Another so called thriller... not! This dragged on like hell and wasn’t even that interesting.

“When you read this book, you will make many assumptions…You will be wrong” is a very bold claim for a book to make, particularly in this genre-savvy age. I did enjoy this story but I wish I hadn’t had that challenge – my brain can’t help dwelling on that during its down-time, thinking ‘what is the twist?’, ‘is it that?’, ‘does that mean that?’ and ‘is that…aahhh’.

I did work out a couple of the twists in The Wife Between Us, but that is not a criticism of the writing; rather, the blurb makes you constantly question everything, and once you do, you start spotting the hints.

Despite that, this remains a well-written and cleverly-plotted psychological mystery. It has interesting characters, some intriguing questions and many moments of genuine tension. It is an easy read but you go through the whole gamut of emotions with Nellie and Vanessa and everyone else.

What plays out is a full on battle of wills between the lead characters. There are plenty of revelations towards the end of the book and the final third is quite the rollercoaster! I would be very happy to read more from Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen and am interested to see what they do next.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the ARC of The Wife Between Us.

Having thought about this book for a little longer, I feel as though I have to bring my rating down from four stars to three. The reason? The ending. The last fifty or so pages brings to light unnecessary reveals, ties the conclusion together with a far too neat bow, and infuses Richard’s backstory with just a pinch too much Freudian psychology for someone who has been recently been rewatching Criminal Minds. Honestly, it is an archaic framing of psychology that is really beginning to piss me off (partly because of the demonisation of children who suffer from bad relationships with their parents, abuse or childhood trauma) and I would like to remind everyone that sometimes, people are just who they are and nothing outrageous in their life necessarily made them that way. I point this out because, I feel as though it is almost becoming an excuse to palm off the responsibility of their behaviour onto someone else.
Other than that, although The Wife Between Us follows a very similar formula to past hits Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, it manages to make it work and still be compelling. Sure, it utilises the some of the same, over-tired tropes and evokes the same feelings, but it also manages to dig deep and bring forth a twist that actually took me by surprise. The twist definitely saved the book as, up until that point, I was seriously considering chalking it up as a poor man’s copy and not sticking out until the end.
The Wife Between Us fits the usual thriller pace, meaning that it is fast, near-unputdownable and rather easy to read in just one sitting. The main female characters, Nellie and Vanessa, are endlessly compelling and, apart from the descriptions of alcohol, I found that the writing worked really well. Overall, I am happy that I took the opportunity to read The Wife Between Us, but I am rather confident that it is something that I will ever feel the need to revisit.

It's difficult to write about this book without letting slip any spoilers. It's about Nellie, Vanessa and Emma. Their lives are intertwined through Richard, who may or may not be all he seems. Vanessa is determined not to let his fiancée make the worst decision of her life; the same decision Vanessa made years earlier and lived to regret.

I'd heard a lot of good things about this book. It was supposed to be twisty and suspenseful; similar to Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl. My expectations were high and I was really looking forward to getting stuck in. Unfortunately it left me feeling rather flat and, in my opinion, didn't live up to the hype.

I've read quite a few excellent Psychological Thrillers recently - Helen Callaghan's Everything is Lies, Karen Hamilton's The Perfect Girlfriend and Amy Lloyd's The Innocent Wife (to name a few), but for me this book fell short. Don't get me wrong; it's a good read but I've read better. Yes, there are twists but they didn't blow me away.

There are various tangents and sub-plots which work well and are tied up nicely in the final chapters. My initial reservations about a book with two authors turned out to be unfounded; the flow and writing style are exceptionally good and cohesive. Overall I thought it was a good read but I expected a little more.

What an exhilirating read! I’ve read some quotes telling me this novel is in the vein of The Girl on the Train but it’s nothing of the sort as far as I can see. This is not to be compared and doesn’t need any comparison to other novels. I even predict that future novels will be compared to this one. I really hope that is the case because I really want more of this!

