One of the best reads so far this year. I absolutely loved this. It was predictable but was still thrilling and interesting. Loved the relationships too.

This book had a real buzz about it when it was first published in December 2017 (yes it has been on my NetGalley shelf for a while, yes I am a terrible book blogger who reads at a snail's pace!).  I received a free eARC copy of The Innocent Wife which has in no way influenced my review.

I keep seeing mixed reviews for this book and I just don't get it.  I know, I know, you don't have to tell me - reading is subjective.  I totally get that.  I'll say this though, if you're anything like me you will love this book.  It has everything I want in a novel.  I loved the small town American feel of it, I loved how the author has used the nation's love of true crime to give it a more authentic edge, I loved the plot and I loved the characters.  This is turning into an epic year of reading for me; nearly every book I pick up just blows me away!  And that includes The Innocent Wife.

Notorious convicted killer, Dennis Danson, comes to Sam's attention when questions begin to be raised over the evidence and trial used to convict him and send him to death row.  An online group start petitioning for his release claiming the Red River Police got the wrong man.  Sam does what any normal (!) 30-something would do in this situation and starts corresponding with Dennis.  Before long a strong bond is formed between them and Dennis sends a visiting order.  Sam drops everything, packs her bags and flies off to Altoona Prison to meet Dennis in person, hoping he's everything his letters lead her to believe he is.  After an awkward start, the couple relax into each others company and before long Sam has extended her visa to allow her to visit Dennis on a regular basis.  Then he's released and everything changes.  Sam is married to a man she hardly knows.  And what's more, what she was once certain of, she's not anymore...

Character, character, character.  I flipping love a bunch of fascinating people!  I really felt for Sam.  I could feel her loneliness, her need to be loved and adored which emanated from the page.  I also found her a little frustrating at times because I wanted her to stop being so drippy and 'woman-up' a bit.  That didn't stop me from wanting to read Sam's story though.  She intrigued me.  I also loved the mysterious Dennis, although I doubt very much I was supposed to!  There was something quite dark and dangerous about him and that appealed. Other characters were great too such as the true crime documentary filmmaker, Carrie, who welcomes Sam to the US with open arms and then becomes her guardian angel.  She just knows Dennis is innocent and will do everything in her power to prove it.

Would I recommend this book?  I would, yes.  It's a delicious slow burn of a read and I loved it!  I was absolutely fascinated to see where the story was going to go and I wasn't at all disappointed.  Gripping, unnerving and it ticked so many boxes for me.  I would not hesitate to pick up another book by Amy Lloyd.  In fact, I can't wait to read more from this author! Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review an eARC of The Innocent Wife.  The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

This was the first book I've read from this author and I enjoyed it very much. It was very well written and the characters were well thought out.

I really enjoyed this book. It was hooking, gripping and everything that a psychological thriller should be. I cannot wait for the next book by this author.

School teacher Samantha lives in England and becomes obsessed with a man she has never met via a TV documentary. The documentary features death row prisoner Dennis Danson who has spent the last twenty years behind bars for the brutal murder of a teenager when he was just eighteen-years-old.

The documentary looks at the case, new evidence and whether Dennis could, in fact, be innocent. Could he have been wrongly convicted?

Sam begins to write to Dennis and then travels from her home to Florida where she sets about meeting him. Soon they began having a relationship and she becomes his wife. The documentary serves it’s purpose and Dennis is freed. However, Sam discovers her own evidence that could mean that she was wrong and that Dennis really was the killer. He’s also not the man she thought he would be. But what can you do when you are possibly married to a murderer?

The book reminded me of the Netflix series Making a Murderer and the new Ted Bundy Files. As a nation, we seem to have become obsessed with murderers as their lives and reasoning intrigue us and we try to understand the psychology behind such gruesome acts.

The book is quite a slow burner and though it moves at a steady pace, that pace is about as fast as a snail. The plot though was certainly intriguing. Men like Dennis are predators to women like Sam. She is shy and meek and is smitten that he has taken notice of her. She believes that he loves her and wants her. Dennis, however, is the kind of man that women in domestic violence relationships live with. The kind that is nice on the outside to others and a perfect gentleman but behind closed doors it’s like a monster has taken over and you can see the evil in their eyes.

There are some strange and very weird moments in the book that do make you think ‘really?’ Would that really happen in real life? There were also times when I felt like there were passages of information I didn’t need to know, they didn’t add anything to the plot.

That being said I did find myself engrossed in the story and 3/4 the way through the pace quickens and we have an action-packed ending which for some might come as a shock but unfortunately I saw it coming. Though it did feel a little rushed and I it was at this point I wanted the book to last a little longer. This is the type of book that I could see being made into a popular series or movie.

Samantha/Sam falls for Dennis Danson a murderer currently on Death Row. She leaves her simple life in the U.K to visit Dennis after corresponding with him by letters sent back and forth.
Samantha marries Dennis but when he is released will Samantha feel the same?

Absolutely stunning book! I really enjoyed this and get like it kept me interested throughout the whole book. Definitely worth a read.

