Absolutely loved this debut domestic psychological thriller. A classic page turner that takes the reader on a rollercoaster ride full of twists and turns. Calculated and manipulative characters this definitely keeps the reader wanting to read more and found out how the story will conclude.

I found this hard to put down. The author drops us straight into the drama, and the backstory is weaved in really well making this flow well and easy to follow. This does include some descriptions of BDSM that some readers may find upsetting.

As a debut book I was incredibly impressed. I will definitely be on the look out for more by this author. Highly recommend picking this up on publication date.

A really good debut novel from Alice Hunter. Interesting plot, plenty twists, well written and good characterisation, although a bit slow moving.. This is very easy to read and I finished it in one sitting. The title explains everything and I hope there is a follow up! Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

I couldn't put this book down. The Serial Killer's Wife delivered suspense and unexpected twists throughout. I loved getting into the minds of both Beth and Tom and would thoroughly recommend this title to those interested in both psychology and modern crime fiction.

I will be reviewing on Instagram @asreadbyaki closer to the release date.

Wow! This was a real page turner!

The Hardcastles, Beth and Tom, have a great life, a great marriage and an adorable little girl named Poppy. However, one night everything changes for them, when the police show up at their cottage to question Tom about the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend, Katie. Beth's life changes dramatically and she questions if she ever really knew the man she married. Is he a killer?

I loved this book! From the beginning it gripped my attention and I had a hard time putting it down. The ending left me speechless!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Serial Killer's Wife is an addictive, gripping thriller following the idyllic life of Beth and Tom, a married couple living in a small town. Their whole world is turned upside down when Tom is accused of murdering his ex girlfriend, and an investigation ensues, uncovering much more than meets the eye.

This novel is utterly gripping. I read it from start to finish in a few hours, unable to put it down, needing to find answers to the hundreds of questions the book poses. It is expertly written, drip-feeding small clues to keep you guessing about how much Beth knew of Tom's crimes. Multiple enigmatic twists and turns ensure your attention is held throughout, questioning every fact you have been presented with.

Wrestling with an un-reliable narrator, this book will leave you overanalysing for days. If you enjoy a fast-paced, well written thriller that will keep you guessing, this is the book for you!

I really enjoyed reading this book and found it quite an easy and comfortable read. This does not mean that there were not twists and turns throughout, but more that the authors writing style was flawless and the story flowed beautifully. This book immediately dropped the reader into the action and I found myself second-guessing everything that I was reading. My only criticism was that the pace dropped off towards the middle of the book, however, the ending completely made up for this with the major twist! This book is written from both the husband (Tom) and wife's (Beth) point of view. I am a fan of books that are written in this style anyway but this was done masterfully in 'The Serial Killers Wife' I loved that, as Ive stated before, I was second guessing everything that I was reading and I really couldn't take anything either protagonist was saying at face value. This heightened by paranoia throughout reading and I could not put the book down until I had uncovered all of the secrets within. I would definitely recommend this book to others, especially if they haven't read thriller books before as this felt like one that was really enjoyable but not too heavy.

The Serial Killer's Wife is a fiction story about a woman, Beth Hardcastle, and her husband, Tom Hardcastle. They have a child called Poppy. Beth and Tom have everything; the perfect marriage, the perfect house, the perfect family. When the police knock on their door one evening, everything changes. When the interrogation begins, Beth finds herself questioning everything she believed about here beloved husband.
The book has 384 pages and it's written by Alice Hunter.

I enjoyed this book, but I did have a lot of issues with it. At first, it starts with Beth not knowing anything. You see mostly through the eyes of Beth, but there are switches to Toms perspective and the perspective of Katie, the girl who they believe was murdered. You also jump back and forth in time. It could have been a really good book, but I didn't enjoy it that much because they lie to the reader. When you read through Beth's perspective, you believe certain things, which later turn out to be completely not true. This means that either Beth lies to herself, or she lies to the reader. Also, there were quite a few plottwists which I really didn't understand. They kind of just came out of nowhere, which was really strange.
It was a really fast read though.
I also didn't really like Tom and Beth. Especially Beth, I thought was very selfish and I just didn't really care for her. I think both of them just could have had much more depth and I think Alice Hunter really missed an oppertunity to make the story more interesting and fun.
My mothertongue isn't English, but I did read this book in English and I read it quite fast.
Also, on NetGalley, it had a tag of "true crime" and "women's fiction", so I think that was a mistake, because the book is fiction.

