The Missing Wife book review

The Missing Wife by Sam Carrington
on June 27, 2019
Pages: 400
Source: Netgalley
Goodreads

Imagine turning up to your own party, and recognising no one. Your best friend has just created your worst nightmare.

Louisa is an exhausted, sleep-deprived new mother and, approaching her fortieth birthday, the very last thing she wants to do is celebrate.

But when her best friend Tiff organises a surprise party, inviting the entire list of Lou’s Facebook friends, she’s faced with a new source of anxiety altogether: a room full of old college classmates who she hasn’t spoken to in twenty years. And one person in particular she never expected to see again is there – her ex-boyfriend from college, the handsome and charismatic Oliver Dunmore.

When Oliver’s wife Melissa goes missing after the party, everyone remembers what happened that night differently. It could be the alcohol, but it seems more than one person has something to hide.

Louisa is determined to find the truth about what happened to Melissa. But just how far does she need to look…?

One simple Facebook invitation unfolds into something both tragic and monstrous; a story of obsessive love, breath-taking deception and masterful manipulation.

I requested The Missing Wife because I’m always on the lookout for books that contain a little more of a suspenseful storyline. I have mentioned that I seem to be growing out of YA slowly but surely, but I’m not sure whether it’s the genre or the tropes that seem to permeate it. The Missing Wife seemed to be the perfect book to step out of the genre with and I was right. This book had a great balance between suspense but also great characters. What this book did well was subtlety and you definitely find yourself doubting what was being said and what was happening. There were definite moments within the book where I began to feel disorientated the writing was very well constructed in that sense.

Talking about the writing, although there were moments where it was really well done, there were moments where the writing became simplistic and felt a little lacking when compared to the calibre of the other writing. I felt there was things throughout that could have been explored a little more deeply especially the use of memory loss. I felt as though there were things that still weren’t explained even at the end, moments that had seemed to be instrumental were sort of brushed off which was a little weird. I think I wanted there to be a little more depth to some of the situations.

I have to talk about the memory loss and the characters in The Missing Wife, the way that they both meld together and become one was extremely well done. I think there were parts of this story that genuinely made me question myself, and I don’t mean let’s reread a paragraph or two but in the kind of I have no idea what the hell just happened. It was so scary to read and be so disorientated by a book and not know what was going on. I don’t think I’ve read a book quite like this one, the only one that comes close was The Girl on the Train and I wasn’t a huge fan of that.

What I think makes The Missing Wife so good is that it didn’t try to be over the top with the twists and turns. I loved the way the storyline was almost obvious but also had enough to keep you as the reader on your toes. I hate when you read a crime/thriller book and there is so much going on and nothing is actually there to move the plot on but to have a shocking twist. It’s annoying more than anything else.

I would definitely recommend The Missing Wife, the story blew me away and the writing was really well done. I thought the way everything works out in the end is perfectly done and I actually appreciated the closure. If you’re looking for something new to read, this might be up your street.

Have you read any good thriller/crime recently? I would love to hear your recommendations.