Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Louisa is a new mom for the second time around but this time she is 40 years old. I was expecting a different sort of story than the one that developed. I didn't particularly like Louisa, she wasn't the most interesting character. There was too much emphasis on sleep deprivation but not in a good or positive light - where there might be ideas of how to handle it, how to get support, who to get support from.

The story developed slowly and dragged in parts - going over and over mistakes that Louisa might or might not have made with the baby. I had trouble understanding why a husband would plan a surprise party for a wife that he could see is struggling. Why in this day and age of technology would someone let another person set up and control their social media account - not even bothering to change the passwords?

New mom Louisa is shocked when her ex boyfriend Oliver shows up at her 40th birthday party. When his wife goes missing he insisted the last place she was seen was at her party, but no one remembers seeing her. When Oliver starts dropping vague hints about an incident from her past, and showing up around her house, Louisa is convinced that Oliver has something to hide.


This book was not for me.
While it sounds interesting, it does not hold up to the hype.

I did not like the story or the writing style.
I thought it was choppy and that it dragged on.
After the final twist the book just kept going, without adding anything to the story.

Not for me

This wasn't a favorite for me , when a book takes me a while to plod through I know its not going to get a 5 star review for me . The main problem for me was that most of the characters were just unpleasant, also I know its a work of fiction but the end was just so far fetched . The story starts off pretty well , Louisa a new mum with a husband and teenage daughter is exhausted , has blocks in her past memories and is pretty much losing the plot . Her friend throws her a surprise birthday party , with a guest list of people she can't remember apart from one an old flame who is there with his wife . His wife disappears after the party but no one can recall her even being there . Oliver ingratiates himself back into Louisa's life and it just gets worse from there . I read on as I was interested to find out how it concluded but this just wasn't for me

This book has a lot of potential being about a new mother Lou, who is struggling to cope. Her husband and best friend are sympathetic and try to cheer her unsuccessfully as it happens as reconnections from the past overtake her. ...... I found the pace of the writing too slow and constant accounts of Lou's state of mind repetitive and frustrating. All in all the style of writing did not hit the mark to enable me to recommend this read.

Initially I enjoyed this book, even though at times it felt kind of monotonous, but I felt that the ending really let it down.

Beware the Spoiler!

This is the story of Louisa, just turning forty with a teenager and a brand new baby. Poor sleep deprived Louise is also suffering from dissociative amnesia meaning that there are large sections of her past that she just doesn't remember - all she knows is that whatever she has forgotten is pretty bad. Louisa struggles with her baby's sleeplessness and this builds into a paranoia where she starts to think that her long suffering husband, Brian, is having an affair with her best friend, Tiff. Louisa also has very strong and clear hallucinations and at varying times thinks that she is holding her baby when he is in his cot, thinks she has dropped the baby on the floor when she hasn't and she keeps seeing visions of blood.

As a means of making his wife feel better, Brian organizes a surprise 40th birthday party for Louisa which he pairs with a night away in a hotel for her and Tiff so that she can get a good nights sleep without worrying about the baby. Tiff does most of the organizing, inviting everyone from Louisa's Facebook friends list - a list which includes a lot of people that Louisa doesn't know at all or only knows vaguely. One of the invitees is Oliver, Louisa's ex boyfriend, who broke her heart when he moved away to York twenty years ago. Louisa wakes the next morning to find that she can't remember anything about the party at all and isn't at all sure how she got to bed. Soon Oliver is turning up at her house as his wife, Melissa, has gone missing at the party - something which she apparently does on a semi regular basis so doesn't initially cause him any concern. Louisa ends up being roped into attending the police station to report Melissa missing, starring in an appeal for Melissa to return and being questioned by the police about why she can't remember the events of her party.

Through a series of increasingly irritating flashbacks, Louisa starts to wonder whether Melissa was even at the party in the first place and why she is suddenly getting images of blood, matted hair, bare feet on grass and a building terror. Couple this with seemingly to forget feeding her baby all day (seriously!!!) and her mobile phone going missing (something that we never get to the bottom of) and we are taken on a journey as Louisa tries to work out why everyone seems to be lying to her.

