Who would have thought that The Quite Wife would impress me? When I started reading this book, I thought it would be a usual thriller. By usual , I meant regular plot twist, guessing game and revelation of a secret. But I didn't expect each chapter to keep me curious and plot-twists to give me whiplashes.
The author, knew how to keep us on edge. Two things I loved about the book was that the protagonist was not a damsel-in-distress and how she moves on in life even after facing some horrible issues. Psychopathy level of the antagonists amazes me and it's bone-chilling to read how a human mind can conquer such evil thoughts. Highlights of what misunderstanding, delusion, jealousy and betrayal can do to a person's life and people around them is unbelievable and elegantly presented in this skin-crawling novel. Only drawback that I felt was about the title of this book, I couldn't understand the underlying meaning behind the book-title.
Overall, it is a short book of 280 pages and an absolute pageturner.

I loved this book by Diane Saxon
The storyline is is great and it had me gripped from the start.
There are plenty of twists and turns and the ending is a shocker.
I recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange of my honest opinion.

First of all, it was labeled as this psychological thriller. I was expecting a fast paced story. It was a slow burn with going back and forth between the past and present.
It had great potential but I felt like it getting disappointing after a while.

I know for a fact that Gilly is a horrible friend.
I felt so bad for Soriah. She went thru so much and didn’t have anyone on her side.
Overall it was pretty decent book.

A great psychological thriller. So many twists and turns that I didn't see coming.
Great read for the beginning of the year

Diane Saxon’s The Quiet Wife is a psychological thriller that weaves its narrative through a dual timeline, alternating between the past and the present. The story centers on Soriah, a woman struggling against the tide of bad fortune, whose life takes increasingly darker turns.

The novel opens with a strong, intriguing premise that immediately draws the reader in. Saxon’s ability to craft tension and suspense is evident in the initial chapters, which lay a solid foundation for the plot. However, as the story progresses, it loses some of its grip. The pacing falters, and the plot becomes predictable, with key twists and the ending easily anticipated by seasoned thriller readers.

While the dual timeline is an effective narrative device, the rushed resolution of the story detracts from the emotional and psychological depth that could have made the ending more impactful. It felt as though the conclusion was hastily tied up, leaving a sense of dissatisfaction.

That said, The Quiet Wife has a cinematic quality that would likely translate well to a TV adaptation, where visual storytelling could enhance the tension and bring the characters to life in a way that compensates for the occasional narrative shortcomings.

For fans of Diane Saxon, this novel may not surpass the gripping allure of her DS Jenna Morgan series, which consistently delivers compelling mysteries and strong character arcs. One can only hope Saxon returns to Jenna Morgan soon, as her stories bring a sharper edge and stronger engagement than The Quiet Wife manages to sustain.

Wow this was a fabulous psychological thriller to start of my 2025 reading and a great read for New Year’s Day.

This was a tense and dark read with lots of twists and turns along the way which like with this authors other books make you want to carry on reading and not put it down once you have started.

The story contained some despicable
Characters and covered some serious topics.

I raced through this book, very fasty paced and a great read.

Told in two eras of time we find out the back story while in the present finding things are not quite what Soriah expected.

A fab book, would highly reccomend

Holy whizz ! This was wild ! I loved the pace , the twists and turns . I loved the final twist . This book was unhinged in the best possible way .

Loved loved this book! I haven’t had one in a while I couldn’t put down! Loved the surprise ending with the son!

The Quiet Wife by Diane Saxon is a psychological thriller told through a dual time line of past and present and the main character Soriah, a woman who really needs some luck, it started of strong but I did find I lost interest in the story and I did skim through parts, I found the story had a predictabe theme to it and I guessed how it was going to end and the ending had a rushed feel when it finally came. t would probably make a good tv series though. What I would really like is some more DS Jenna Morgan stories, fingers crossed Diane Saxon will return to her soon.

The Quiet Wife is intriguing and I like the dual timeline delivery.

However, I found myself skimming through some of the monologuing when it struggled to hold my attention. I’m not convinced it was all required to portray the same story, as it was repetitive from time to time.

I seesawed a bit with feelings for the characters. There are plenty of them to dislike. I didn’t connect with any of them, nor did I find myself rooting for any of them.

Overall, I liked the plot. I just prefer a faster pace than this.

If you enjoy a dark, twisted domestic thriller with a slow burn you’ll probably enjoy this one.

With thanks to #NetGalley and #BoldwoodBooks for an early ebook arc to review.

Overall a good read although for me personally I enjoyed her previous book better.

The characters mainly were good and well described.

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this ARC which I can thoroughly recommend.

4.5

A huge thank you to Boldwood Publishing and, of course, to Diane Saxon for the privilege of reading one of her books in advance once again!

When it comes to Diane Saxon and her books, you really never know what the next book will be - or the style that it is written in. While most authors have a distinct writing style, I would argue that Diane Saxon's hallmark is her ability to delve deeply into the emotional complexities of her characters. She does not tiptoe around trauma or try to play it down - instead the portrayal of emotions are very real and raw.