** contains spoilers**

The story starts with who is a young school teacher in England. She becomes absolutely obsessed with a man called Dennis Danson. Danson is a convicted killer on death row who has been charged with the brutal murder of a young girl called Holly Michaels. The young girl had been mutilated and the body parts had been dumped in a bayou in Red River, County Florida. It was this murder that sparked a nationwide investigation into the suspicious deaths of other women from the same area.
Danson becomes the subject of a documentary that goes through all of the evidence from the investigation to see if anything had been overlooked by the police and to try and prove his innocence
We find that Samantha's obsession actually started with Danson after watching the first documentary about him. since then she joins numerous websites and forum chats where other fans of Danson are campaigning and dedicated to proving his innocence. basically it is a fan club. for the most part the people who add to this are convinced that this was a wrongful conviction and Danson is the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice.
Sam decided to write a letter to Danson and is overwhelmed when he replies to her. The letters continue over a period of time and they proclaim to love each other, Samantha decides to use some of her inheritance money to fly to America and see Danson in prison.
Spoiler 1 ~ the campaign is a success and it isn't long before he is released.
Spoiler 2 ~ the newly wed couple move back to Danson's hometown where they make their home. They have a cellar around the back of he house and its in there that the 'bad stuff' happens. Sam has a growing sense of unease as the relationship doesnt really go how she had planned. Danson is distance and irritable often going out in the dead on the night with no explanation. a gut feeling leads her to the cellar and its here she finds a box. In the box are photos that prove he extent of Dennis's involvement with the other missing girls.

I enjoyed the style of writing and I think LLoyd did an exceptional job of creating a sense on unease in the story. Well written earning a full 5 starts from me.

I wont lie, I was sucked in based on the dysfunctional idea of someone wanting a relationship with a murderer. Samantha didn't know Dennis before he was imprisoned for the murder of a young girl, so what makes her so sure he is Innocent?

Samantha and Dennis fall "in love" via letters and visits, and Dennis began to be portrayed as what someone, somewhere (on another planet) might refer to as a doting boyfriend, I know Samantha seemed to think so. She was obsessed with him in every way possible and wanted to do all she could to get him released.

I think Amy Lloyd executed her idea behind this book perfectly. She tricked me into thinking I wanted the pair to be happy and I began wanting what Samantha wanted. The sexual tension between Samantha and Dennis was uncomfortably addicting to read, and without even thinking, I was beginning to hope Dennis was released so that they could be 'happy' together, yet any other time, I would be disgusted by the thought of it.

I also thought it was really well written which was part of the reason I flew through it so quickly.

I do have to admit that even though I found myself feeling sorry for Samantha, I still felt she was completely deluded and came across pretty self obsessed. Her family were clearly extremely worried about her and the situation she had placed herself into but she gave no thought to them whatsoever.

Unfortunately I have a love/hate relationship with the ending of this book. I absolutely loved the final twist to the story but hated how it was executed. I know this sounds contradictory but I cant say anymore without giving anything away. The book in general was a bit of a slow burner until everything seemed to explode and wrap up in the last 20 pages.

5 stars

Brilliant! Thought provoking! Scary!

Samantha (Sam), a thirty-one-year-old teacher in Bristol, is full of self-doubt, longing for someone to whom she can devote her life. Caring for them, loving them. This love had been rejected by Mark who had dumped her because of her insecurity and jealousy.

Mark had introduced her to an online forum trying to prove the innocence of Dennis Danson, currently on death row. He had been found guilty of murdering Holly Michaels. There had been other girls who had disappeared from the region, their bodies never discovered. Dennis was thought to have murdered them, but without bodies, charges couldn’t be brought against him.

Sam and Dennis start corresponding, sharing their innermost thoughts and feelings. Falling in love. Dennis asks her to come to America to be closer to him and help him in the battle to prove his innocence. They meet, Dennis with chains around his ankles and hands and a bullet proof piece of glass between them. This doesn’t deter Sam and she joins the team who are making a documentary that will hopefully prove Dennis’ innocence. Somehow, thanks to all the people in the forum who had worked tirelessly for the past twenty years of Dennis’ incarceration, his case is re-opened, and he is declared innocent. Innocent? A miscarriage of justice?

Dennis is a celebrity, invited on all the chat shows and in the meantime, Sam is trying to come to terms to being married to this complex man who went away a teenager and has emerged into the world twenty years later where technology helps information spread instantly.

Amy Lloyd has created a monster of a book. Sam, the insecure girl, desperate for love and stability. Dennis, a charming handsome ex-con, who wants his freedom and retribution for being locked up for a crime he did not commit. Carrie, the enthusiastic filmmaker, who has spent years together with Patrick, the director, making documentaries and trying to find the truth about Holly Michaels’ horrific murder and Lindsay, from Dennis’ hometown, who shares a strange secretive history with Dennis.

There is one last thing I need to share about this book. Did I like it? Empathise with the characters? No, not really. Do I think this whole thing is simply a figment of the author’s imagination? Absolutely not. This is a real story with a lot of truth in it.

