Review: My Lovely Wife

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Daaaamn.

This is truly a twisted, horrendous and most surprising book of all the mystery novels I've ever read, hands down..

Let me just say what I feel, properly, from the start before I ramble to god knows where..

And that would be boring as hell, no?

So let me just start.

The cover - A dark aura surrounds it, chilling me with the anticipation of what may happen in it, it's every bit devious as the cover shows, although the pages itself scream more than that they show. And boy do I appreciate that. Heh, it literally kept me up all night and holding a bat in my hand, wondering if it could happen to me, haha..silly me..and you can't convince the mind sometimes to ignore it..so be prepared to be spooked if you read this at night..

The summary -My first time reading a bonny and clyde like serial killer thriller (hehe, get the joke? thriller, killer? song reference?). I was really not prepared for what I was about to read, although reading some fellow reviewers' reviews made me somewhat knowledgeable but not even they, could prepare me for what I read...especially with those plot twists at every turn. Daaamn. Truly my heart felt like it would stop at any one of those scenes.

Here's the summary in case you're wondering (a brief version): Millicent, her husband, are all a normal family at day, juggling every day responsibilities and decisions on their shoulders, also catering to their children and themselves. But what if this family wasn't so ordinary as you thought? What if they were truly something else at night? What would you say then? Especially when one day you discover, that the person you claimed to "know" so well, is truly different, then what would you do? How far would you go to prove yourself right and them wrong?

That is one chillingly spooky summary, and if you're not convinced yet, read the actual summary. Surely then you'll be frightened and more than ready to have this novel at hand.

Guarantee it.

But let's keep moving.

The mystery - This novel would be classed somewhere as a psychological thriller/domestic noir (maybe?) as so many themes that are often found in such novels were ever present in this one. All the planning, the cunning minds, the witty dialogues, and calculated expressions and behaviours, the two personality clanger hanging in the middle of their double lives, representing something far from what an outside eye would see. Truly, it was exciting but so scary anticipating their every move and wondering what their move would be if a barrier came in their way. My heart had quite a hard time balancing it's beat in time, sigh..

The characters, background, explanations -Rory and Jenna, sure they seemed a bit too much at times, but they were kids, you couldn't really judge them for what they did and who they lived with..(*coughs, glares at Millicent and husband). Millicent was truly wearing a mask and masquerading with everything that happened, what a devil. Never once could I predict her ulterior motives for what she planned, the deviousness was truly at an all time high, so unpredictable. Damn. The background of their lives and their own actions are also explained in a detailed but not boring at all manner, it had me going for every page. Also the explanations for each action done by Millicent and the husband were pretty good, I have to admit, leading to one fast paced, suspenseful thriller.

The reason why I took off one star - The husband, felt too weak sometimes, he felt like a protesting child sometimes, or like an obedient pet, just literally going along with everything his wife did, not even questioning anything. And the moments where he did have a heart were so short, that it was hard to see him being anything human, and truly solidified my image of what it means to be a serial killer, and not an emphatic human. I had this discussion with a friend, Jade, who thought it was excellent that the husband had a heart, but then I said how it messes up in your mind about what a serial killer is, and whether he has any feelings which contribute to his actions.

So, sorry Jade, but I don't think he needed to have a heart. His character was already weak, he didn't need more emotional imbalance to affect his own monologue and actions. That's just my opinion though, others can be different.

And the ending was a bit screwed up. I mean they literally restart, move away from everything else, but then he starts the same shenanigans all over again, despite what happened to him.

I mean seriously. Dude, get a new job, life, persona, but don't start your disturbingly imbalanced shit all over again. You have a family to raise all over again and this time, you're alone.

NO ONE WILL HELP YOU. PERIOD.

Aside from all that, I gotta say that this novel is truly something and you shouldn't miss out on picking it up, I mean CJ Tudor compared it to "Dexter meeting Gone Girl" (by which I've ordered both novels from my library since yesterday, and even got friended by the author who wrote the Dexter series, eeeh!). Even if it's too devious and certainly twisted far above, don't let that deter you from reading it, it's truly spine-chilling and the most plot-twist filled success of a novel, of 2019.

And I definitely recommend it with all my heart. So go read it. Please. Just do yourself a favor and do it.

You won't regret it. Much. Maybe not. Only time can tell. *winks*

PS: Sorry for such a long review, I'll try make it short the next time. But I couldn't help it hehe. But sorry again.

I hope you enjoyed.

Until the next read,

-TMR

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