Sunday, August 9, 2020

The Wife Who Knew Too Much Review

Author: Michele Campbell
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Genre: Suspense Thriller
Release Date: July 28, 2020
Purchase Link: Amazon

My Rating: 3.5 Betraying Hearts

A special thank you to St. Martins Press for an arc of this book via Netgalley.

From Michele Campbell, the bestselling author of It's Always the Husband comes a new blockbuster thriller in The Wife Who Knew Too Much.

Synopsis & Author Bio following review.

Review:
The Wife Who Knew Too Much opens with a Dear Diary post that says if I die suddenly, it was my husband who killed me . . . my husband and her.  The diary entry belongs to a wealthy socialite, Nina Levitt, who is married to a much younger man, Connor.  In an earlier life, young Tabitha Girald fell in love with Connor Ford expecting a fairy tale ending.  Unfortunately, Connor was looking to move up the social ladder and did so by marrying Nina.  Years later, Tabitha and Connor reconnect in a seemingly accidental meeting in a bar where she's working and rekindle the flame extinguished so long ago.  Connor begs Tabitha for time to settle things with his wife promising her they'll finally have their own happy-ever-after.  Sounds like a good second-chance romance, right?  Right.

The Wife Who Knew Too Much unfolds through dual points of view - that of naive, gullible Tabitha and Nina, the wealthy wife putting out wicked witch of the west vibes.  At times, it's hard to know who to trust as the twists and turns mount up.  Taut writing feeds the tension vibrating throughout as it becomes obvious a trap is being set, but the question is for who?  Who's pulling the strings?  Who's playing who?  A fast pace, twisted plot line, and shades of the ultimate betrayal make this an intriguing read as suspects pile up.  I figured out what was going on fairly early in the story, but still couldn't put the book down.  I had to know if I was right.  I will say the characters are not very likable and there comes a point where I began to think they all deserved whatever fate handed them.  But that's the very thing I believe makes this story work.  Lies, betrayals, murder - it all adds up to an intriguing "whodunnit" that I recommend to fans of mystery, suspense, and thrillers.
Cross My Heart . . . xxx

Sandra

Synopsis:

Tabitha Girard had her heart broken years ago by Connor Ford. He was preppy and handsome. She was a pool girl at his country club. Their affair should have been a summer fling. But it meant everything to Tabitha.

Years later, Connor comes back into Tabitha's life—older, richer, and desperately unhappy. He married for money, a wealthy, neurotic, controlling woman whom he never loved. He has always loved Tabitha.

When Connor’s wife Nina takes her own life, he’s free. He can finally be with Tabitha. Nina’s home, Windswept, can be theirs. It seems to be a perfect ending to a fairy tale romance that began so many years ago. But then, Tabitha finds a diary. "I’m writing this to raise an alarm in the event of my untimely death," it begins. “If I die unexpectedly, it was foul play, and Connor was behind it. Connor—and her.”

Who is Connor Ford? Why did he marry Nina? Is Tabitha his true love, or a convenient affair? As the police investigate Nina’s death, is she a convenient suspect?

As Tabitha is drawn deeper into the dark glamour of a life she is ill-prepared for, it becomes clear to her that what a wife knows can kill her.

Michele Campbell is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School and a former federal prosecutor in New York City who specialized in international narcotics and gang cases.


A while back, she said goodbye to her big-city legal career and moved with her husband and two children to an idyllic New England college town a lot like Belle River in IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND. Since then, she has spent her time teaching criminal and constitutional law and writing novels.

She's had many close female friends, a few frenemies, and only one husband, who – to the best of her knowledge – has never tried to kill her.

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