Overall, I think The Serial Killer's Wife is okay, but it's not amazing. Eventhough I quite enjoyed it, I do think there are better and more enjoyable books for you to read.

I read this book on NetGalley. NetGalley is a website where you can read books before the release date for free. The only thing they ask in return is an honest review about the book. It does take some time to get approved to read a book, but personally, I think that's worth it. I think this is a great website if you like to read.

The Serial Killer's Wife by Alice Hunter will be released on May 27th 2021.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller what a breathe of fresh air.

What would you do if one day the police arrive at you home and want to question your partner in relation to the disappearance of their ex not only that they suspect she could be dead? Well this is what happens to Beth one Monday evening.


I found Beth's characyed to be interesting. She is quite obsessed with her image within the town. She spends her days trying to get sympathy from the villagers and really plays the role of heart broken wife. The whole time we get to read her thoughts as to what she is doing and why. It's interesting.

Ofcourse she starts forming relations with people around her and it made me question her motivation but what's a woman to do when your world has been shattered and the written really plays on that well. I enjoyed all of Beth's chaptersnbecause she clearly isn't all sweetness and lights like she tries to produce herself to others
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I loved the way the prose is set out as ite all in first person and not only do we go between Beth and Tom we get to find out what happened to the missing girlfriend, I had loads of theories all of which were wrong lol. But it's so well written its more ish.

In summary I totally recommend. If I keep writing this review I will give away everything. This book is so well written and plays into the genre so well I struggled to put it down!! Beth's character brings shivers down my spine and not for the obvious reasons. I rate 5 stars I loved it.

Thank you for netgslley the publishers and authors for allowing to get caught up in the 7 days we are allocated with the books time line. I rate a massive 5 stars couldn't put it down.

I LOVE LOVE LOVED THIS BOOK!! I honestly didn't guess the ending and the entire way through reading I was stumped and left trying to piece together the puzzle. Hunter does a really great job on character development as well and I would truly recommend this book to everyone who loves a good thriller!

*4.5 Stars*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, what a really good read with interesting characters. Lots of secrets hidden in this one. Would recommend.

Poor, poor Beth. She left a corporate job in London to settle in a quaint cottage with her handsome husband Tom and their adorable daughter Poppy where she opened a cute little coffee house with fresh-baked goods. Pretty idyllic, that is until her husband is arrested for murder. Then everything basically falls apart.

Luckily, there’s another attractive single in town, Adam, whose wife died from a nut allergy when she was careless and consumed something with nuts and didn’t have her epi-pen with her. Adam is super supportive and really the perfect guy to have waiting when something like this happens.

And sure, it’s looks bad, but the evidence is starting to stack up against Tom and it turns out that Beth might have known a bit more than she was letting on.

The Serial Killer’s Wife is a fast-paced, surprisingly kind of light, book that I really enjoyed. There were some good twists and turns and the book moves as a steady clip. Alice Hunter is definitely an author I’m putting on my radar! This one releases May 27, so it will be perfect to read poolside Memorial Day Weekend. Special thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review.

3 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Beth Hardcastle is putting her daughter to bed one night when the police knock at the door. They’re looking for her husband, Tom, who is late home from work. He’s being taken in for questioning regarding the suspected murder of his ex-girlfriend, Katie, who disappeared 8 years ago.

Beth is left to protect her daughter, her family’s reputation, and her store while evidence is quickly mounting against Tom. She finds comfort in Adam, who is a recent widower, and befriends another mother in town. Beth seems to be shocked and distraught by what’s happening… or is she?

I could tell I was going to enjoy this story right from the start. It wastes no time, with the police coming for Tom in the first few pages. The story is told mostly by Beth, with a few chapters from Tom’s POV, Katie’s POV, and an unknown woman.