The story starts off with Vanessa’s & Nellie’s story and their perception of the man they love or loved. I know lots of people would like to know a bit more about the actual story and I’m telling you that the budding romance of Nellie and at the same time the discarded feelings of Vanessa regarding Richard will certainly have you turning the pages.

Vanessa is living with her aunt after her husband left her for a younger model. She had to take a job at Saks selling clothing to get by. An old acquaintance runs into her and informs her her ex is getting married again. That is the last thing she wants to happen so she’ll do anything to stop him from marrying again. She already knew everything about ‘the other woman’, where she works, lives.. but a marriage wasn’t something she was anticipating.

Nellie teaches her little cubs at the LearningLadder and is a waitress. She tried to escape her past, fleeing from Florida after graduation so she’s pretty much on her own. She knows nothing of the world and is completely smitten with Richard.

Of course I thought I knew what was going to happen, I was on high alert but alas, I was deceived as well. This initial, first twist in the story came much sooner than I thought and I think it might be the one I even enjoyed most of all.

When I recovered and I got back on my feet it was time to find out more about the reasons why Richard left Vanessa.. he seems so attentive, considerate, you know someone who wouldn’t even look at other women (or pretend not to). I couldn’t wait to find out the reasons for their divorce. What could have been so bad that he didn’t want her anymore? Well I wasn’t prepared for this but it certainly had me gripped.

I liked Nellie from the start but I really grew to like Vanessa as well and aunt Charlotte was so sweet, everyone would love to have an aunt like that! I didn’t like snob Richard or Richard’s sister Maureen from the start though, and I’m wondering if I’m the only one with weird thoughts but there was this unsettling vibe when I read about their sibling interactions. She was supposedly a bit of a little mother for Richard but it just didn’t feel enough like motherly love to me. Neither of Richard’s girlfriends picked up on that througout the story so it might only be my too twisted mind this time.

Just when I thought I finally heard Vanessa’s full story and every stone was turned and every secret unearthed, and the game was finally over, a final brilliant reveal is lobbed at you in the end. I’m very satisfied with the way the story ended. This was a gripping read with a whole lot of character that was pretty addictive to me and I’m very curious about the movie already! This is definitely a five-star read on Goodreads and Amazon :-).

I have completely mixed feelings about this. I made the mistake of reading other reviews first and many mentioned about a massive plot twist. Unfortunately this gave me high expectations which I don't feel were met.
I loved the complexity of the story lines, how all the pieces slowly started to join together. I also enjoyed the story being told from different viewpoints.
I have one question which is bothering me, however I would not put it in a review as it may spoil the story.
Overall I throughly enjoyed this novel, I just wish I didn't have such high expectations.

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.

It’s about a jealous wife, obsessed with her replacement.

It’s about a younger woman set to marry the man she loves.

The first wife seems like a disaster; her replacement is the perfect woman.

You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships.

You will be wrong.

Wow what a book. I loved it. I read it in less than a day, and didn't want it to end! The blurb is correct. I did make assumptions, and I was wrong. I definitely didn’t see that ending coming. I hope that Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkamen will write many more books together. 5*

This was a fast paced, gripping novel about two women whose lives intercept and mingle, a story in which things seem blurry at the very least. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book, and about the thrilling story told within, that my mind immediately started working overtime trying to guess what was happening. I liked the exercise because it sucked me right in.

I don’t want to say so many things about this book in case you’re someone like me who loves the guessing game, but I think it’s safe to say this was an intriguing read. I think the classification ‘psychological thriller’ is truly fitting here. From the characterization to the unraveling of the plot line it held my interest. I thought the authors even left a little something for the reader too in the end, even after finishing the book you’re still left thinking about it, about certain parts and what other meanings you could attribute to them. I especially liked that.

This is one to look out for if you like mysteries that leave you in the dark and keep you guessing.

