This started a little slow but picked up pace quickly as it continued. It centers on Fiona and Neil, who move to a remote island after an embarrassing incident alienates them from their friends and family. Fiona feels that something is off almost as soon as they arrive; the neighbors are not welcoming and there seem to be a good amount of strange disappearances and deaths. She is convinced that they are in danger, and Neil is frustrated that she can’t just embrace the new start.

The early parts of the book are creepy, and I was trying to decide whether Fiona was an unreliable narrator or whether she was onto something. You start to get some chapters from an unknown person partway through that ends up converging with the main storyline to bring it all together. The 2nd half of the book is action-packed and I finished it quickly. When the mystery is solved, it was so obvious (in a good way) that I couldn’t believe I didn’t think that is what was happening. The author did a great job of tying everything together in a way that made total sense. I liked the way the book ended and think it worked well with the rest of the story.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and thought it was an engaging story. I’d recommend for those who enjoy mysteries. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Twisting and turning! This book just keeps picking up the pace when you read. Nice and thrilling with an suspenseful plot. I highly recommend.

Thank you Boldwood Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

After a pretty slow start this one picked up and turned out to be a fairly solid thriller/mystery. It was very atmospheric and felt very creepy. I ended up doing this one partly on audiobook and partly on netgalley and the audio really upped the creep factor for me. I would recommend but I will warn customers to just get through the first part because it DOES pick up!

Thriller fans will be captivated by J A Baker’s creepy, claustrophobic and chilling new novel, The Last Wife.

Winters End was meant to be a fresh start for Fiona and Neil and the perfect opportunity for them to draw a line under the past and begin anew. Winters End seemed absolutely ideal, however, from the second Fiona and Neil set foot in this small isolated community, it becomes increasingly clear that they are not welcome there. Why have they been made to feel so unwanted by their new neighbours? Why don’t they want them around? And what will they do in order to ensure that Fiona and Neil do not stick around for long?

Neil thinks that Fiona is just being paranoid. But she can sense the community’s hostility towards them. Convinced that they know their deepest and darkest secrets, Fiona is frightened of the lengths the residents to Winters End will go to to drive them away. As she begins to wonder whether having somebody to confide in will help to lighten the load that is weighing very heavily on her shoulders, Fiona takes a proper look around her and makes a startling and shocking discovery: she is the only wife at Winters End!

Fiona is determined not to be the last wife standing, but with her husband dismissing her worries, she wonders whether she can unmask the dangerous enemy intent on making her life hell – or whether she is going to pay the ultimate price for daring to set foot in Winters End.

J A Baker is a talented writer of thrillers who always pushes the envelope and creates something new and innovative with each of her books and in The Last Wife, she has penned a nail-biting domestic chiller that explores the tensions bubbling underneath the surface in small communities, mental health issues in women and the nature of evil.

J A Baker is a wonderful writer of thrillers and with The Last Wife she has penned a heart-stopping tale full of tension, menace and suspense that made me jump out of my skin and kept me gripped from start to finish.

“The Last Wife” by J.A. Baker is about a couple seeking to escape their past and start anew in the secluded community of Winters End. Winters End, with its picturesque name, should have been their refuge. Instead, it becomes a place of unease. The couple’s secrets cling to them like shadows, and the guilt they carry weighs heavily. The narrative unfolds through the eyes of the wife, who remains unnamed. She senses that they are not welcome, that someone wants them gone. But why? And how do the townspeople know their secrets? The paranoia creeps in, and the tension builds.

As the wife grapples with her own mind, she longs for someone to confide in. Another woman, perhaps. But she discovers something far more chilling: she is the only wife at Winters End. And she could be the last. . Neil, the husband, dismisses her fears, but we sense his own unease
The author masterfully weaves a web of intrigue, leaving readers questioning every character’s motives. The setting—a small, isolated community—adds to the claustrophobia. The revelation, when it comes, is both shocking and satisfying.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc in exchange for my honest review*

A great thriller - I would recommend it!

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It's kinda similar to a couple of books that I've read in the past but that didn't take away the fun and thrill this one had.

