With thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for this ARC in exchange for an open and honest review.

My Lovely Wife is written from the POV of the husband who never gives his name. The husband had been married to Millicent for fifteen years and they had two children 13 year old Jenna and 14 year old Rory. There were a normal suburban couple until the husband killed Millicent`s sister Holly in self-defence. The husband was ready to confess until Millicent helped him dispose of Holly`s body and any DNA evidence.

Everything returned to normal until a year later Holly`s best friend Robin turned up at their door. Robin threatened to tell the police that Holly had gone to see Millicent before she disappeared, in anger Millicent killed her. After a few years the husband wanted to kill another woman. Together the husband and Millicent picked Lindsay, when her body was found Millicent decided to pin the blame on Owen Oliver. Owen Oliver murdered three woman but got away with the murders on a technicality.

I read a lot of books but never one about a husband and wife who kill together. I was drawn to this book from the first page and enjoyed reading about the couple''s children and their normal everyday lives.

The book was a fun read which I found hard to put down. I have to admit I liked this killer couple. Millicent was a full time Real Estate Agent, nagged the kids about their homework and cooked her family meals every evening. I don't know how she had time to torture and then kill Lindsay.

I liked the husband who was far nicer character especially when he decided not to kill a potential victim when he discovered her boyfriend died in a car crash.

The huge twist in the book was deliciously devious, I would never of predicted that in a million years. However I was disappointed there was not a more dramatic ending.

I highly recommend this book. Congratulations to Samantha Downing on her debut book. I can't wait to read Her next book.

My Lovely Wife is a dark and compelling novel with an unusual story - a married couple who are serial killers. One of the best psychological thrillers I have read this year, it is fast moving and filled with twists.

I have to give this book 5 stars because I am unable to fault any part of it!! It is well written, well-paced and the members of the family are well-rounded and fully described, although I have to say I disliked Rory particularly, an obnoxious child. This tale is told so cleverly a great deal is left to one's imagination, which is unusual and very effective. It is all too believable ... and frightening! What a debut!! Can't wait for the next book by this author.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Samantha Downing/Penguin UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Crazy! Crazy! But I loved My lovely Wife by Samantha Downing. A total crazy book with lots of twists and turns that will have you scratching your head and saying OMG out aloud!

This book starts with a good looking man approaching a woman in a bar. He slides his phone towards her. She reads the message on the phone that he has written.........

“Hello. My name is Tobias”

She looks puzzled and wonders why he is using his phone to communicate. He types his next message and passes his phone to her.

“I am deaf”

WoW.......What a brilliant beginning of a book.....................

Millicent and her husband have a happy marriage for fifteen years and live in a house in a very nice area. They have two children Rory 14 and Jenna who is 13. They both attend private school. They both have good jobs, Millicent works in real estate and her husband is a tennis coach.
However, they look like a loving family but the couple have a dark secret which is dangerous but helps to spice up their marriage.

Who is Tobias?

What part does Tobias play in this Brilliant book

Well, You will need to read My Lovely Wife...........

I highly recommend this book

5 Crazy Fat stars.....

Thanks to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph, Samantha Downing and Netgalley for my advanced copy of this book to read.
All opinions are my own and are in no way biased

Millicent, Millicent, Millicent
Annoying name
A loving wife, mother, colleauge
A psychopath

Millicent has an ideal life, doting hubby, wonderful children, awesome
house, career, she has everything she could want, she is living a perfect life
And a perfect lie
No one really knows what goes on behind closed doors do they?
Just as well
Millicent enjoys sending her husband to find women, women that SHE can kidnap, torture over a prolonged time and then kill!!!!!!
Millicent is evil
Proper evil
She is the most wonderfully hideous character, scarily normal and is a likely to be cooking a vegan meal for her family the same day she is torturing her latest victim
I think you get the jist, this is a powerfully bad but good book, unbelievably chilling, complex, clever and worrying!
The book does as times go off on a tangent and can almost mid sentence go from the now to the present and from one event to the next rapidly but it all comes together to make sense
Wickedly deceptive characters and writing that draws you in and keeps drawing you in until you are transfixed by the goings on of this seemingly normal family
Just as you think Millicent cant up her game and be worse..
She does and the book gets EVEN better and the ending left me reeling
Outstanding and Brilliant
10/10 5 Stars

This is a totally original and shocking book. It’ll have you confused and sucked right in within 1 chapter. Definitely a 5/5 and a HUGE recommended ndation.
Keep reading to be more and more shocked and confused. Absolutely brilliant!!

