REVIEW: The Doctor's Wife by Daniel Hurst

The Doctor's Wife by Daniel Hurst

Genre: Domestic thriller, Suspense

Read: 29th January 2023

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Published: 31st January 2023

★★★★ 4.5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

He thinks his secret is safe. But she knows the truth…

My husband is a doctor. He’s smart and charming and everybody trusts him. Except me.

On the surface, it looks like I have it all – the perfect marriage, the perfect husband, the perfect life. But it’s far from the truth.

Doctor Drew Devlin is not the respectable figure he makes out to be. The reason we moved to this beautiful, old property with a gorgeous view of the sea was because we needed to put our past behind us. It should’ve been a fresh start for us both.

Except I’ve discovered my husband has been lying to me again. He’s using the power he has in his job to mess with people’s lives, and to get exactly what he wants – no matter who it hurts.

But he’s underestimated me. I’ve had plenty of time, in this big, isolated house, to think about all of his mistakes.

And my husband has no idea what’s about to happen next…

From the number one bestselling author of The Passenger, an absolutely gripping psychological thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists that will keep you reading late into the night. If you love Behind Closed Doors, Gone Girl and The Housemaid, you’ll be hooked on The Doctor’s Wife.

MY THOUGHTS:

He thinks his secret is safe...but she knows the truth...

If you have ever read a Daniel Hurst book, you will know you are in the for the ride of your life from the very first page until the vert last. You know you are going to get an edge of your seat addictive thriller with plenty of twists, even when the outcome seems easily predictable. You know you are not going to be disappointed either way because Daniel Hurst does not compose flops. His clever, and oftentimes witty, prose is so skillfully constructed his thrillers cannot ever be anything but brilliant! I just know before I've even started that I am going to be in for a thrilling and addictive read. And THE DOCTOR'S WIFE was no exception.

There are very few characters in this cleverly constructed plot, as with many of Hurst's thrillers, and yet he still manages to surprise readers every time. THE DOCTOR'S WIFE opens with a very clear and concise scene...some would consider a spoiler...but it's just one piece of the puzzle he has created for us to try and piece together. And like with many of his thrillers, we have most of the pieces but are usually missing the final piece to complete the entire picture. Even if we (thought) we knew what that picture would look like by the book's end.

From the very beginning the reader is privy to many aspects that are generally revealed much later in the story but that is Hurst's ingenious way. Lull us into a sense of security where we think we know everything before throwing us a twist we weren't expecting.

Fern and Drew (that's Doctor Drew to anyone within earshot) have upped sticks from Manchester and moved to a quiet village bordering Scotland where Drew has taken up the position as the village GP. Why? For a quieter life and slower pace? No. Doctor Drew has other ideas and has manipulated circumstances for his own advantage because at the end of the day, that's all Doctor Drew is concerned with. Getting what he wants.

Drew is, quite frankly, a narcissistic self obsessed man (child) who pretty much throws his toys out of the sandpit when things don't go his way. He honestly believes he is entitled to get exactly what he wants and will justify his wrong doings all day long until the cows come home. He is handsome, intelligent and charming and only has to flash his smile for women to be like putty in his hands. So arrogant and sure of himself is he that he really cannot see what is really going on.

You see, his wife Fern is not so innocent herself. She has a secret as well. And Drew is so stupidly arrogant and focused on his own wants and needs that he cannot see that he too is being manipulated. Fern is not the naive wife he thinks she is. She isn't as stupid as he assumes her to be. But then he is too far up his own "you know what" to see any of this. All he sees is what he wants and that is his main objective.

The story unfolds in the dual narratives of both Fern and Drew respectively, so you get a taste of both of them in all their unlikeable forms. Part of me sympathised with Fern but when I realised she wasn't as naive or as in the dark as I had first thought, I began cheering her on...even though she wasn't entirely likeable. There was just something that wanted her to come out smelling of roses. Drew, on the other hand, I just wanted to slap his arrogant mouth and set his pants on fire...preferably with him in them! 

Despite knowing what's going on as we are being drip-fed the story little by little in minute detail, Hurst still kept a few things up his sleeve till the end. And although I had my suspicions and was proved right...I didn't see the final twist in the epilogue until near the very end.

His first publication with Bookouture, THE DOCTOR'S WIFE is a fast paced read that I read in one sitting (split into two with dinner in between...lol) in the space of around 5 hours. Daniel Hurst's thrillers are always uncomplicated easy and fast paced reads with a few twists thrown in for good measure and packed with loads of secrets, lies and manipulation making for a fabulous entertaining read. Hurst has an incredibly easy style that really draws you in and doesn't let you go until the end. I have loved every book of his I've devoured in the twelve months since discovering him and he has firmly earned the place of one of my go-to favourite authors I auto-buy without even reading the premise. 

Overall, THE DOCTOR'S WIFE is an easy entertaining read that you will easily devour in a matter of hours, if not one sitting (as I did). Once you have read one of Hurst's thrillers, I doubt you will be able to resist hunting down his other books which are sure to keep as you entertained as any of them.

I would like to thank #DanielHurst, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheDoctorsWife in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Daniel Hurst was born in the northwest of England, a part of the world famous for its comedians, pasties and terrible weather.

He has been employed in several glamorous roles in his lifetime, including bartending, shelf stacking and procurement administration, all while based in some of the most exotic places on the planet, like Bolton, Preston and South London.

Daniel writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England and when he isn’t writing, he is usually watching a game of football in a pub where his wife can’t find him.

Since following his lifelong passion for writing in 2020, he has amassed a loyal and devoted set of readers, and regularly has several books in the top 100 of the Psychological Thriller Charts on Amazon. His title The Passenger became the #1 selling psychological thriller in the UK in October 2021. The Doctor's Wife is his first publication with Bookouture.

A prolific writer, Daniel likes to keep readers on their toes by self publishing even more books in between those released through his publisher.

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