Book Review: My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing

   

Publish Date: March 26, 2019

“Some people are just wired wrong. They think bad is good.” — My Lovely Wife

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We’re your neighbors, the parents of your kid’s friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have our secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.

This book is a twisty, disturbing ride with some absolutely VILE characters, and it’s highly entertaining.

Millicent and her husband are just plain cray cray.  They spice up their marriage in a very unusual way. When I say this, I don’t mean swinging or swapping or sex parties. No, that would be too typical, bland, boring. They keep their marriage alive in a way that no one would expect – they are serial killers living under a deceptively mundane existence.

“I always wanted to be more than average.” — My Lovely Wife

I hated these two. Millicent and her husband both project themselves as conservative, upstanding citizens/friends/neighbors and model parents. One minute this couple is quibbling with their teenagers about phone usage and playing violent video games; the next minute the husband is scouting out their next prey and the wife is plotting her next kill. Hubby’s alter ego is known as Tobias; interestingly, I didn’t catch his real name, I don’t know if it was ever revealed or I just missed it.

I could not decide if these people are psychopaths or sociopaths. They are clinical, and operate with no conscience. They made me feel uneasy and unsettled, and I loathed them. Reading this book made me cringe so many times.

So, you are probably thinking that I didn’t like this book, but actually, I liked it. It was highly entertaining once I stopped squirming. I might hate the characters and what they stand for, but I couldn’t stop reading it. Despite the horrible things that the characters are thinking and doing, I was completely riveted and binge read the entire book in a few nights. The story is like a train wreck; I knew what might be happening, but I was hoping that it went another way. The plot grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I wondered if they were going to get away with their heinous crimes or get caught. I had no idea how it was going to end and I was dying to find out.

This book is one of those where you have to put your beliefs aside and just go with the story. It has an amusing side, especially how Millicent and her husband squeeze in their killer hobby within their normal lives, and even a poignant side on how they handle their daughter Jenna’s personal crisis as they care and support her as protective, loving parents. I laughed at the irony.

The book is very well written. It jumps around, and flashes back and forth from the present, past, and in between. Each chapter builds up to a little cliff hanger or ends with a teaser and had me wanting more. It has a high shock factor. Some parts were a little stomach churning for me, and if violence against women is a trigger for you, you might want to skip this book.

It’s been mentioned that this book is similar to the TV show Dexter, but I disagree. Dexter is a more endearing character because his victims were bad people; at least I could understand his choice of victims. Millicent and her husband are people that I loved to hate.

This is the craziest thriller that I have read to date. Fasten your seat belt for this wild, dark ride of a book, and don’t say that I didn’t warn you. It’s an excellent first book from this author.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars 

Note: I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.