The ending left me particularly disappointed - it was ludicrous and completely ruined the story for me. It is a decentish read if you can get past the ending. There are twists and turns but it was just not satisfying enough for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed the start of the book, it promised mystery and intrigue, what had happened in Louisa's past, what had happened to Oliver's wife, but then it appeared to lose its way and I skim read a lot just to find out what happened in the end. I liked the twist of who the missing wife was but the ending was way too far fetched for me to give it any more stars.

Absolutely loved this book. At times I had to slow down to read properly as I was galloping through trying to get to the next twist.
Louise is currently on maternity leave with her second child. Absolutely shattered with a newborn the only thing she wants is sleep. Not a surprise party for her 40th. Especially not a party where the invite list is from the friends on her Facebook account. This heralds the arrival of Oliver an old boyfriend.
However, Oliver’s wife disappeared during the party. Where did she go or was she even there.
A fabulous book that has left me wanting to read more by Sam Carrington

This book did take me a while to get into the story line but once I did it turned out to be a well paced thriller, well written with interesting characters, some of which I liked but some I didn't!

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

I read this book quickly - both because I was I intriuged and hooked wanting to know what happened but also in a way because I wanted it to be over. The author smartly keeps you in the dark so you only know what the main character knows, but this made me a little anxious!

I enjoyed the story and liked most of the characters. There were a few bits that seemed unrealistic to me which I won't go into for fear of spoilers but suffice to say I found the husbands behaviour unlikely.

The ending disappointed me but I'm not sure how I wanted it to end. Again, it seemed unrealistic how it ended.

Overall an ok read.

Laura and Brian have two children, Emma a teenager and their baby boy. As she approaches her 40th birthday, Laura is struggling. She is sleep-deprived, anxious and feeling guilty about her thoughts as she juggles with all her commitments and she is aware that she is short-changing Emma with her time and that Brian just irritates her. Her best-friend Tiff is her life-saver, her best-friend – really, her only friend. Laura is even distant with her parents. Plus she has a secret.

She has huge gaps in her memory. Despite therapy, despite medication, she just can’t remember and this leaves her anxious and troubled. So Tiff organises a surprise party and to organise the guest list she uses Laura’s Facebook account. Enter Oliver Dunmore, her ex.

Oliver then becomes somewhat involved in Laura’s life and in particular because his wife, Melissa, is missing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller and as I read I constructed many scenarios (most of which were wrong). So I must say that the plot was well-structured and kept me guessing and involved. The characters were believable, although I could have strangled Brian. Tiff was just too good to be true, or was she?

My only slight hesitation: I am ever so slightly disappointed by the end – just a bit. However, I have no hesitation in recommending it as it kept me entertained, it is well written and I never guessed how it would end. Job done.

Thank you to the author, publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

This book was a fun read but I struggled to stay connected with it at times. The main character Louisa was not likable at all nor was she relatable. The author reiterated her new mom status coupled with lack of sleep over and over again until I found myself skimming. Descriptions of her sleep deprivation got boring and repetitive. The plot was intriguing with her former college flame coming back into her life and his wife gone missing but there were many parts that were not realistic to me. It was hard to imagine having your best friend and your husband do some of the things they did behind Louisa's back - I just couldn't connect those dots so to speak. That part of the story line made it seem like they didn't know her at all nor did they have her best interest at heart.
This is my first book to read by Sam Carrington and I would absolutely read more from him this one just wasn't one I loved. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy and opportunity to read.

Lots of people to suspect and dislike in this book. I enjoyed how we gradually got to know more about Louisa's past as the story unfolded. Some good twists or shocks to the reader but then elements that appeared confusing or strange to imagine . Overall a quick, easy read. Recommend when you are wanting something to enjoy that doesn't require too much thinking.

