REVIEW: The Wife's Mistake by Lorna Dounaeva

The Wife's Mistake by Lorna Dounaeva

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 19th February 2024

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Published: 19th February 2024

★ 1 star

DESCRIPTION:

I have the life I’ve always dreamed of… but how long will it be until the past catches up with me?

I can’t believe how far my husband, Hayden, and I have come. I never expected that one day I’d be sipping a steaming coffee over our marble countertop or finishing off a humid summer day with a dip in our sparkling pool. But even though we’re living in paradise, I’ve never felt so distant from my husband. I’m certain he’s hiding something from me. Before, I would have confided in my friends and family but in this new life of ours, I’m terrified to trust anyone…

Now, with Hayden out again, my evening is quiet. From our floor-to-ceiling windows, I watch the pool water ripple under the raindrops. But I swear I see movement beyond the garden hedges. I try to shake my fears away, I must be imagining things. That’s what Hayden would say.

But then I find the hand-delivered note and my heart pounds in my chest as I scan the neat words.

You don’t deserve this life.

My blood runs cold. I thought I’d kept all my secrets well hidden, but now as I look out to the still night, I realise it’s only a matter of time until my past catches up with me – a past my husband still has no idea about. I know what I have to do to protect my perfect new life, but those around me have no idea how far I’m willing to go to keep it…

Utterly gripping and full of jaw-dropping twists, fans of Freida McFadden, Lisa Jewell and Daniel Hurst will be completely hooked by The Wife’s Mistake!

MY THOUGHTS:

Even inside your dream house you can't hide from your past...

This book might be about the wife's mistake - of which there are many, she made so many stupid and dumb decisions throughout - but unfortunately in this case this one is my mistake. Try as I might I just couldn't get into the story which bordered on ridiculous, in my opinion. I tried to give Natalie the benefit of one too many doubts but I just felt like banging my head against a brick wall. And I've so enjoyed some of the author's other thrillers too! But this one just wasn't for me.

For a start, I just didn't know what was going on with the first chapter. Some dinner party where an engagement and promotion is announced but what was the point of it? And then we rewound to Natalie's first bad decision which lead to plenty more that swiftly followed. OK, so she's in a job where she is under appreciated by a dragon boss and spends most of her days either bantering with the customers or daydreaming about her own coffee shop she dreams of opening.

So when she absently buys a lottery ticket she never thought in a million years - 12.5 million - that she would ever win! But she did. And soon she began dreaming of how she would spend those millions. Ditch her dead end job, buy premises to open her own cafe, step off the rental treadmill and buy a home for her and hubby Hayden.

And then she discovers a text on his phone. From someone called Vivienne. Seemingly intimate messages. Is Hayden having an affair? So what does Natalie do? Confront Hayden, like any normal wife? No. She stalks him. First she takes a glimpse of Vivienne to grasp her competition, who is a Megan Fox lookalike (whom Hayden has a secret crush on). Then she dresses herself up in dowdy women's wear, wig and glasses and follows Hayden up to Manchester for a business conference. What on earth does she hope to achieve? I'm not sure because she lost me there and I binned the rest of the book. It was ridiculous and made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

I really hate leaving negative reviews because I know this is an author's hard work but at the end of the day we can't like every book we read. It's a shame because I have read and enjoyed Lorna's thrillers before but this one just wasn't for me.

I would like to thank #LornaDounaeva, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheWifesMistake in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Lorna Dounaeva is a quirky British crime writer who once challenged a flamenco troupe to a dance-off. She is a politics graduate and worked for the Home Office for a number of years. She loves books and films with strong female characters and her influences include Single White Female and Sleeping with the Enemy. 

Lorna lives in Surrey with her husband and three children, who keep her busy wiping food off the ceiling and removing mints from USB sockets.

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