Millicent and her husband are a team in everything they do – whether that’s buying all organic food at the supermarket, going to gala nights with their upmarket housing community or luring and killing women together…

My Lovely Wife is an absolute rollercoaster of a read and one I really enjoyed from beginning to end. I enjoyed the way that Samantha Downing keeps the book completely in the narrative of the husband, and it is only now in writing this review I realise that his real name is never mentioned! I have read a few similar books before that have split narrative perspective over two or more characters, but you then tend to get a more watered-down version of the characters and the plot becomes a little too predictable for it. The husband is a great narrator and the story has a great pace, keeping up the shocks and the twists and turns but never in a way that felt too unrealistic. there are also flashbacks woven in the narrative about parts of the relationship between husband and wife which gave backstory and motive for the events unfolding in the present.

I liked the inclusion of the way that the murders impacted everyone in the family, in ways that the couple did not expect. I liked the way that you never got the explicit details of the crime and were left to wonder about them in the same way the husband was. The ending itself was a bit of a shock twist but one that I really enjoyed - it is a refreshing change from a few thrillers I have read recently where the ending is only drawn up for shock value and goes against the plot as a whole. I’m very impressed that this is a debut novel and will certainly look out for other books from Samantha Downing in future.

Overall My Lovely Wife is a rollercoaster read full of twists and turns that will leave you hooked. Thank you to NetGalley & Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

OMG, My Lovely Wife is a total humdinger. I find it difficult to believe it’s a debut novel given just how utterly readable it is. I’d almost had my fill of crime and psychological thrillers when I came to read this, but it really stood out head and shoulders above the rest. I don’t want to give anything away, but it has made me look at all those normal families around me and wonder what might actually be going in in their lives…
Samantha Downing kept me totally hooked. She writes believable everyday characters who do unbelievably ghastly things. The book is twisty, nasty, dark, compelling and utterly riveting.

What an absolute cracker of a book, this haunting, highly addictive thriller kept me hooked on every page.

I won’t give any details, as any synopsis would not do it justice, I urge you to pick this up and enjoy.

A fantastically brilliant debut novel for this promising new author, I will definitely be eagerly awaiting the next.

5 very well earned stars

When a psychopath marries a psychopath and they get bored, WATCH OUT!!

Samantha Downing has written one twisty, rollercoaster of a dark, demented read! Told from the never-named husband's viewpoint, you will be amazed at how calmly this couple plans kidnappings and murders. They act like a normal couple,are raising two teenagers in a nice neighborhood, nothing appears suspicious at all. And yet they have this "hobby".

Surprising until the very last page, this is a psychological thriller you won't want to miss!

Many thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Dark , twisted , humorous , and altogether a fab read . Don’t want to give any plot away but I loved this book .. 5🌟.. my thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my opportunity to read

The premise of this book has been done before but this one is so much more !!!!!!
Perfect marriage, perfect family. In this perfect family unit there are some very dark secrets. From the first to the last page I was hooked. So many twists and turns infact as twisty as a corkscrew. Reading this book yes I knew then I didn't oh god I just don't know. In places I was literally holding my breath and sat on the edge of my seat tapping my kindle like a demented wood pecker. A psychological thriller but SO much more. I read this book in one sitting and finally turned the last page in the wee hours. I HAD TO KNOW!!!!!!.
Another new author for me and I will definitely be looking out for more of her work. An easy five stars and so Highly Recommended.
I would like to thank the author, Penguin UK and Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the ARC in return for giving an honest review.

This is a hard one to review as I don’t want to give anything away.
What seems to everyone else to be a normal family with Millicent as a real estate agent and her husband teaching tennis, and their two children is far from normal.
This couple are hiding a very dark secret which unfolds more and throughout the book.
This is the story of how they cope with what they do and how it affects those close to them.
It’s an addictive read and you really don’t know what will happen next.
Thanks to Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

My Lovely Wife presents the reader with a seemingly normal couple. Married with two children, she works in real estate while he coaches tennis at a local health club. Money is sometimes a little tight, but they get by well enough most of the time, and they do have a lovely house in a gated community in Florida. It sounds normal, doesn’t it, and maybe even a little dull? As the reader gets to know the couple a little better, it becomes clear that they are anything other than normal, and their extra-curricular activities are not as you might expect from their pleasant façade. I don’t want to go into the plot in any detail – I really do think that the above blurb tells the reader as much as they need to know – but I was hooked from the first chapter, as their secrets – some of them, at least – are quickly revealed.

The novel is narrated by the husband, who I believe goes unnamed throughout. I found this to be quite refreshing, as I think it’s unusual to have a male point of view in a novel such as this – at least based upon the books that I’ve read. I thought that his narration of events worked brilliantly – the story is a compelling one, and as well as keeping the reader informed of current events, he also gives plenty of background on the family to provide additional insight and context. Both he and his wife, Millicent, are intriguing characters, and he is smitten with his wife, who is clearly the dominant figure in their household.

