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Hi, all:

I bring you a book by a writer who has become very popular, but this is my first experience reading one of her novels. Not one straight plot-line in the whole book!

My Husband’s Wife: A Novel by Alice Feeney

The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists is back with a psychological masterpiece that will leave you questioning everything you know about love, identity, and revenge.

“Nonstop thrills! The best Feeney book yet!” —FREIDA MCFADDEN
“Propulsive, compulsive, addictive.” —LISA JEWELL

Eden Fox, an artist on the brink of her big break, sets off for a run before her first exhibition. When she returns to the home she recently moved into, Spyglass, an enchanting old house in Hope Falls, nothing is as it should be. Her key doesn’t fit. A woman, eerily similar to her, answers the door. And her husband insists that the stranger is his wife.

One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying.

Six months earlier, a reclusive Londoner called Birdy, reeling from a life-changing diagnosis, inherits Spyglass. This unexpected gift from a long-lost grandmother brings her to the pretty seaside village of Hope Falls. But then Birdy stumbles upon a shadowy London clinic that claims to be able to predict a person’s date of death, including her own. Secrets start to unravel, and as the line between truth and lies blurs, Birdy feels compelled to right some old wrongs.

My Husband’s Wife is a tangled web of deception, obsession, and mystery that will keep you guessing until the last page. Prepare yourself for the ultimate mind-bending marriage thriller and step inside Spyglass – if you dare – to experience a story where nothing is as it seems.

About the author:

Alice Feeney is a New York Times million-copy bestselling author of novels including His & Hers, Sometimes I Lie, Rock Paper Scissors and Daisy Darker. Her books have been translated into over thirty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations, with His & Hers currently in production for Netflix, produced by Jessica Chastain, and starring Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal.

Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years. Her seventh novel, Beautiful Ugly, will be published around the world in January 2025.

You can follow Alice on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter. To find out the latest book and TV news, or to sign up for Alice’s free newsletter, please visit alicefeeney dot com

My review:

I thank NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with an ARC copy of this novel, which I freely chose to review.

I had seen the author and her novels featured and was aware she is a very popular writer, but this is the first of her novels I read, although I have some others already waiting on my list.

I read many thrillers and mysteries, and I do love a story with twists and turns, red herrings and unreliable narrators, but this one must be one of the most convoluted stories I’ve ever read (if not the most), and with one of the highest counts of unreliable narrators I’ve ever come across. And that’s saying something. Of course, not having read any of her previous novels, I cannot comment on how it compares to those, but based on what I’ve read, she truly deserves the title of the Queen of Twists.

I am not sure what else to say about the book. I won’t tell you that I will try not to give too many details of the plot to avoid spoilers, because it is almost impossible to explain the plot in any way that makes sense without getting tangled up in who is doing what, when, who knows what, who is lying to whom, who is hiding what… Well, you probably catch my drift.

To begin with, the story starts with a fascinating premise. A woman named Eden Fox returns home after a run and discovers her key doesn’t work on the door. To make matters worse, the woman who opens the door tells her “she” is the real Eden Fox. The first woman we meet (who is telling the story in the first person, as all the narrators do) doesn’t have her phone or any means of identifying herself. She soon discovers how difficult it can be to prove you are who you really say tiy are when you’ve recently moved to a small town (Hope Falls) and haven’t interacted with any of the locals. That is, of course, if she is who she says she is.

Her story alternates with the story of another woman, Birdy (Olivia Bird), a bit of a loner who lost her mother when she was very young and seems to enjoy the company of her dog more than anybody else’s. She is given a terrible diagnosis, but also some surprising news about a relative she hadn’t thought about in years. Of course, readers will think there is a connection between the two women, but what is that connection?

We also get the story, as it develops and gets more and more complicated, from the point of view of other characters as we get into the story (Eden’s husband, the local policeman, and a few more), and when the body of a woman appears, there are also interrogations, transcripts, autopsy reports… The small town and Spyglass, the house where Eden Fox and her husband live, also feature prominently, and we get to hear about some peculiar characters, festivals and traditions, as well as local gossip. There are elements we’d expect to see in classical mysteries, and others fairly original (a company that tells people when they are going to die, and it seems to get it right), and there are stories of revenge, family relationships, questions of ethics and morality (how far would you go for your children, and what would you do to somebody who hurt them), and the odd touch of humour.

The characters… Well, it is impossible for such a twisted and changeable story to have characters that act consistently. I kept changing my mind about Eden Fox to begin with, and although I did like many things about Birdy (who has quite a sharp sense of humour), all the characters hide so many things (especially considering the narrative is told by all of them in the first-person) that I didn’t get the sense I knew any of them when I reached the end. Did I care for them? I felt intrigued, but I am not sure I’d say these are characters that will stay with me for a long time.

This is a genre that requires suspension of disbelief, like all fiction, but some novels stretch this more than others. This is not one of those stories that, as you read it, you think that it could easily happen to you or your next-door neighbour. Unless you lead a pretty complicated life. I finished reading it and wondered if everything would fit in and make sense if I reread the story now that I know what had happened (well, more or less). I am not sure.

This is an entertaining read that will keep you turning the pages (and yes, of course, there is a final-final-final twist), ideal if you are looking for something to keep you entertained and aren’t worried about it not being terribly realistic. Don’t expect deep psychological insights (there are many quotable phrases, though) or truly consistent and credible characters, but if you like twisted and challenging plots that will make your head spin, this is your book.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the book, thanks to all of you for your support, for visiting, reading, liking, sharing, commenting, clicking… Have fun, keep reading, and always keep smiling. ♥