Sorry! There was nothing in this book I liked, other than the enticement of an exciting thriller, which, I’m afraid this isn’t. The summary sounded very interesting, unfortunately, the characters and storyline just didn’t flow and I found the main character of Louisa, frankly, irritating.

I’m sure this will have an audience and I wish it every success for those who enjoy it. Not me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview in exchange for this honest review.

Another engaging read by Sam Carrington! The Missing Wife had lots of twists and turns and though it wasn't necessarily the most original thriller, I found it to be great entertainment and enjoyed myself reading it.

I was sadly pretty disappointed by this book. I didn’t find any of the characters very likeable at all. Louisa, particularly, was actually quite annoying through most of it. I feel like I should be feeling bad for her but I just didn’t. The plot moved really slowly for me, half way through I found myself skimming through some parts. There seemed to be too much going on and even after finishing I am still sort of left confused about some things. With all that said, it was compelling enough that it made me want to finish and find out what was going to happen. This thriller just wasn’t thrilling enough for me.

Thank you to the author/publisher/Netgalley for the opportunity to read to this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I love this book. First off, she’s a new mom having a hard time with dealing with the needs of a little one. The constant forgetfulness is something I can absolutely understand. As a new mom i def had the “baby brain” and it was nice to read a book that touched on the hardship of being an overwhelmed mom. This was a good mystery/thriller. I kept trying to figure this one out and the outcome was nothing I expected.

Sam Carrington's book, "The Missing Wife,is a complex and gripping psychological thriller. Louisa is a 39 year old woman struggling with a new baby,a stroppy teen aged daughter ,memory loss and an acute lack of sleep. To add to her problems her well-meaning husband and best friend arrange a surprise 40th birthday party for her which is the last thing she wants or needs, The best friend,,Tiff, hacks Louisa's Facebook account and covertly invites some of Louisa's former schoolmates,most of whom she doesn't even recognise at the party. The exception is former boyfriend Oliver and Louisa's already hectic life gets a whole lot more complicated when his new wife apparently disappears at the party. By this time the reader has already witnessed Louisa's confused state as she struggles through life suffering from exhaustion and not trusting her memory,she's suffered from lapses throughout her life. Strange things start to happen and readers are left to decide whether it's Louisa's memory and tiredness problems, something she's hiding ,possible mental issues or someone playing mind games that are the cause of her struggles. Does she have a stalker.......or a Guardian Angel? Are those close to her hiding things from her or is she paranoid? As events spiral out of control and she begins to unravel Louisa's secret past comes back to haunt her and Sue Carrington has her readers wondering who is lying,who is doing what with who,who can Louisa trust and can the reader trust Louisa? That and the odd red herring make for a largely satisfying tale. I say largely as the denouement is more than a bit unbelievable and far too "wordy"before the grand finale. In the manner of certain crime shows on tv the main protagonists lay out their theories and revelations at great length during what should be a tense standoff situation to tidy up the loose ends in the story.
That aside a very good read and I'll certainly read more books by Sue Carrington, if you like Elizabeth Haynes and Gillian Flynn,and there's a nod to the latter in this book,you'll enjoy this.

Big thanks to Sam Carrington, Avon Books and Netgalley for the ARC in return for an unbiased review.

Really enjoyed reading this book, it has twists and turns in it and it really makes you think of who dunnit.
I loved getting to know the characters and learning their pasts into why they are the way they are.
The ending of the book was great however I didn’t give it a 5 star because some of the parts I thought were a little unbelievable but it didn’t affect how much I enjoyed the book. Such a good read from Sam and thank you to netgalley for the advanced copy.

I enjoyed this book but not as much as I had hoped I would, for me it dragged a little at places. It’s well written & strong relatable characters.

It was only ok, i found it dragged a lot and i was starting to skips bit which would be very unusual for me. Louisa kind of grated on me. I was still intrigued to know what happened to her so kept with it but it just was not my style of a thriller.