I try not to focus too much on Soriah's trauma portrayal, but it’s important to acknowledge how vital it is to understand that trauma can drive people to act naïve, irrational, or even secretive. Saxon weaves these elements seamlessly into a slow-burning psychological thriller that gains momentum as the story progresses.

I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Diane Saxon, brilliant!

This was a book I didn’t want to put down. We all have our past and this one came back to her. I really enjoyed this book.


I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for my honest opinion

I really enjoyed The Quiet Wife. The characters were well-developed and felt real, which made the story easy to read. Some of the flashbacks did interrupt the flow here and there, but they added depth overall. The tension and thrill was certainly there.

My only small gripe was that the climax between Craig and Marcus felt a bit rushed after such a strong buildup. I’d have loved more dialogue and detail in that moment.

That said, it’s a great read, and I’d definitely recommend it!

“The Quiet Wife” is a mystery/thriller by Diane Saxon. In this book we follow two timelines - present and 20 years ago. In the past storyline we meet college aged Soriah and her friend Gilly. Craig is a college student who is infatuated (think stalker infatuated) with Soriah. With Gilly’s encouragement, Craig becomes more obsessed with Soriah - which leads to a horrible outcome. In the present storyline, Soriah is married to Marcus and she learns that Craig is being released from jail. Soriah discovers odd things happening - she’s getting photos and messages from unknown numbers, little odd things happen around her house - and she wonders what is going on and is it related to Craig’s release. This book after one hint was dropped became, sadly, very predictable - but until that time, I thought this book wasn’t that bad of a read. There were a lot of little things leading the reader to believe a few different possible “who is doing this” scenarios, so that was enjoyable. I did find Soriah, for a person who felt things deeply, to be rather “okay, go with the flow and don’t make waves,” which I found disturbing (maybe unsettling). I found Ms. Saxon’s writing to be engaging and I flew through this book.

Main characters
Soriah
Craig

Storyline
Craig Lane is obsessed with  Soriah, and he believes he could make Soriah love him back if he just tried harder. However, after rejection comes a horrifying nightmare.

Years later, Soriah is given news, which terrifies yet informing her that her past is being released from prison.

The next question is, is she safe?

Thoughts
This thriller at the beginning had me gripped. However, I slowly started to lose interest as the plots and twists fell flat or were predicable for me.

This book has some heavy triggers, so please do check them before reading.

Awesome book!! Great author! Will be looking for more!!!!!!!!!!! Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before I even get into my review, I feel I need to mention that there could potentially be trigger warnings for this one that are not mentioned. Those warnings include stalking, forced imprisonment, rape, and the mention of abortion.

The synopsis of this one caught my attention immediately, and after seeing the early praise for this story with people calling it "complex, dark and disturbing" and "unputdownable with a tense, fast-paced & terrifying plot", I was beyond excited to read it.

Sadly, what I got was an overly predictable story with characters who were not likable in the least (some for less obvious reasons than others) that I could (and did) easily put down and forget about for extended periods of time. This was truly disappointing because this novel had such amazing potential (take for example my favorite line of the novel in which Soriah says "it's not the dark that worries me, but the monsters that hide in its shadows"). It's obvious this author knows how to write, it was just some of the creative choices they made seemed flawed.

For example (and to give credit where it is due), there was one instance where I was caught a bit off-guard because I thought the author was going one way with the story, but instead they decided to go a completely different route. However, I felt like that reveal came much too soon because it instantly not only put me on my guard, but made me wonder how Soriah didn't see it herself. I wish the author would have held off on this plot point just a little bit longer (or maybe not included it at all as a different point in the story as to not make it a huge red flag for the reader when it happened, but that would have allowed Soriah to know the truth).

Looking past the plot to the characters, as I mentioned prior, none of the main ones were very likable. Craig and Gilly for obvious reasons, but Soriah and her husband Marcus for less obvious reasons (at least at first). Marcus immediately comes across as a user (and a shady one at that). Seriously? You have to go away for a weekend and stay at a hotel in order to attend an awards ceremony for your job, the same job that says due to budget cuts your spouse can't attend? Could he be any more obvious? Also, I'm still confused as to whether or not there was an actual awards presentation as there was no mention of him bringing one back with him when he came back, only more instances of him being an uncaring git towards his wife. And then we have Soriah, who was just ..... a doormat. For her entire life. She didn't stand up to Craig. She didn't stand up to Gilly. She should have reported the admin from her school when things first began to escalate, but she didn't. Then later on... she didn't stand up to her husband. For heavens sake, she didn't even stand up to her parents at times. I really would have hoped that after everything that had happened to her when she was eighteen, that she would have learned how to stand on her own two feet and be assertive.

Despite these things however, I do feel like there will be other readers who will enjoy this one a lot more than I did. I would give this author another chance to see if maybe it was just this particular story that didn't jive with me.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

A fast paced read.
Some good twists but not the best from this author.in my opinion.
A decent thriller.
My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for my copy.