While the twist at the end wasn’t exactly surprising, it was still an enjoyable read! Overall I liked this debut and would check out this author again.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Alice Hunter's educational background in psychology and experience working as an interventions facilitator in a prison really made these characters come to life. She shares the inner workings of a criminal's mind through Tom's character in a compelling way—through his childhood trauma, emotional manipulation, lies, anger, and physical urges.

I enjoyed this story and the way the smaller setting and close-knit community is vital for the perception of Beth and Tom's relationship and his actions. But I think it could have been about 150 pages shorter. The writing didn't work for me. I was invested enough in the suspense of the storyline that I was eager to continue reading, but the writing itself contained so many redundancies, unnecessary reflections and explanations that it simultaneously felt so slow and so dramatic in a theatrical sense. It overdid the drama for me. The storyline is already suspenseful and dramatic that I found some of the language to be overkill, which actually made me feel like the writing was competing with the plot rather than working with the plot to help move the story forward. The title is The Serial Killer's Wife, so we know that Tom is inevitably a killer, but we don't actually learn this for certain until around page 200. That was dragged out for much too long in my opinion.

Around the trial, things speed up almost too much. It doesn't match the pacing of the rest of the novel. But, I loved the twist. There were certain things in the plot that I thought were predictable, but the twist wasn't. That made the novel much more compelling to me. I really enjoyed how this story comes around in the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I requested The Serial Killer’s Wife because I really enjoyed 'Stillhouse Lake,' and this sounded similar, but this book was nowhere near as good as that one!

I struggled to get into the story for a while because I didn't like the writing style. It felt choppy and amateur, plus the dialogue was extremely stilted and awkward. The relationships and conversations felt a bit forced and unrealistic. I found myself not wanting to pick the book up, but did anyway and it picked up a bit.

Whilst some parts were entertaining, like Tom's flashbacks and thoughts, and the twists at the end were good, most of the plot twists were quite predictable if you've read a few thrillers or crime books.

My main problem though, was with the wife, Beth, and since most of the book was from her POV, I found it frustrating! Beth was extremely unlikeable, so selfish and self centred! Right from the start, she was more concerned with how the other mum's would see her, than with her husband sitting in prison! If my husband was arrested for the potential murder of an ex, I would be banging on that police station door for answers from both the police, and my husband, but Beth was more worried about appearances, and her ceramic café.. Her strange decisions were sort of explained later on in the book, but it didn't sit well with me!

The other characters were bland, one dimensional and not fully fleshed out. We had multiple POVs from Beth, her husband, Katie the ex-girlfriend, and one other mystery character, and were introduced to friends, but none of them felt like real people to me. Even though I did like Tom's chapters the most, he was the most boring serial killer ever! I wanted to see a real monster, but his POV did not show him to be like that whatsoever. In fact, no bodies showed up until about half way through! It just wasn't gruesome or horrifying enough to warrant the title in my opinion!

The book felt too long, and detailed mundane aspects of Beth's life like baking cookies for her café, and it endlessly talked about her daughter Poppy. It felt so repetitive, and definitely slowed the pace of the story, sucking any potential tension out of the story. It took far too long for revelations to unfold, what with the lawyer pretending not to know much, and the police not being forthcoming at all, which dragged the story out further.

As I mentioned the ending had a couple of surprises, which surprised me, and it seemed to me as if the author was paving the way for a sequel, but I just wanted a bit more.

With a title like The Serial Killer's Wife how could I resist!

A psychological thriller that kept me reading, I was itching to know how it would end. I had plenty of my own theories whilst reading it, most of which were completely wrong which I love.

It is never a good thing when you open the front door expecting your husband who is late home from work and you come face to face with 2 police officers. They are looking for Beth's husband Tom, with questions about his ex-girlfriend who went missing 8 years ago. What does Tom know about it? You will have to read it to find out.

Thanks to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for my advanced copy of this book to read.

"But there's always something more, isn't there? Something else to strive for. Perfection is a state which is always at least one step ahead of where you already are. A completeness that's not really achievable. Flawlessness rarely is."

