An absolutely brilliantly addictive psychological thriller. Very well written I loved every word on every page and I couldn't stop reading it held my interest from the beginning to the end.

I can thoroughly recommend this book and I hope to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this fantastic book.

A really exciting novel about a wife waiting for her husband to come home, only for the police to arrive. Her husband is a serial killer, but did she know.

This book kept me guessing all the way through, with enough thrills, red herrings and twists to keep me turning the pages, it to mention a really great ending that maybe hints at another book.

I really enjoyed this and at no point was the pace to slow nor was it hard to keep up. Excellent

The main character was very unlikable, which makes sense once you get to the end of the book, but it was all very predictable. I didn't feel bad for any of the characters except for Poppy, but even she was not a believable character (what child is able to play independently all the time so that mom can have a bottle of wine every night? I wish!). The writing and the dialogue also just seemed awkward and the pace kind of crawled. There are definitely better, more well-written stories out there.

Beth Hardcastle has the perfect life: a husband who adores her, an adorable three year old daughter, and her dream job owning her own business. But a knock on the door one night changes everything. When her husband is brought in for questioning on the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend, Beth must face the facts that maybe she didn't have the perfect life and maybe she didn't know her husband at all?

This book is a triumphant debut by Alice Hunter. I was hooked from the first page. No spoilers but this book will keep you shocked and surprised until the last line in the epilogue.

*I was provided an ARC by Netgalley and the publisher for my honest feeback*

I will start by saying that this book was not even close to what I thought it would be according to the title. Reading the title and the summary, I was expecting a dark, psychological thriller. This book was not that. Even so, I enjoyed the book from beginning to end.
The story moved quickly and was easily engaging. Told from the viewpoint of the wife of a man being held for murder, although the serial part doesn't come until nearly the end. The story tells the day to day struggles Beth, the wife in trying to run her business, shield and raise her young daughter and her budding relationship with the widower down the street.
I enjoyed this book and the characters were well written. I only wished that more time was spent on Tom, the alleged serial killer and his background that turned him into a murderer.
all of this aside, the ending, completely took me by surprise (although there were plenty of clues) and made me finish the book on a positive note.
this is the first book I have read from this author, and I will be looking for more.

A great , compelling read!
The writing was easy to read and fast paced , and the different character narratives added depth to the story.

Beth’s husband Tom, is late home from work and this leads us in to a dark tale of murder and suspense and all that it involves. Tom is a chilling character , definitely two very different sides to his personality, and Beth his wife stands firm through the book or does she? The concluding twists , finished the story off perfectly. It left me with a question how well do we really know a person? Even those closest to us?
The calibre of the writing had me hooked and I read the book in one sitting ,the story is both gripping and absorbing and I needed to know how it would end,

A great debut looking forward to reading more in the future from the author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK.

I really enjoyed this book. It moved at a pace and you could feel the wife's pain as more information came out about her husband. I did have an inkling about the ending but that did not spoil my enjoyment of this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the advance copy of this book.

Beth and Tom Hardcastle are happily married and have a daughter named Poppy – they have the perfect family, until one day DC Imogen Cooper shows up to take Tom away on account of suspicion of murdering his ex-girlfriend Kate. Tom denies everything, and knows he can because the cops haven’t found any body and they don’t have any evidence against him as well.
Beth is conflicted, she doesn’t know what Tom might have done in the past and this is what she tells the cops too, but then does she know more than what she is letting on?
As the interrogation begins, Beth will find herself questioning everything she believed about her husband and she is slowly falling in love with someone else!
Does Beth speak up and divulge more than she should and achieve her end goal – isn’t that what started this whole arrest?
This was a very engaging book, and I am glad I was able to get my hands on this via Netgalley
#netgalley #theserialkillerswife #arc

Light entertainment with a good dose of nastiness.

This is an ambitious novel, in terms of plot, but it fails to live up to the ambition. It got bogged down by the intended complexity of the plot at the expense of the characters. Still, it's an easy read that keeps you pretty engaged.