I would've wanted for the twists to be more unpredictable but well, we can't have everything, anyway.

Kudos to the author!

Love JA Baker and this one didn’t disappoint! A great thriller with lots of twists and turns. It kept my attention and I read it in one sitting. Recommend!

Fiona and Neil move for a fresh start to try and forget their pasts to a secluded island called Winters End. It seems like an idyllic place to live, but it appears that there aren't any woman living on the island - why are there no woman on the island and just what are Fiona and Neil hiding in their past?? I couldn't put this book down as I needed to know!!

Shortly after arriving Fiona receives letters warning her to to leave but she brushes them off, that is until she is taken then we are taken down a whole rabbit hole, who took her? why are the villagers wary of a woman on the island?? Sooooo many questions, that we get answered but boy was this a good creepy thriller that will keep you turning the pages for answers.

4 stars

Winters End should have been the perfect place for Fiona and her husband Neil to start again. To leave the terrible secrets and guilt of their past far behind. But from the moment they arrived in the small, isolated community, it becomes clear they are not welcome there. They feel everyone knows their secrets - knows who we really are. But how can that be? Is their mind playing tricks on them? Like before...

It took me a bit to get into this but I am glad I stuck with it! Fiona and Neil are trying to escape their past by moving to a small town called Winters End. The town and the people are strange and unwelcoming. It isn't soon after they move that Fiona starts noticing odd things happening and gets warned to leave Winters End. I loved the darkness of this book and thought the plot was really good. There were one or two things I was left asking about, but I dont want to spoil anything.

I would recommend this book if you like a good mystery/thriller and small town vibes.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for a copy of this work in exchange for an honest review!

I was lucky to receive an advance copy of The Last Wife by JA Baker by NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review and opinion. This one will having you holding your breath waiting on the other shoe to drop! There is so much suspense in this book and the ending - OMG!

Creepy and chilling, a gripping read that is twisty and mysterious and kept me guessing all the way through

I feel this book could have been so much more..
I love the plot set on a remote island on the North Sea. Winters End is a really interesting concept: a small island with a population of 100. There was much potential there for a fantastic plot but the fact that the culprit was not known to the reader left me with a feeling of having been cheated. I don't see the point in not involving the reader into the resolution of a crime. Give us a chance to figure it out!

Some of the writing in this book was a bit over the top for me. The ending was very disappointing and I was left wondering WTH?

This was a slow and steady read that kept you entertained from beginning to end. I've loved JA Baker's books, and will read more in future.

Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I like this author, and I was not disappointed with this book. Full of intrigue and surprises, which kept my interest throughout. Recommended.

I've read a few books by this author & I really enjoy her style of writing! This book kept me reading as I was dying to know how it was all going to end!!!

Now that's what I call a psychological thriller! I couldn't stop reading The Last Wife once I picked it up and I think it's one of J. A. Baker's best psychological thriller novels to date.

Fiona and Neil are heading off to the island of Winters End for a fresh start after leaving the mainland under a dark cloud of mistrust and scandal. The close knit community isn't very welcoming and a growing sense of unease envelops the reader as the story progresses. Something isn't right on this island and Fiona doesn't realise how much danger she is in...

I absolutely loved this book; it's so creepy and suspenseful. It's also one of those 'just one more chapter' kind of books with little cliff-hangers at the end of many of the chapters that compelled me to keep reading. The writing is so vivid that I could picture the fictional remote island of Winters End getting battered relentlessly by the North Sea

Hauntingly atmospheric, ominous and disturbing, The Last Wife is J.A. Baker at her very best and although it creeped me out from start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed it. A highly recommended read.

I received a digital ARC to read and review for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

This is an intense and fast paced read which is filled with darkness, terror and mystery.

Baker nails it with every book and this has been one I have loved. This is filled with atmosphere and I have been transported.

This is a book I found completely addictive.I devoured this is just one sitting. Completely unwilling to put this down.

I love the descriptions in this one, they really give you a full picture of the setting, characters and atmosphere. This is darker than I had anticipated but I loved every second.

This brilliant book is one that should be on everyone’s TBR.

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This one just wasn't for me and I could not finish it.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC