Hugo, acts like Hugo and the name Emily is special to them both. He's Hugo...isn't he? But he can't be. Hugo's dead. How can this be?
A couple of weeks later, Eva learns that Madison and Theo have cancelled their wedding with them and have taken an early cancellation at another hotel. So Eva makes it her mission to find out all she can about Theo. Her first move is to have her hair cut at Madison's salon to see if she can wrangle any information out of her about Theo. Her suspicions are only confirmed when Madison confides that they are moving to Loch Ness after the wedding - a place that Hugo always wanted to move to. Between Combe Martin and Loch Ness, both places that were special to them says it all - doesn't it? Theo has to be Hugo, doesn't he? But his death five years ago. DNA doesn't lie, does it?
But the more Eva digs, the deeper the hole she is making herself. She cannot confide in anyone. Her mum will only think she is having another breakdown and seeing things that aren't there. Zach has enough worry and Hugo is a topic they rarely touch on. She doesn't know Nicole well enough to talk with her about it. The only person she can count on is herself...and even then she is beginning to doubt her sanity and trusting what she thinks she knows or sees. Maybe she has imagined it all along...
This is one twisty tale and I dare you to unravel the threads that link it all together. I pieced some of it together while others left me bewildered until revealed. It will leave you guessing and second guessing everything and what's true and what isn't. And the locale of coastal Devon was as atmospheric as the windswept cliffs of Cornwall - neighbouring counties and all.
As the reader, you really will question what's real and what's not. Kovach does a stellar job of gaslighting us throughout, making it all the more brilliant. This is not a thriller that you can unravel easily but it is one that you can properly binge on until that final twist that will leave you still questioning our character's sanity. Normally I don't like books to end with a quesiton mark (I like them all tied up neatly) but the ending here was perfectly sublime. Totally satisfactory as well as a touch insane.
My only complaint is the prologue. I have no idea who the couple were in it - Eva and Hugo or Madison and Theo? It wasn't made obvious in the reveal so I kind of felt it was a tad pointless. But that aside - this book is uputdownable, addictive and totally bingeworthy until the very last page. Kovach is really making her mark as a domestic/psychological thriller author away from her Gina Harte series. A solid 4.5 stars.
I would like to thank #CarlaKovach, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #MyHusbandsWife in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Since then she has written & produced several stage plays, has four self-published books, has acted in several independent films and is currently in the final stages of production of her feature horror film, Penny for the Guy.
She now writes full time as well as co-owning a film, photography & video production company located in the heart of Redditch town centre.
Social Media links:
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