The Housewife by Valerie Keogh
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 24th February 2019
Purchase: Amazon
(release date: 27th February 2019)
★★★★ 4 stars
THE HOUSEWIFE is the first book by Valerie Keogh I have read, and I must say I was filled with anticipation as it sounded just like my kind of read! It certainly is an interesting story - a little different, a little familiar and a lot of thrills!
Diane and Paul had a whirlwind romance and married two months after they met. Soon after they welcomed little Emma into their world, becoming a wonderfully happy family. Now Emma is three, and Diane and Paul have been married 4 years. On the surface it seems Diane is a housewife, happy and content with her life...but things are not always as they seem. Something happened which caused Diane to have a breakdown, leaving her with gaps in her memory. She can remember her life before and her life now, just not the months in between. She is desperate to remember what happened but Paul refuses to enlighten her, saying the doctors told her it would be better if she remembered on her own. Spontaneous recovery, they called it.
Diane has only been out of the clinic for a few weeks when Paul announces that he has enrolled Emma in nursery, citing it would be good for her. Diane feels she doesn't have a say in the matter but tells herself maybe it would be good for Emma to mix with children her own age. And maybe it would be good for her too, as she is still recovering from her breakdown. Problem is, Diane has no friends in London having come from Bristol when she married Paul. So there are many times she feels completely alone.
However, it isn't long before Diane feels the need to fill her days now that Emma is away for several hours of each day. So she decides on some volunteer work and contacts a charity shop who are more than happy to take her on for three mornings a week. She is excited at this new venture so much that Paul notices the change in her.
Her first day in the shop begins great. She meets several of the other volunteers and strikes up a friendship with a woman around her age called Anne. But when Diane is left to man the shop alone, something happens to start the downward spiral of her recovery. A woman she's noticed browsing seems to recognise her, leaving the shop in huff and her purchase on the counter. Diane doesn't know what to do, begins to feel faint and blacks out, bringing the ancient cash register down on top of her. The others rush from the back office to find an embarrassed and humiliated Diane picking herself up, grabbing her bag and racing out the door. She decides then that she could never return.
At home, she discovers her side aching terribly from the cash register, but refuses to take herself to a doctor. He will only put her back on the anti-depressants she stopped taking because they made her feel tired and foggy.
Then Diane sees the woman again. This time across the road outside her house. And again at the supermarket. And every other day she appears across the road from Emma's nursery. She seems to be everywhere. But no one else appears to see her. Then one day she decides to follow her, leading her to a house some 20 minutes away. Doing some digging, Diane discovers the owner's name and decides to confront her. Only the occupant is a little old lady who soon calls the police on Diane. Surely this woman is not a figment of her imagination?
But the woman is not the only thing that is happening to her. Diane awakens in the night to the sound of a baby crying. But there is no baby. And Emma is fast asleep.
Convinced she is either going mad or Paul is setting her up. But why? A search of his locked office reveals documents on sectioning, statements of outgoing expenditures and the most revealing - a receipt for a pair of emerald and diamond earrings costing $3000! Diane is now convinced Paul is having an affair and is trying to make out she is going mad with hearing things and seeing things - in an attempt to gain full custody of Emma. But he will not win. She will not let him.
THE HOUSEWIFE is a compelling story focusing on the concept of "gaslighting" - a term that is used to describe efforts to manipulate someone's perception of reality and making them question their own memory, perception and sanity, and appear delusional. The term gaslighting originates from the played turned movie "Gaslight" in which the husband constantly dims the gaslights in his home and then persuades his wife that she is just imagining it, ultimately slowly manipulating her into believing she is going insane.
While some aspects of "gaslighting" is apparent in this story, THE HOUSEWIFE is a little more than that. Diane spends half the time questioning her sanity and the other half believing it to be all Paul's doing. I must admit, I laid the blame at Paul's feet too. But don't be fooled - there is more to the story.
THE HOUSEWIFE is a little slow-moving in parts and Diane's constant "brushing her daughter's curls" with her hand got a little repetitive. But the story does have that air of distrust throughout that holds your attention and leaves you questioning just what is going on. When the gaps in Diane's memory resurface all is shockingly revealed. A compelling read that will have you hooked, despite the slow pace at times, with an ending that leaves you wanting more.
I would like to thank #ValerieKeogh, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheHousewife in exchange for an honest review.
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