Best of its genre I've read in a while. Gripping, a twist I didn't see coming and an unusual narrator. A strong 4.5.

Really far-fetched, reminded me of The Santa Clara Diet minus the eating of human flesh.

I didn’t really enjoy this book, I like a thriller but this was too far out there for me to really enjoy and I didn’t really like the characters.

Their family looks like any other family, mother, father, two children, but what their posh friends don’t know is that mommy and daddy like to kill people. This story is told from father’s perspective, and I have no idea what his name is. His wife Millicent, runs the family, she makes the rules, she cooks and cleans, she is the main earner in the family, and she likes to plot the murders. I really enjoyed reading this book from a males perspective, it was creepy but interesting. I liked the way the author was unfolding the story, there were these little turns and twists throughout the book, that got me intrigued to find out what will happen next.

Sometimes it did feel that the narrative was quite stretched in places, and was just plodding along, I would've liked a little more action. Even though both of these characters were gross at times, Millicent would be the one I liked more in this book. I liked her organization and parenting skills, she was a true boss lady in this book. :) So, to conclude, it was quite an intriguing read, with a very unusual concept, and good turns and twists.

I’ve heard so many good things about My Lovely Wife. This has been compared to Dexter meets Mr and Mrs Smith which is an apt description. When I started this I wasn’t sure what the tone would be. Is this satirical? Turns out not. This is more grounded in domestic noir and realism and it works really well. I won’t say much about the plot. The less you know the more you’ll enjoy it. For the first 25% of the book I had no idea what was going on nonetheless I enjoyed watching the story unfold. There’s lots of twists and turns. I did find the ending was a bit dramatic and things tied up too easily for my taste hence the 4 stars. Overall a cracking ace read. 4/5

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
Absolutely loved this book! Couldn't read it quick enough!

DELICIOUSLY DARK. COMPELLING. DISTURBING. UN.PUT.DOWN.ABLE.

Honestly, I don’t even know where to start with this review. My Lovely Wife was all kinds of messed up and I loved every single word! I devoured it and I guarantee fans who love this genre as much as I do will too! This has to be one of my favourite reads this year!

“I wanted to surprise you,” she says. “For our anniversary.” I stare at her. My lovely wife.”

Without going into the plot, or characters as I want you to experience them first-hand without something sticking in your mind from a review, which, yes, I know that defeats the object, but you’ll thank me later. Oh, will you thank me later…

The only thing I will say is the twist at the end of chapter one…Oh my days…I dare you to not get sucked right in!!

To say this is a debut novel shocked me. Samantha Downing has crafted a cleverly written, well-constructed plot that is deeply disturbing yet a highly entertaining read that ticked all the right boxes for me. If you enjoy your physiological thrillers with a splash of dark humour, twists you will not see coming and a ‘normal couple next door’ domestic noir plot then this will deliver all that and more!!

I can’t wait to see what comes from this author next! Absolutely fantastic debut!

What a superb read this was, I was hooked from page one and couldn't put it down until I finished.
I haven't read any of this authors work before so I didn't know what to expect, what I got was a gritty, twisted read that I loved.
Full review on my blog will follow soon.

I started this book with great expectations but found it slipping into absurdity towards the end. The characters were unbelievable but I quite enjoyed the plot twists.

I absolutely loved this book. Dark, twisted and totally unputdownable! Had read other great reviews on this book so decided it would be my next read - didn’t realise I would be up for two nights racing through it!

My Lovely Wife is delightfully dark and naughty novel which is unapologetically shocking - I loved it!

The characters are great; Millicent is often quietly scary but also very entertaining to read about, whilst her husband - whose name we never seem to hear - recounts their live together (present-day and past), wrapped up in something very sinister! Their slightly fucked-up kids add an interesting element to the story, as the reader may think the two of them have no qualms about what they do, but when it starts to affect their kids then it should be a different matter... 

I love that Millicent, as a mother (and of course, a female) isn't painted as a typical 'weaker', more maternal and emotional character. She's strong and definitely terrifying, and - let's be honest - not actually very likable, but it makes such a great change from the usual stereotypes that often come with female characters.

The story opens with an absolute bang, and for me that opening completely grabbed me and didn't let me go until the end. I found My Lovely Wife an utterly riveting read and a fantastic debut. I'll be keeping a keen eye on Ms Downing's future releases!

This is a very difficult book to review as all of the promotion appears to be about keeping the plot a secret!

It's the bizarre tale of a couple who decide to start torturing and murdering young women. There's no real reason given for this, and indeed anything else that happens in the book, which was a problem to me. I really like to know people's motivations for the things they do, and there was just none of that at all.

As a result, it's really difficult to say this was a pleasant experience. It was just strange. It was quite fast paced, but completely unfulfilling.

So in conclusion - things happen, I don't know why they happened, and I'd quite like to get those few days back that I wasted on this book!

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing is an interesting and unusual thriller. It is focused on the murderous partnership between a married couple. Rather than the story being told from the perspective of the victims or the detectives, this one is all about the perpetrators. Although it’s about the careful planning and execution of murder, there’s no gory details and the reader somehow isn’t expected to have empathy with the victims. There’s a creepy, completely unexpected twist towards the end of the book and this ramps up the tension.

I enjoyed this well plotted, well written thriller and can recommend it. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher, Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read and review the book.

A dark and shockingly original thriller. All-American couple Millicent and her husband have a murderous way of spicing up their marriage. A witty and sinister tale.

