His Hidden Wife by Wendy Clarke
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller
Read: 2nd February 2021
Published: 4th February 2021
★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
The first time you see them, out for an evening walk on the cliffs, you’ll think they’re the perfect family. You’ll see a wife who looks so happy, strolling peacefully beside her husband in his dark winter coat, holding her daughter’s hand. But you have no idea what’s really happening in their house…
If you come a little closer you might hear the way the man speaks to his wife.
You might notice that the woman doesn’t have any close friends. That sometimes her husband doesn’t want her to leave the house. You might wonder if that’s a scar her beautiful daughter is hiding on her neck.
When you read the local newspaper and hear the news that the wife has fallen from the cliffs, you’ll question whether it was really an accident at all.
And when the husband starts dating someone new – a woman with the same long dark hair and big blue eyes as his wife – will you say something this time?
Because someone has to protect the little girl and stop history from repeating itself. And it may already be too late.
A thrilling and twisty tale, His Hidden Wife will keep you up all night, desperate to race through to its final conclusion. Readers of Gone Girl, The Couple Next Door and Lisa Jewell will be hooked.
MY REVIEW:
I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Wendy Clarke's latest psychological thriller HIS HIDDEN WIFE.
Throughout this book I couldn't decide whether I liked it or not, despite not being able to put it down...lol There was something engaging in the plot that just made you want to keep reading but I'm not sure what it was. Is it the underlying mystery of what happened to Maya's mother? Is it the sinister feel that shrouds you as the fog on the Dorset clifftop? Or is it that everyone is hiding a secret you simply have to uncover? Whatever it is, it makes HIS HIDDEN WIFE an intense and addictive read.
The story centres around behavioural psychologist Stephen and his 18 year old daughter Maya who was just six when she witnessed her mother plunge to her death from the cliffs behind their house. Her memories are understandable sporadic from her childhood but the father and daughter are incredibly close and Stephen has never failed to let Maya know how much her mother loved her. Every night, instead of a storybook that most children go to bed with, Stephen would open the photo album and tell Maya stories of her mother before she was born and when she was growing up. So Maya has always known how much her mother loved her.
But life at Crewel House hasn't always been rosy. Since her mother's death twelve years before, Maya has witnessed the dark moods that envelops her father. The times when he would shut himself away in his room, he won't eat, he won't talk to her...just lay in the dark until those moods subside. She also recalls a time, not long after her mother died, when she discovered him standing before a desk lined with tablets of all kinds. She was too younger to understand at the time, but she now realises her father must have been in the depths of despair after losing her mother that he felt he couldn't live without her.
Maya has always worried about her father, which is why she didn't go to university to study medicine as she had always wanted to. Instead she stayed behind and took up a job as a care assistant at Three Elms, a care home that specialised in those with dementia. Maya loves her job and her patients. But it's when she comes home that she dreads finding her father in one of his dark moods. She must protect him from the past and from himself.
Then one day, Stephen announces he has met someone. And suddenly Maya fears that she will not be able to protect him with the presence of another. But it is when he brings his new girlfriend Amy home and introduces her that Maya is shocked. Amy is not only half his age but is the spitting image of her mother, with her soft dark hair and big blue eyes. Maya starts to feel uneasy as this rather odd coincidence begins to stir up a lot of questions. Her father has always refused to talk of her mother's death - why? She has no recollection of seeing her mother fall and yet she was found at the top of the cliff - but why won't her father tell her what she possibly saw? And then there are the whispers in the village about the arguments her parents used to have, but her father always told her how happy they were - is this a lie? But it's when he sees the bruises on Amy's arms that she has covered that Maya really begins to question how well she knows her father. She knows she has been keeping secrets from her and is determined to find out what they are.
Was her mother's death a tragic accident? Was it suicide? Or was it something far more sinister?
But these questions and the memories that are beginning to surface from the past confuse Maya. And so she seeks refuge in Teresa, another therapist in her father's Wellbeing Clinic, knowing that whatever she discusses with her will remain confidential. But the questions she raises in her sessions Teresa quickly debunks, offering plausible explanations. If I were Maya, I'd be thoroughly confused!
We meet Teresa in the beginning as her chapters alternate with Maya's. It is clear from the beginning that she has a crush on Stephen, despite being married herself, although her marriage is not a happy one. Teresa has known Stephen since university but parted ways many years before. When he set up the Clinic he contacted Teresa and asked her if she would be interested in joining.
Teresa's story is a sad one. After confiding in Stephen about her marriage, he offers her the cottage he keeps for holiday rentals for both her and her teenage son Dale. And then there is her mother who has dementia and is proving to be unable to remain at home, particularly after she receives a call to say she has had a break-in and yet nothing was taken. Teresa moves her mother into the cottage with her until she can find something more permanent for her. It's then she remembers Maya working at Three Elms.
Although Teresa's is a side story to the main one revolving around Maya, Stephen and Amy, it is also integral to the bigger picture. Particularly when Maya comes to Teresa for therapy. Why is it that Teresa is so quick to dismiss Maya's concerns about her father? Is it her desire to protect Stephen due to her feelings for him? Or is it something more sinister? Does she know more than she is letting on?
HIS HIDDEN WIFE is certainly unpredictable as I didn't see the twist coming until right before it was revealed. But more than than, it is an emotional tale that focused on the power of memories - how they define us, how they shape us, how they can change over time and how they blend into our present.
A well written tightly told plot, HIS HIDDEN WIFE has a bit of everything throw in - secrets, lies, deception, manipulation, gaslighting, threats and murder...or was it suicide? Everyone has secrets to hide and no one is to be trusted. Even Maya and Teresa are unreliable narrators due to Maya's confused memories and Teresa's blindness towards Stephen. Neither can relate the truth as they are unable to see it. Which makes HIS HIDDEN WIFE a somewhat clever tale.
I won't lie, HIS HIDDEN WIFE is a slow burn but there is something underlying that just makes you want to keep reading. It is compelling and compulsive and makes for addictive reading. The ending, I felt, was a little anti-climatic but that's just personal opinion. The book is still an enjoyable read.
Recommended for fans of psychological and domestic thrillers with a creepy undertone.
I would like to thank #WendyClarke, #NetGalley, #Bookouture for an ARC of #HisHiddenWife in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Wendy has two children and three step-children and lives with her husband, cat and step-dog in Sussex. When not writing, she is usually indulging in her passion for dancing, singing or watching any programme that involves food!
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Thank you for your review, Stina. I’m delighted you enjoyed His Hidden Wife.
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