REVIEW: The Lost Wife by Georgina Lees

The Lost Wife by Georgina Lees

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 12th July 2023

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Published: 7th April 2023

★★★ 3 stars

DESCRIPTION:

The brand new edge-of-your-seat thriller from the bestselling author of The Girl Upstairs

You always underestimated me and I always overestimated you.

Maybe that was our problem.

A woman and a child arrive at a cottage in the Peak District in the dead of night.

Alone. Desperate. Hunted.

She knows they’re coming for her. It’s only a matter of time.

Because her husband kept a secret from her. Until he was ready to destroy her.

Now, it’s her turn.

Twisty and exciting, this taut thriller grabbed me from the first page and then it just kept getting better and better.

The Lost Wife is the new jaw-dropping domestic suspense thriller from bestseller Georgina Lees, a scintillating story of a husband’s secret and a wife’s vengeance that will seep into your soul like a love song you’d rather forget.

MY THOUGHTS:

For better for worse, till death do us part...I will find you...

**TRIGGER WARNING**

Animal cruelty, brutal dog death

OK, so firstly, THAT alone brings the rating down for me. Why kill an animal so brutally? Why kill it at all? To me, it is senseless. I know it fitted in with the context of the story and by the end it did make a whole lot of sense but still...killing a dog, let alone bashing its head in with a shovel, is a big no no and my rating down will reflrect this.

A woman and child arrive at Bramble Cottage in the Peak District in the dead of night. Alone. Desperate. And hunted. They are coming for her, she knows It's only a matter of time. All because of the secret her husband kept.

The story unfolds through the alternating timelines of the present and respective months leading up to the present day. It follows Lea who has lived happily with Harry, the father of her four year old son Josh, for the past five years. Until someone plants the idea of marriage in her head. And Lea wants to know why Harry doesn't want to get married. Or is it that he just doesn't want to marry her? Until the night he surprises her by proposing. And then things slowly start to unravel as well as escalate.

Lea loves Harry...or at least she's convinced she does. Just as she has convinced herself she is happy when it is clear she is not. Nothing in her life has turned out the way she thought and she finds herself a mother too young and tied down at twenty six. She is largely dissatisfied and has no idea what to do about it. I hardly think marrying Harry is the solution but she seems to think it is. But Harry isn't who she thinks he is...and he has become increasingly secretive and controlling.

The story takes us right up to the day of the wedding and beyond. I was eager to know what she was running from and why. And what big secret Harry was keeping, because it was clear that he was. There is an impending sense of doom looming with an unknown threat lurking in the background. Lea is on tenterhooks and is beginning to wonder if she is imagining things.

I enjoyed this story until about halfway. Then the dog was killed and that took away most of my enjoyment by which time I just wanted to know how it all ended. I didn't care either way. My main issue with the story, apart from the brutal slaying of the dog, is that it is largely depressing. Nothing happy happens in the book. Not even the wedding was a happy occasion. Or the engagement before that. Everything is shrouded in a shadow of despondency.

There is a twist at the end of the book which I think is quite cleverly done and is probably its saving grace. The letter, however, I think was a bit drawn out and superfluous. I could have done without it. It took me 20 minutes to read it, that's how long it was. But it did manage to give some closure of sorts.

My first read by Lees and I would give her another read in the future. Just no killing of dogs, PLEASE!!

I would like to thank GeorginaLees, #Netgalley and #OneMoreChapter for an ARC of #TheLostWife in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Georgina studied creative writing and film at university and has since pursued a career in videogames journalism, covering some of the most popular games in the world. Her psychological thrillers are inspired by her surroundings, from the congested London streets to the raw English countryside. She can be found playing games, writing stories, and reading anything from fantasy to crime fiction.

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