I’m adding four spoonfuls of this story into my hodgepodge.

Vanessa had the perfect life and now another woman is in her place but she desperately wants to remove her from the situation, is she just a jealous ex wife or is there more to the story?

Firstly whilst reading this i thought I was drunk or tired or a combination of both when I was neither given the fact it gives you pieces of information again and again and you find yourself thinking did I not read the other character talking about that? What is going on here?! The narrative was really unreliable which did add to the story in some aspects but In parts it was starting to give me a little bit of a headache.

The husband was beyond controlling, wanted everything his own way or no way and was not a likeable character at all but it wasn't like any of us were suppose to like him.

This handles domestic abuse in the physical and mental side and it also deals with mental health issues.

Unfortunately with the reviews and hype I was expecting a little bit more from this and yes I did have a headache although I can appreciate the creativity In why the author wrote the book in this way which I will not say said reason because that would merely be spoiling it for others reading this review.

I read through it pretty quickly like most thrillers and yes I'll pick up something from this author in the future to see how I feel about their next book.

The wife between us is a psychological thriller that will have you doubting what you read pages ago as the twists and turns leave you wondering if you really read what you did.
The book is split into 3 parts and it is the first part that you get aquatinted to Vanessa and Nellie, two women in totally different situations. Vanessa is the ex wife of Richard an overbearing man who I disliked from the start. Richard has given Vanessa a measly payout so she lives with her Aunt struggling to cope emotionally and financially, having to work in a designer store serving her ex husbands friends wives. And then theres Nellie a nursery teacher loving life, getting ready for her wedding to Richard with no real worries at all.
The twists and turns in this book from part two just kept leaving me thinking what???!!! how did I not see that coming and the twist at the end I was totally up the wrong tree and had never given it this connection at all.
I throughly enjoyed this thriller and I think because it was written by two people it gave it a different kind of direction, maybe thats just me but it will be in my top 10 of the year without a doubt.
I would like to thank Netgalley and St Martins Press for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review

I’m always a little wary of books with multiple authors as they can often get messy. However, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen have done a fantastic job with The Wife Between Us.

I found the characters fascinating, and the way the narrative is done kept me guessing throughout the book as to who was who and what was going to happen next. You do need to really pay attention when reading this book to keep track of who is narrating each chapter and how everything fits together, but it is definitely worth it and the twist makes it worthwhile.

A must read as this will be one of the most talked about thrillers this year, and the film rights have already been bought.

For me this book was a bit of a slow starter. I had trouble because I didn’t like the characters and therefore this detracted from finding out what was going to happen.
Nellie is the ex wife of Richard who is to marry again. It may have been me but I wasn’t sure really who Nellie was in the first part of this book. I knew she was the ex wife, I knew some of her story with a Richard.
The book didn’t really come together for me until part two and then I needed to know the ending and the battle that ensued. I then couldn’t put it down.
The book is cleverly written as my dislike of the characters comes from the way they have been penned.
3.5 stars

Great book, lots of twists and turns. Would highly recommend.

This is a tense thriller based in insane jealousy. The stalker prologue put me on high alert. The women involved are vain, pretentious and shallow. They are obscenely wealthy and designer types. The first wife Vanessa is like a train wreck after she's dumped by Richard. There are a lot of issues on relationships. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read it. It was outside my comfort zone but it was an interesting read.

“When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.
It’s about a jealous wife, obsessed with her replacement.
It’s about a younger woman set to marry the man she loves.
The first wife seems like a disaster; her replacement is the perfect woman.
You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships.
You will be wrong.”
This is a great book which is full of twists and turns.
I can’t really mention character names without spoiling it for you as the story changes constantly throughout.
The blurb says basically assume nothing and this just about sums it up for me.
I worked out some elements of the story but the epilogue was a real surprise.
I loved all the characters, well apart from one, and loved the way this book was written.
Thanks to NetGalley and McMillan for the opportunity to read this book.