The book is told mainly from two points of view: that of Tom, who is arrested on suspicion of murdering his ex-girlfriend, and of Beth, his wife who is left at home caring for their daughter and trying to deal with the effects of his arrest. Once or twice a scene is told from the point of view of a victim.

Most of the story revolves around Beth and the police investigation.

The story of what actually happened, when, to whom and by whom, is revealed bit by bit, in small snippets. Right from the start you suspect that Beth might be an unreliable narrator. While it is quickly clear that Tom is a very nasty piece of work and guilty as charged, Beth's innocence or guilt or her knowledge of what's up are less clear.

The way that information is fed out does keep you engaged and wanting to know what happens next. The problem is a bit too much boring filler in between. You feel like there is too much attention paid to eking out the plot one piece of information at a time, while not enough energy went into the writing, the world-building and the character exploration. In particular, some secondary characters show promise for further story development, which fizzes out into nothing.

Still, there's plenty of suspense and twists and turns along the way. The reveal does come as a surprise, albeit not an especially mind-blowing one.

All in all, it was an entertaining read, just not a great one. While I can't endorse this book wholeheartedly as a great read, it's currently selling for 99p on Kindle and it's a fantastic bargain at that price. It would make a perfect beach read (remember beaches? holidays?)

This was an enjoyable read, but it was a little predictable. There were enough twists & reveals to keep me turning the page to find out what exactly was going to happen to Beth & Tom. And that last chapter - I did not see that coming! I didn't like that the information about the killings is revealed slowly, and I felt that much of Beth's POV was boring.

TW: this story has chapters referring to rough sex, and the murders are similar to a relatively recent NZ court case for the murder of Grace Millane. I know that this is a work of fiction, but please take this into consideration if this triggers you.

That ending though!! What a crazy book. I loved the story line here and I loved the characters. I found parts of the plot to be a little difficult to believe but overall the story worked. The character development was awesome and the relationships were great. I loved how the characters changed so much from the start to the end. This book had one of the craziest plot twists ever and boy did it shock me. A great read:

This book follows Beth and Tom - a couple living in an idyllic small town with a young daughter. They seem to have the perfect life until the police show up one night and bring Tom in for questioning about the disappearance and possible death of his previous girlfriend. We follow them through the investigation as truths are revealed and the small town gossip and judgement start up.

I was initially very interested in the premise but the actual book didn't end up working for me. It was okay in general, but there were just so many times were I thought we were going in a certain direction and then it ended up going another way which ended up being extremely disappointing. It was almost like every time we could have either turned the tension up to an 11, the book instead decided to turn things down to a 4. This might just be because I've read so many thrillers that I could see the possibilities of where I would have preferred it to go, so maybe newer thriller readers wouldn't have these same complaints. I read this about a month before the publication date and it is currently sitting at a 3.80 out of 5 on Goodreads with 301 ratings so overall it seems readers are liking the book.

My expectation for this story was for it to be a dual POV between the police and Beth where they're investigating Tom/Beth and Beth is trying to either hide evidence or prove her innocence. That is not how the story played out. I was expecting much more of a police procedural element and for the suspicion on Beth to be pretty strong. That was not the case. I found this to be a pretty standard domestic thriller which wasn't what I was expecting. In fact, I sort of hesitate to use the word 'thriller' because it wasn't very thrilling or even suspenseful. We do jump POVs between Beth, Tom, and some other characters in the past, but we are mostly in Beth's head as she tries to figure out what to do now that Tom has been arrested. I do like how in the chapters in the past, we get very quickly changing POVs which I think worked really well especially because those chapters had a lot of tension and conflict. I would have liked to have spent more time in this past timeline to get a better feel of Tom and Beth when they first met and in their early relationship stage. It really comes down to my own expectations vs what ended up on the page and in the end I was pretty disappointed

The part of the book that worked for me the least was the characters. I felt that pretty much all of the characters were really uneven in their characterization and because of this, it really read to me like a first draft where the author was trying to figure out how much suspicion/guilt/etc each character should have. I also think there were a good number of side characters that could have had a much greater role in the plot but instead ended up being used only when needed. For example, Beth has someone working for her at her cafe and that person ends up connected to the investigation in a way. I initially thought that this would cause more tension in Beth's life or be a point where Beth realizes the scope of this investigation and how it could hurt her business. However, it ends up that this person just keeps working at the cafe and basically starts running it on her own so Beth can deal with everything going on in her life. It just felt like so much potential was there for deeper character relationships or an increase in tension and I was disappointed when nothing really came of it. Another example of poor characterization was Beth. Her father left her family when she was a child and it left a pretty big impact on Beth. It is mentioned off hand a few times that Beth has abandonment issues, but we never really see how they impact her on the page. In fact, most of the book is spent with Beth more or less being alone after Tom is arrested. We find out why that is in the big twist at the end, but in the moment we don't see Beth struggling with being away from Tom very much at all so I kept being confused about her apparent 'abandonment issues'. Even if she had worked through those issues via therapy or something earlier in life, I would think that a big event like this would bring those feelings back up again and she would end up manifesting those fears in some way.

So if I didn't like the tropes, the POV, or the characters, then why did I keep reading it? Well, I asked myself the same question when I finished the book yesterday and the answer is - the police investigation. I wanted to know if Tom was guilty and if so, how would he get caught. The investigation isn't very active on the page, but the police do drop in pretty often to inform Beth of developments or we get case updates via Tom's lawyer. Thinking back over the plot points of the book, just when I was starting to get bored there would be a new development in the case. We do get a little taste of a police procedural because we get details and discussions about things such as how long they're allowed to hold Tom without charging him, how the different court dates work, etc, but I think those elements are such as small part of the overall plot that even people who don't like police procedurals would still like this book. Now, I was expecting this book to go full Criminal Minds - like bodies under the floorboards type of plot and we don't get anything close to that crazy (in my opinion). I think having 'serial killer' in the title did make me think of a certain type of serial killer (Dahmer, Bundy, Gein, etc) which is 100% not the type of killer and not the type of investigation we get in the book.

The one thing I thought worked well was (surprisingly) the ending. And I think the reason it worked so well is that it cleared up some of my issues with Beth's characterization as well as showing the reader behind the curtain a bit of what had been happening over the past year and a half. We got a good amount of time after the big climax to see how all the dust settled which I always appreciate and the ending, while surprising, didn't pull any tricks or gotchas on the reader. When the big final twist was revealed, it was like the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place and now we could see the whole picture of this story and I really like that sort of ending. I didn't see the twist coming at the end partly, I think, because of my issues with the characterization but I could see this being the type of ending that could be guessed given the appropriate foreshadowing (and maybe some readers will be able to guess it). I personally like when I can guess at least part of the twist correctly but it isn't a requirement for me to enjoy an ending.

Overall, this story just fell flat for me - uneven characters, very light tension, and lacking the tropes I expected from the description/title. What did work was the investigation thread and the ending, which are pretty important to get right in a book like this. I think newer thriller readers would have a good time with this (or maybe just readers who aren't as well versed in serial killer media as I am) because they won't come in with as many expectations as I did.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

Expected publication date May 27, 2021.

The Serial Killer’s Wife by Alice Hunter

“How quickly things change. In an instant, your path can take a sharp turn and lead you somewhere you never anticipated.”

Beth Hardcastle’s husband is handsome and successful, together they have a beautiful child, and have swapped their life in the city for an idyllic existence in a picturesque village. It appears Beth has all she’s ever wanted, until the police come knocking with a shocking claim: her husband is a serial killer. No one, from the police investigating the murders, to the other village parents she is so desperate to impress, can believe Beth knew nothing about Tom’s crimes. What, if anything, did Beth know about her husband’s activities? And just how far will she go to have the life she’s always wanted?

This book was a little slow to lift off for me, but it was a good read once the plot started moving. The back story narratives were interesting and kept me reading, and while I thought Beth’s behavior a little odd in the second half of the book, I didn’t see the twist coming. All in all, I believe this was a decent debut, and I would give this author another go on future works.

Thank you, Netgalley and Avon Books, for this digital ARC.

Great read! Looking forward to reading more by this author! I highly recommend this book and author to all!

The Serial Killer’s Wife
by Alice Hunter 

Hey Alice- I give you 4 out of 5 birds for The Serial Killer's Wife! What a debut book. I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. The title alone sucked me in. I mean, finding out your husband's a serial killer? It was a fast read and the twists and turns were plentiful. Most I saw coming, but there were still a few surprises. There were times when I felt like I needed more. Also the one thing I found super unbelievable.. okay it's fiction so there might have been a few, but the serial killers kill amount... It was lacking. I mean the bare minimum to be considered a serial killer is three.... I feel like there was room for more? Super morbid to say? Yes, it probably is. Overall, I really liked this book and stayed up late to finish it. It will keep you on edge, draw you in, and leave you with your mouth open. I'd read more by Alice Hunter!

Also p.s my husband is sick of me asking him if he's a secret serial killer.... I'm really starting to believe he's not.


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Beth and Tom Hardcastle have a perfect life together or so Beth thinks. One evening the police come to the door to question Tom about an ex-girlfriend Katie. Tom is arrested and people are wondering how Beth didn't know anything.

This was a great domestic thriller but I had no feeling for Beth or Tom. Both were unlikable. The twists and turns were fun and not all were expected. I would read more from this author.

I requested this book first thinking it was a true story - luckily for all characters involved it was fiction.

And what a read it was. It opens with Bethany Hardcastle wondering why her husband isn't home yet and discovering police on her doorstep looking for him. As the story progresses, you find yourself feeling sorry for her and her daughter at the mess her husband had dumped them in - the embarrassment of the whole village knowing your husband has been arrested for murder. But as the story progresses, things shift ever so slightly and you start to view Bethany in a whole different light until the last chapter. What a twist. And it leaves you with a rather lot of thoughts to ponder as to where the line between black and white is and how acceptable versions of gray are.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this book.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book completing it in one day. I looked at the other reviews and I think the ending was upsetting for some. It was definitely a surprise . . .

It starts with Beth's husband being questioned then charged with a murder of an ex-partner. Things do not go well from here. Beth starts her own investigation to see if her husband really is guilty.

There are not a lot of likable characters in this story. The moms aren't nice people with almost no appearances from the dads except for one. This is not a community that seems like a desirable place to live or raise children. Beth struggles with both the media and her nosy neighbours after her husband is arrested. All she wants to do is keep their daughter safe and she will stop at nothing to achieve this.

This book kept me up late to see how it ended. I was not disappointed.

I *wanted* to love this book. It's typically the type of story I love. But something was missing for me and I can't quite put my finger on it.

He's been arrested for killing his ex-girlfriend. Rumors around town - how did the wife not know? More comes out. The husband killed multiple women.

I guess you never know how you'd react in this situation. But the way she reacted and her involvement with others was off to me.

It wasn't BAD per se. Didn't hate it. But just didn't love it the way I wanted to.

this was okay. i am big fan of thrillers, and not very keen on the domestic thriller subgenre, so all in all i think i enjoyed this as much i'd ever be able to. i guessed the twists about 40% in (even going as far as being reeeeally out there with my guesses, and ultimately feeling let down that the author decided to keep things a bit more tame) and wasn't interested in the daily comings and goings of the main character as a mother and a housewife. i was expecting something a bit more along the lines of Sillthouse Lake by Rachel Caine, another thriller following a serial killer's wife, but it failed to deliver in both shock factor and the pacing of the story. still a decent book, though!