The Guilty Wife (previously titled "Her Darkest Fear") by Nina Manning
Genre: Domestic thriller, Domestic drama, Suspense, Women's fiction
Read: 12th July 2020
Purchase: Amazon
(publication date: 26th March 2020)
★★★ 2.5 stars (rounded up)
After Nina Manning's brilliant debut "The Daughter in Law", I was thrilled to get the chance to read THE GUILTY WIFE (previously titled "Her Darkest Fear"). Sadly, it was a disappointment and in no way lived up to the brilliance that was her debut. The nemesis in her first book still haunts today as one of the most chilling characters I've come across. But based on the success of her debut, I continued in the hope it would get better. It didn't. That is to say, the climatic ending was probably the best part of the entire book, giving sense to some of it but not all of it. On the whole, it could have been better.
Frankie Keegan is a wife and mother of two - Pixie and Maddox (where did these names hail from?) - trying to make a success of a career in marketing (I think that's what her job is, as it never really is totally clear). Her husband Damian is, or rather was, an IT professional but for the past several years has been languishing through life trying to work out what he wants to do with himself. At the moment, he is working on some new fan-dangled app that's going to make him a success...apparently.
But Frankie hasn't the patience, that much is clear. She is struggling with her own demons whilst trying to maintain a peaceful environment for her children. But Frankie and Damian are drifting apart and all they seem to do is make snide remarks at one another while passing ships in the night. I felt much of the story was taken up with their drama which I found frustrating and irritating. If Damian was home all day while Frankie was at work, could he not at least clean up? Why must everything fall at Frankie's feet while he tried to find himself? And Frankie...why must everything be solved with a bottle of prosecco? I am tired of protagonists and unreliable narrators who drown themselves in endless bottles of wine. What is the attraction to wine? It's ghastly stuff and yet it's the adult equivalent to downing a six pack and getting high on weed.
At any rate, while her life seems to be falling apart, Frankie has been running from her past for twenty years, living with the guilt of her brother Kiefer being killed while trying to save her from bad decisions. But she was a teenager; she was sixteen; she didn't know any better. But that never changed the fact that Kiefer died trying to protect her.
But someone else has never forgotten either.
There are text messages from an unknown number. Crashes in the night. Pot plants smashed on the front step. Toy cars that are a replica to her brother Keifer's little green mini left on her doorstep or pushed through the mailbox. A 40th birthday card addressed to Kiefer. Shadows dancing in alleys.
Someone wants to remind her of the worst time of her life...and they want to make her pay all over again. But who?
Throughout the book there are diary excerpts written at the time of the tragic event. The grief and despair written in those entries and the guilt that she was left behind whilst her sibling died trying to rescue her. The significance of these diary entries are made even clearer at the end, and admittedly I thought it was rather ingenious.
The story unfolds through the past and the present through Frankie's eyes as both a teenager and an adult as it is slowly revealed what happened happened on that fateful night. Her decisions are clearly questionable in both aspects but as a teenager one does tend to live in the moment - not always a great idea. And it was her decisions as a teenager that have left her with such an overwhelming sense of guilt over her brother's tragic death.
I found THE GUILTY WIFE to be a slow burn but it is hardly a psychological thriller. There were some suspenseful moments but aside from that most of it was Frankie's drama, mostly of her own making. The tension didn't begin until the final 85% to 90% of the book, which in my opinion is far too late to be drawing readers in. But admittedly, it was a satisfying end with that clever twist revealed in the climatic conclusion.
With most of the book detailing Frankie's excessive drinking and family drama, THE GUILTY WIFE was a disappointment after Nina Manning's fantastic debut. I did not like Frankie, either as a teenager or an adult. I found her annoying and wondered why she just didn't deal with her past instead of creating drama where ever she went. I didn't like her husband Damian either. As a stay at home parent, he should have been more supportive and helpful, but instead he made snide remarks to his wife - and in front of the kids - and languished around waiting for his big chance to just fall in his lap. I really didn't get what his problem was. I didn't like her boss, Mason. I felt he was sleazy and up to something. Nor did I like Nancy. It seemed like she was hiding something and I didn't trust her. Basically I just didn't like anyone in this book.
That being said, I do look forward to reading more from Nina Manning in the future. Based on her fantastic debut "The Daughter in Law", I guess I would find any other book she'd written just unable to live up to its pure perfection in the thriller genre. But also based on that book, I hope her next one will be as exciting as her first and I look forward to reading it.
2.5 stars rounded up for that clever ending.
I would like to thank #NinaManning, #NetGalley and #BoldwoodBooks for an ARC of #TheGuiltyWife aka #HerDarkestFear in exchange for an honest review.
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