Nellie is a sweet and innocent schoolteacher who lives and works in New York City, she is engaged to Richard, a handsome, successful, suave and sophisticated man who has well and truly swept Nellie off her Converse clad feet.

Vanessa is living in the spare room of her aunt's apartment in New York City, she is reeling from her divorce from Richard and is appalled he is getting re-married. She works at Saks, wearing Chanel dresses that were in fashion 2 years ago, serving the wives of Richard's partners; women who used to be her equal but are now gossiping in changing rooms about her.

Written by two authors, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, The Wife Between Us, is a well written and exceptionally plotted book. The two narrative voices of Nellie and Vanessa were distinct and I really enjoyed meeting them and the general aura of suspense - Vanessa becoming more and more unhinged whilst Nellie plans her picture perfect wedding. I was intrigued by what had happened in Richard and Vanessa's marriage and what had led to its breakdown. We are shown tantalising glimpses but they are kept frustratingly just out of reach which is both infuriating and utterly addicting.

This is a book that is being billed as the new Gone Girl and Girl on the Train and whilst I can understand the comparisons because there are twists galore in The Wife Between Us , I was left a little underwhelmed. Yes it is well written and well plotted but I felt like I had read this book, or a book like this, so many times before. I love a twist in a book, something to really make me sit up and take notice but I was exhausted by the turns The Wife Between Us took. I really loved the first third of the book, and I by no means disliked or hated the rest at all, it just started to feel a little contrived. I really think I may be in the minority with this, as everybody is raving about The Wife Between Us but for me it fell short of the mark.

This is an entertaining and fun read, and despite what I have said above I would recommend. It is a perfect holiday read; gripping, page turning (I read it in an afternoon) and full on escapism - and that is all that matters really, if a novel has entertained and taken you out of the real world for a while then its a win in my book.

3.5 to 4 stars, rounded up.

The unreliable narrator: A common theme in contemporary thrillers, or "grip-lit" as these stories by female authors have come to be known. Narrators we don't particularly like, who we instinctively feel we are not to trust. Keep your guard up, reader; you never know who is telling the truth.

The Wife Between Us is a joint writing venture from Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pakkanen. It is a fast-paced psychological thriller about a scorned divorcee named Vanessa who is desperately trying to stop the marriage between her ex-husband, Richard and his new love. The initial twist in this book comes early, but changes the tone for the entire novel, so I won't tell you what that is. I didn't see it coming, and thought it was very well-done, but others might. Vanessa is pitiful at first. However, as with books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, I am not deterred by a book with a unlikable female protagonist. As we delve deeper into her story and the story of her marraige to Richard, our interest peaks. The suspense that is evoked in this novel was more than enough to keep me reading. This duo of writers expertly build this story up and I thoroughly enjoyed how the story ebbed and flowed, coming to a satisfying conclusion that will please most readers. I was a little deterred by one of the twists, one which came towards the end of the story, but nevertheless this was an enjoyable read that I was eager to pick up again and again.

Books are subjective. I tend to read thrillers in between more emotionally or psychologically challenging novels. While I rate the ones I like with 3.5, 4 or even 4.5 reads, they do not equate to a four or five star review for a book from authors like Anna Quindlen, Joyce Maynard or Celeste Ng, for example, or, more recently, new authors such as Jesmyn Ward, Emily Ruskovich or Amy Engel. But that is not to say I don't enjoy them.

The Wife Between Us is a consuming and riveting read about marriage, obsession and betrayal that will no doubt be a major success this year. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read it.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book in return for an honest review.

I was looking forward to reading this book as it had been raved about on Facebook book groups. I was not disappointed at all. This was a very original story with an amazing twist which, once has been revealed, will have the reader questioning how they never saw it.

I can easily see this being hailed as THE book to read this year.