Treebeard

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

How can you know if someone is truly innocent? You love a man on death row who you are convinced is a victim of a miscarriage of justice. But what happens when you succeed and free him and have forever together and the doubts start to creep in and maybe things aren't as crystal clear as they were before. This is that tale.

This was a quick read, I found it hard to put down, the idea of having a connection with a man on death row had me intrigued and kept me reading.

There were some parts of this story that I struggled to believe and had me cringing,however not enough to make me stop reading. I found myself reading this in hours as I wanted to find out what would happen to each of the characters.. I did not find any of the characters likeable however I still wanted to find out what happened and how the story ended. A good, quick read.

I love a good thriller and this was a real page turner with some great characters. I couldn't put it down and was a little disappointed when it ended!

A very good book, seeing it from how someone marries someone on death row and believes them. It is like a brainwashing. However will he get out, will he be there for you? Great book.

. . . . .

The lines between true crime and fiction blur in the first book by Amy Lloyd, winner of the Daily Mail bestseller competition. Inspired in part by Amy's fascination with shows like Making a Murderer, this gripping psychological suspense novel is hugely compelling and impossible to put down.

I am currently working on expanding our school library's senior section after years of a dismal and uninspiring selection of books that our older readers never checked out. My job has been to seek out much more diverse, gripping and modern books that will get them into reading by appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible. This really appealed to me because of its fantastic narrative and sense of atmosphere, combined with believable characterisation and its page-turning nature. It's hard to get young people into reading and if the library is not stocking the kind of book that they might grow up to buy as adult readers then we are not really meeting their needs. I can imagine this provoking lots of discussion after finishing it and a long queue of people trying to reserve it as they've heard so much about it. Will definitely be buying a copy and know that it's going to be a very popular choice. An engrossing read that kept me up far too late to finish reading it. It certainly stood out from the other books that I was considering and I look forward to converting more Amy Lloyd fans in future!

I was really drawn to the premise of this novel -Samantha begins writing to a prisoner on death row and as they exchange letters she feels herself falling in love with him. She goes to America to join the campaign to free him as she, and others, believe he’s innocent. The first half of the book is better than the second for me because it felt much more believable; the second half, and in particular the ending, felt a bit rushed. Having said that I found I couldn’t put the book down at any point because I simply had to know what was going to happen!

I really enjoyed...if that's the right word...this book. I though the character of Samantha was believable as she succumbs to a fantasy relationship with Dennis who is on death row.
When the relationship becomes reality, I felt torn between feeling sorry for Dennis and gradually feeling more and more convinced he was hiding a horrible secret.

In todays society we seem to have a huge interest in true crime, and documentaries like The Making of a Murderer are increasingly popular.  Amy Lloyd takes this idea and makes it the centre of her debut novel The Innocent Wife.  Dennis Danson has spent eighteen years in prison for a murder he didn't commit.  He has been at the centre of a Netflix documentary and a book, all looking at how unsafe his conviction is. Into this story comes Samantha, she has seen these documentaries and believes Dennis to be innocent of his crime.  A correspondence quickly sees her move to America and marry Dennis whilst he is still on Death Row, but his conviction gets over turned and their relationship takes on a new dimension.

This is a very interesting concept, and certainly had me gripped from the beginning.  The reader is a voyeur on Sam and Dennis's life now he is out of prison.  Suddenly they are famous, interviewed on television shows, in the newspapers, plastered across social media and given book deals.  The social media aspect was really interesting, celebrities tweeting about freeing Dennis and influencing their followers, people making judgements on Dennis and Sam, trolling them.  It certainly demonstrates the impact social media can have, it can make or break someone, cause hurt and pleasure depending on the tweet and famous people can make a huge difference to the opinion of the masses. When Dennis was convicted there was no internet or social media, so he has to learn and its fair to say makes a few mistakes, not use to people attacking him directly.

I found most of the characters in this book to be flawed with some psychological issues. Most of us would be worried about Sam travelling half way around the world to meet and marry an inmate on death row.  This maybe explained by her low self esteem, a need to be loved, jealous and always seeking validation. Through the book we find more about Sam and the dramatic end to her last relationship. Dennis obviously has a huge adjustment to make, the world has changed in twenty years and he has to learn how live in todays society.  His abusive childhood and twenty years incarcerated take a toll on his mental health, so together with Sam, their relationship is strained, they don't know each other and didn't expect to be thrown together so quickly.  I found I could feel their tension, their unease and suspicion of each other throughout the book, and I have to say it made me feel uncomfortable and on edge in a good way. Supporting characters like Lindsay, Dennis childhood friend and Police Officer Harries also seem to have agendas and lives that have more answers the questions; slightly crazy comes to mind.

As a thriller The Innocent Wife is a huge success.  It is a slow burner, the tension building throughout and it feels you are waiting for something to happen, but you don't know what.  The sense of unease and menace that kept me on the edge of my seat and I literally couldn't put the book down.  Even if someone is cleared of a crime there is always a scent of suspicion that follows them around, they are never really free of the crime, and it is this and the dynamic of Sam and Dennis's relationship that keeps you gripped. A fabulous concept that makes a nail-biting and suspenseful read, simply brilliant.