Thank you netgalley and Avon Books for giving me an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great domestic thriller, and to be honest, I don't usually enjoy domestic thrillers. We start off with Beth and Tom, who are living a perfect-picture life with their daughter Poppy in a small town in the UK. This is a really well done story, as Tom is arrested for a murder committed 8 years ago. One of his ex-girlfriends, Katie went missing 8 years ago, and now the police believe she was murdered.

Suddenly Tom and Beth are being destroyed in the media. He's an accused murderer, and she's his wife - she must know something. The story switches between Tom, Beth, and Katie's POVs and also plays with time, allowing us to slowly learn more and more about the characters. I think the way the story slowly built up was well done. I appreciate that Beth has her own role to play in this story - and if you read it, you'll see what I mean.

3.75 overall, rounded up to 4. Seems like there is room for a sequel - and I'm game.

The Serial killer’s wife by Alice Hunter is a great start for one writing a debut novel.
Beth and Tom Hardcastle have the perfect life. They have a perfect marriage. They have a beautiful home in the village of Little Tiplow where Beth runs her own business, and they have a three year old daughter Poppy.
When Tom doesn’t come home one night from work. Beth is worried as he is usually home by now. So, when there is a knock on the door, she expects her husband. But instead, there are two Police officers asking the whereabouts of her husband to help with enquires of a woman, Tom’s ex- girlfriend that disappeared 8 years ago.
So, when they finally catch up with him and he goes in for questioning Tom is accused of the woman’s murder.
Thank you NetGalley and Avon for a copy of The Serial Killers wife. This story is told in two points of view of both Tom and Beth relationship and to the conclusion of Toms accusation of murder. This is full of suspense and twists and turns that kept me turning the pages and I really enjoyed this and I wasn’t expecting the twist at the end but, it also left me with some unanswered questions. 4 stars from me.

I wish that this book had a different title as it gives away more than is anticipated at the start.

Beth is living her best life: happily married, raising her beautiful daughter and running her ceramic cafe. All is good until her perfect husband Tom is arrested in connection with the disappearance of his previous girlfriend. Being a newcomer in a small village community, this is not what Beth needs....

I love books told through multiple POV’s and this did not disappoint. However the alternating viewpoints did reveal too much too early, and therefore I did work out the twist earlier than I would have liked.

I really liked the plot and will be looking out for future offerings by this clearly knowledgeable author. Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review.

This was one of those slowly unfurling thrillers that kept me riveted! Beth married Tom and they have been that 'perfect couple.' But, have they really? One of those "you never know what goes on behind closed doors' stories that somehow keeps throwing down surprise after surprise. Definitely a great read!

Thrillers are my favorite genre, hands down. I love everything about them, but above all the high stakes are what draw me into the story. With The Serial Killer's Wife, I wish those stakes had been higher.

Bethany and Tom Hardcastle are living an idyllic life with their daughter Poppy in a small village. Their life seems perfect, Tom works in finance in London, Beth owns and manages a pottery cafe, and their "Poppy poppet" is their pride and joy. Until Tom is accused of murdering his ex girlfriend.

The story unwinds from there, told in alternating POVs between Beth and Tom, with occasional interludes by Katie and a mysterious fourth narrator. The time period also jumps from present day, to 7 years in the past and further beyond to Tom's university days.

The premise for this novel was intriguing. I enjoyed the idea of seeing a life unravel from the blindsided wife's point of view. However, I was not a fan of this book. The pacing was off, for me. There were times the story dragged, when I felt it could pick up, and times it went too fast when I felt the stakes could be infinitely higher if the pacing was slowed down.

My biggest gripe, however, was the big "reveal". From the jump, I knew something was up with the circumstances around Tom's case as well as things going on in the town. To use a phrase from so many thrillers "someone knows something". Things seemed nefarious from the jump. Unfortunately for me, I predicted the entire ending of the novel which I think severely impacted my enjoyment of the novel.

Regardless, I am very grateful to NetGalley and Avon Books for providing me with the ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.