Whenever I read or see a book proclaiming to be the next The Girl on the Train I groan inwardly. I loved The Girl on the Train, sure. I was one of the first to read it before it hit its stratospheric heights, but every time I see a book being hailed as such, it rarely ever meets my expectations. Well this time I was wrong.

“She’s not who you think she is…”

The Wife Between Us begins innocuously enough as the reader meets the emotional wreck that is Vanessa. Newly divorced and living with her aunt, she is hanging onto her job as a personal shopper in Saks, which she was forced to take, by the skin of her teeth. With her wealthy lifestyle gone, she spends most of her time in a drunken haze whilst ex-husband and hedge fund manager, Richard, prepares to marry a younger replacement. When Vanessa inadvertently finds out that Richard plans to remarry, her fragile state of mind spirals out of control. Vanessa is obsessed with Richard’s new bride-to-be and will go to any lengths to stop this wedding from happening.

The book blurb tells you not to make assumptions, but that’s what I did when I started reading, I made an assumption. I took the comparison with The Girl on the Train on top of the similar premise of the story, another drunkard divorcée struggling to move on and thought “Here we go again”. I was just waiting for a dead body to pop up and for Vanessa to be in the frame for murder, but very quickly the story started taking a completely different route. By the time I got halfway through the book and it hit a massive twist, the whole story just turned on its head!!

Hendricks and Pekkanen present a storyline carved out so intricately with a stream of twists and turns. They just keep coming. The eyes tend to deceive in this one. I mean, really deceive. The authors haven’t just written a story, they have created a mind-bending, kaleidoscopic psychological suspense that will make you question everything you’ve read. Yes, it really is that good.

I read so many psychological thrillers or mystery-suspense novels that my senses subconsciously pick up even the slightest of clues, I can normally tell how the book will end before the author does, but The Wife Between Us messed with my head so badly I was all over the place with this one. So once we’ve been given that first story-changing twist, I thought “OK, I know where we’re going now,” then BAM, another twist three-quarters of the way through which again, gave the story a complete other dimension, and then again BAM right at the end, leaving me thinking “What did I *just* read?”

The writing is flawless and I sunk easily into the flow that moved along at a moderate pace. The characters were all well-developed and multi-layered, in fact they had so many layers they were like an onion, it took a lot of peeling to get to the mysterious heart of them. Short punchy chapters held my attention and made the storyline engrossing and addictive. The Wife Between Us was one of those books that once I started I refused to put down, and managed to read in one sitting.

A story about marriage, friendship, betrayal, manipulation and obsession that is twisted and complex. Wrong-footed from page one, The Wife Between Us is an exquisite gem of a book. Would recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley, Sarah Pekkanen, Greer Hendricks and St Martins Press for my copy of The Wife Between Us.

Title: The Wife Between Us

Author(s): Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Publication Date: 9th January 2018

Page Count: 352 Pages

Rating: 5*


Summary

Nellie is preparing for her brand new life as wife of Hedge Fund Manager Richard Thompson. She's thrilled and excited, Richard is the perfect man, he spoils her with gifts, always shows up when she needs him and supports her through her insomnia and panic attacks which stem back to something that happened to her when she was in college. Everything is perfect, except she keeps getting these weird calls where the person just breathes down the phone. Then in the background is Richard's ex wife, putting her own point forward, desperately trying to stop Richard's wedding. But who is who? Which story is true? It's fair to say this is a story in which assuming truly does make an 'ass' out of you and me.

Review

Wowza, I started this book this evening and I've read it through start to finish, walking about the house with it in front of my face, unable to tear away my gaze. Talk about suspense! There is no wonder at all that this book is being turned into a movie, books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train seem mediocre beside The Wife Between Us.

Its hard to really say much more about this book without giving away spoilers, it is, an absolute masterpiece of its genre and incredibly well put together, I couldn't help but just keep turning pages.
I really enjoyed this, and will definitely look out for more to come from Greer and Sarah in the future!