I’ve read and reviewed quite a few mysteries and thrillers for this blog and I still can’t get enough of them. There is something about discovering the depths of humanity from the safety of a book that is thrilling in an almost naughty way. And My Lovely Wife is all about the thrilling and naughty things we do. Although admittedly the things Downing’s characters get up to is, hopefully, very different from all of us. Thanks to Michael Joseph, Penguin UK and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
‘How well do you really know the person you love most?’ That is the question we’re all afraid to ask ourselves. My Lovely Wife is all about the façade, about how we never truly know what is going on behind the mask people throw up in front of us. It’s also about chasing that thrill, the forbidden in your life and what we’re willing to do for it. What kind of games do we play to keep things interesting? My Lovely Wife gives a very sensationalist answer to this question: murder. However, Downing expands that to show us what some of the other characters are hiding behind their facades. It could be a big heart, a deep sadness, an astounding ability for forgiveness; all of us hide something of ourselves and Downing uses this to her advantage in My Lovely Wife. No one is who they seem. The children aren’t just children. The friends are perhaps also enemies. And your safe suburbs could be much more dangerous than you’d expected. It’s delightful to be this on edge in a novel.
My Lovely Wife tells the story of a couple that couldn’t look more ordinary from the outside. A couple with two kids, a boy and a girl, they live a seemingly normal life in the suburbs. And yet the two play a twisted game. The novel is narrated by the nameless and seemingly hapless husband, who we first meet as he introduces himself as a deaf man called Tobias. He is scouting for women, but we’re not quite sure why. As he returns to his family, we come to find out this is much more than just a husband cheating. Millicent, his wife, is very much in on the game. As the plot of My Lovely Wife thickens, the husband’s life begins to fall apart piece by piece. He thought they were in the game together, but perhaps there is more to this than he had ever imagined. In her novel, Samantha Downing gives the readers two rather unlikeable and yet oddly intriguing main characters. Neither husband nor wife are exactly good people, and yet they seem devoted to each other, their children and their way of life. Downing takes the reader from one revelation to the other, from one outrageous twist to the next and it works. In the end My Lovely Wife isn’t too deep, but it gives the reader exactly what they need.
My Lovely Wife is a page-turner and I can’t believe it is Samantha Downing’s debut novel. It is very tightly paced, with clues set up at the beginning bearing relevance at the end. Downing makes it almost impossible to put her book down and that is really the only thing you can ask for in a thriller. I only have two minor complaints, really, and the first is that it all comes together a little bit too easy at the end. A lot of strands of the narrative suddenly come together in a seemingly perfect knot although, again, this perfect façade isn’t all it seems. Secondly, I’m kind of curious about this trend of the perfect and lovely wife who hides a darker past. Ever since the success of Gone Girl this has become the Thing, yet I always wonder whether at the heart of it there is a mistrust of women there. Gillian Flynn wanted to give female readers true female evil and she does so masterfully, yet not everyone has been able to similarly land on the right side between evil and caricature. With her ending Downing isn’t entirely there yet, I’d say, but this is an incredibly solid first effort and Samantha Downing has officially been added to my list of thriller writers to watch.

My Lovely Wife is a bonkers story. It’s a genuine rollercoaster ride, with plenty of twists and turns to keep thriller and crime fans on the edge of their seat. Downing does an amazing job at both making it feel like the novel is hurtling towards its end while keeping it a tightly controlled narrative. I’d recommend this to anyone looking for a shocking and engrossing new thrill read.

You think this is going to be a happy family story. It is something else, unbelievably macabre and twisted but compulsive reading.

This is a debut novel and although it’s well written, I have rather mixed views about it.

The couple at the centre of the story aren’t likeable and although on the surface they have the perfect life, there’s a dark side. And that’s where I struggled because although it’s billed as a psychological thriller, the psychology bit doesn’t work. I don’t want to give away too much about the plot, but there’s a lot of violence and very little motivation. I don’t understand how these people turned to their dark choices and it doesn’t fit together well. So although it’s fast paced and there are unexpected twists throughout, I was left with a rather empty feeling.

My thanks to the publisher for a review copy via Netgalley.

A very unusual book. Just when you think you know what is happening and your are trying to get to grips with that then it takes another even more sinister turn. How well so you really know your spouse??

Brilliant book! I loved it! Had me gripped from the first few pages, such a dark and disturbing read. So many twists, it keeps you guessing until the chilling conclusion. Definitely worth reading

Samantha Downing breaks some of the golden rules in My Lovely Wife. When I first started reading it, based on the subject matter, I thought that this book was not for me. I generally find that if I don’t like the protagonists, I might not have sufficient incentive to continue reading, but in this case I loathed them with such indignation that I wanted to know if and how they were going to get their come uppance. I have to say that I got morbidly engrossed in this psychological thriller, attracted and repelled in equal measure, it just got better and better and towards the end I found myself reading it at breakneck speed because I needed to finish it to get some respite from all the tension.
The story is told from the husband’s point of view, which only now I realise that we haven’t been told his real name. His wife is Millicent and they have two kids - Rory who is fourteen and Jenna who is thirteen. He works as a tennis coach and she sells houses. They seem like a regular, closely knit family with a tight system of rules and rewards and the parents want to give them the best start in life. On the face of it they’re a normal family, but there is something about this pair’s behaviour that is anything but normal. So far they’ve pulled off some stunts and got away with it, but some of the consequences of their actions come back to bite them in unexpected ways. This is where some of the come uppance hits them where both they and the reader weren’t expecting. And pretty soon there are too many questions between them unanswered, too many secrets that daren’t be probed, too much irony and too much hypocrisy.
I think this is what I would call a true psychological thriller. So many books today are labelled as such, but actually aren’t. I really felt that the intense dynamic between the duo could have been based on a real life couple in their strange attraction and interdependency.
A great debut novel. As soon as I’d finished reading I was making a mental note to look out for more by this author.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for the opportunity to read and review My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing.

I really enjoyed My lovely wife by samantha Downing. It was fast paced and a great story, I'd definitely recommend this to my friends