The Second Wife by Miranda Rijks
Genre: Psychological thriller, Domestic thriller, Suspense
Read: 21st May 2022
Amazon
Published: 15th May 2022
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
She married the man she loved. Then she met his family.
Tamsin has recently married renowned composer Robin Featherstone. Robin is much older, but Tamsin doesn’t care - she’s in love.
And she knows Robin loves her too, even if he is very close to another young woman – his assistant, Mia.
But Robin’s ex-wife and grown children aren’t happy – they’re sure Tamsin is a gold-digger and Mia is an opportunist.
Then, when Robin dies suddenly, the family’s worst fears are realised - Tamsin stands to inherit everything. But when the will is read, its contents are beyond shocking.
As Mia and Tamsin are pitted against each other, only one thing is clear. The family will go to any lengths to stop either of them inheriting even a part of Robin’s estate.
Isolated in the family mansion, fearing for their lives and distrustful of each other, Tamsin and Mia are determined to stand their ground. But then a dark family secret is revealed which may engulf them all…
The Second Wife – the stunning psychological thriller from the author of The Visitors, The Arrangement and The New Neighbour.
MY THOUGHTS:
When a wealthy composer dies leaving everything to a woman who is all but a stranger, it raises more than a few questions. Who is this woman? Did she kill him? Did the new wife? Or maybe it was the bitter ex-wife? Or was it the spoilt entitled adult children?
Mia is excited to be working for the renowned music composer Robin Featherstone, even if she is just a cleaner. For Mia is a violinist and had been studying at the Royal Music College when fate intervened putting a halt to her dreams. Now she is trying to find her feet again and as needs must she needs to pay the rent and put food on the table, even if it is just herself. So whilst dusting the furniture or polishing the silver, Mia loves listening to the music emanating from Robin's studio.
Then one day Robin returns with a young wife in tow, Tamsin, whom Mia has heard the family call a gold-digger. But Mia sees Robin's face light up whenever Tamsin enters the room, the ways his voice softens whenever he speaks about her. Whatever their age gap, Mia knows that Robin loves his new wife. Tamsin, she's not so sure about as the woman hardly spends a moment at Stave House. Robin has given her free reign of a credit card to shop to her heart's content and that, it seems, is what she is doing.
Robin has two grown children - a daughter Brooke, who appears to live on and off at Stave House whenever the mood takes her, and an estranged son David, whom Mia has never met and hasn't set foor here for a number of years. It appears father and son do not get along. And then there is Claudia, the opportunistic ex-wife. She's no longer married to Robin but she seems to spend an awful lot of time at Stave House with their daughter Brooke. In the midst of family affairs is the devoted housekeeper Pavla, a Czech-born woman who has worked for Robin for some twenty years. She lives in the cottage provided for her on the grounds with her husband Thomas, who is the estate's groundsman, and son Marek, who when he is assisting his father appears to be silently lurking.
Then one day, Mia discovers a barely conscious Robin clutching his chest on the floor of his studio and calls an ambulance. He has had a stroke. Upon returning home, Robin discovers Mia's love of music and that she is a violinist so employs her as his assistant while he recovers from the stroke. They spend hours talking about music as she makes notations to his manuscripts, as he is yet unable to. The family are jealous of Robin's sudden attention to the cleaner and Tamsin is livid to overhear her husband discussing his private affairs with her.
And then just as Robin is recovering from his stroke, Tamsin discovers his lifeless body at the foot of the stairs, having obviously fallen. She is distraught that her husband of barely a few months is dead. No matter what the family may think, Tamsin truly loved Robin...and now he was gone.
But further distress is to come when the will is read and they learn that Mia is the sole beneficiary of Robin's will and the family, including Tamsin, inherit nothing. Angered that everything is to go to a woman who is all but a stranger, the family decide to contest the will.
Mia is just as shocked at the contents of Robin's will and has no idea why he has left her with everything. Her solicitors advise her to move into Stave House as it is now her legal property but that means living also with Tamsin and, it seems, Brooke and her mother Claudia who have also decided to move in. Soon strange things begin to occur putting lives at risk, leaving everyone questioning the other. Mia and Tamsin find that they cannot trust anyone around them, least of all each other.
Is Tamsin the gold-digger the family think her to be? And is Mia the opportunist who coerced Robin into changing his will in her favour?
And then a dark family secret is revealed, changing everything...
This is my third Miranda Rijks thriller and I just love her engaging style and fast paced narrative. THE SECOND WIFE is a well written addictive thriller with a storyline that had me enthralled from the start. Filled with twist after twist, the reader is quickly immersed within the story as we watch the lives of each of the characters slowly unravel.
Told through the alternating narratives of Mia and Tamsin, THE SECOND WIFE may feel as if not much happens for much of the story but there is an undercurrent burning beneath the surface that certainly threatens to engulf them. But it very definitely has the reader guessing who is responsible. And when that reveal comes, I was partly shocked but not surprised, if that makes a kind of sense. I was heading in the same direction myself and then BAM! Everything happens at once and you're left with..."what just happened?"
But then it comes back to the question that had everyone asking in the beginning...why did Robin leave everything to Mia? It didn't make sense...until it did. I should have seen that coming but it blindsided me.
Overall, THE SECOND WIFE is an addictive domestic thriller and although it is not my favourite by the author, it is still a quick entertaining read. A fun story that I think others are sure to enjoy.
I would like to thank #MirandaRijks, #InkubatorBooks and #ZoolooTours for an ARC of #TheSecondWife in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
After a degree in Law, Miranda worked in marketing in London and Eastern Europe before setting up businesses in the horticultural, leisure and retail sectors. Along the way, she got a masters in writing and wrote the self-help book, ‘How Compatible Are You?’ and biography, ‘The Eccentric Entrepreneur’. In 2018, Miranda wrote ‘Don’t Call Me Brave’, a novel very loosely drawing upon her experiences of having a rare bone cancer.
She feels extremely lucky to be living the dream, writing psychological thrillers full time!
Miranda loves connecting with her readers, so feel free to drop her a line.
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