This is a fast-paced novel, and one where I thought I had it figured out early on – how wrong I was! This is a fantastically dark and original tale, and I was hooked from the first page. Highly recommended to fans of domestic and psychological thrillers who are looking for a novel that offers something a little unusual.

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

Millicent and her husband, who remains nameless, appear the perfect yet ordinary couple. He is a successful tennis coach while she works in real estate. They have two children (Rory and Jenna), a lovely home and a good circle of friends. But both husband and wife realise that their marriage and life are in danger of becoming dull. That doesn’t matter, though, as they have the perfect way to spice it up.

Years ago the town was tormented by a serial killer called Owen. Women were afraid to go out. And now it looks as if he’s begun to kill again. Women are going missing. Jenna isn’t alone in being very frightened indeed. She needs her parents to make her feel safe. And they will do almost anything to do that.

My Lovely Wife is a fabulous novel – witty, sharp, shocking and outrageous. In my opinion, it triumphs many of the most well-known, best-seller psychological thrillers. It’s not only very well-written but its portrait of this marriage, presented from the point of view of the husband, is utterly compelling and astonishing. The opening chapter sets the scene brilliantly with the first of the novel’s whole load of jaw-dropping moments. And amidst the descriptions of suburban normality are moments that, for me at least, are completely horrifying. Perceptions of what is right and wrong are about to get bludgeoned. It will not be pretty. But it will be fascinating and I could not put My Lovely Wife down.

This isn’t a particularly easy book to review as I think it’s best if you come to it knowing the bare minimum. So, suffice to say that, in my opinion, Samantha Downing does not put a foot wrong. This is psychological thriller writing at its best. You may well have an idea of how it could pan out, especially if you’re read the genre before, but that doesn’t stop the shocks. In some ways, I feel that the book takes some quite familiar themes and then stretches them that little bit further, extracting their maximum impact.

Above all else, My Lovely Wife is such an entertaining and fun pageturner. I admire its wit and cleverness, its chilling portrayal of evil. I’d love to say more but I can’t! I think it’s best if you read it for yourself.

Ok so I’m not really sure how this book made me feel 🤔

The idea was so fascinating that I had to read it, but despite the fact that it was an entertaining read, one that I didn’t want to put down, it left me feeling frustrated. Confusing right??

Millicent and her husband are a regular, respectable couple. They have normal jobs, a nice house and two teenage kids. But after 15 years of marriage they decide to spice up their lives with an unusual hobby. But with this hobby comes secrets and unexpected consequences that trigger a thrilling game of cat and mouse.

My Lovely Wife is a psychological thriller unlike any I’ve read before. The opening couple of chapters are strange and creepy but left me wanting more. The plot contains a number of twists, some were predictable and some I didn’t see coming. The characters are not likeable but then I guess they’re not meant to be. And the narrative was breathtakingly exciting at times, dull and slow at others.

This book is a total contradiction...and I love that! I love that I had to think so hard about my review, that it’s left me confused about my feelings towards the story, the characters and their actions. I love that it was full of dark humour and the fact that although the husband is not a nice guy, I was still made to feel some sympathy towards him. I’m frustrated that we didn’t get more gore (I’m weird I know) but like the fact that we were teased with it throughout. Am I happy with that ending, not really. Am I happy with the last line, abso-fricking-lutely I am!

See a total contradiction!

I feel like I’ve rambled on quite incoherently in this review but I will say this, any book that can illicit such a mix of emotions has to be worth a read - 4 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher (Penguin UK - Michael Joseph) for providing a copy. All opinions are my own and provided willingly.

This book had me interested at the beginning, but there were times in the middle where I wished that hubby dearest would grow a backbone to his crazy wife but the ending was fantastic though quick.

The blurb for My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing sounded interesting and promising however I found the actual book slow, uninteresting and very difficult to get into so unfortunately it is not one I would recommend

There’s no doubt that My Lovely Wife is a very clever novel and it feels slightly weird to say that I enjoyed a book about a married couple who have an extremely questionable hobby. It’s quite refreshing to read something that’s not just about the flawed detective searching for the killer. Instead it is told from the point of the Husband, who when out in bars calls himself Tobias. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you hooked, although I did find the first and last quarters the most interesting and wasn’t sure where it was headed. A surprisingly good read.

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive. Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.

The story has a kind of slow pace feel to it don't let that put you off. The husband, we don't know his real name, we only know him as Tobias. He lives with his wife and two children in Hidden Oaks, Florida. She's a real estate agent and he's a tennis coach. The story is told from the husbands point of view. These people could be living on any street, in any country in the world. They target the people they think they'd like to kill. It's premeditated. I can't say much more than this except go out and grab yourself a copy of this book when it's published on the 2nd May. Oh, I didn't see that ending!! A fantastic debut novel from an author I will be looking out for in future. I do recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and the author Samantha Downing for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.