Missing Wife


The start of this story is intriguing, though the dialogue can be stilted, as if it’s moving the plot forward but sounds unnatural. We start to get to know Louisa, but she immediately has memory gaps, which gives us a patchy picture of us. On one hand, I enjoyed the less-than straightforward telling at the beginning, but as the story sometimes leapt forward without explanation, I wondered if it was unintentional flaws in the timelines. I got a bit bogged down in all of Louisa’s forgetting, and got impatient for the story to move forward. It actually got to be too much — how “out of it” Lou was or seemed— all because of baby brain? This vein of the story was starting to become unrealistic, especially when her daughter joins in the criticism. I started to think it was purely for the set-up, to make Louisa look guilty, when the reader wasn’t buying that all along. I actually started to dislike Louisa, who started to appear incompetent in every aspect in life; certainly not someone I’d like to spend any time around. And you know what happens when you dislike the supposed main sympathetic character?...you care less and less what’s happening to them. Not to mention her atrocious parenting; Lou-Lou spends more time obsessing over her crappy adult relationships and feeling “tired” than she does tending to her children; another characteristic that makes her quite unlikable. Then actual murder takes place and Lou comes into some important information and for some reason decides NOT to go to the police, and this is when is decided NOT to care what else happened; sorry! Thanks to NetGalley for my advance reading copy.

I need to stop reading thrillers before bed. I had some very wonky dreams after this one! Louisa doesn’t remember much from her past and, after the awful party her best friend threw her, her lapses in memory only get worse. Often times throughout the book I doubted what was real and what was fake. Add in the mystery of Melissa (Oliver’s wife) gone missing, this book is sure to make you scratch your head. .

I really enjoyed the slow unraveling of Louisa’s past. The author doesn’t give anything away until it is absolutely necessary. This allowed for several moments that caught me off guard and genuinely surprised me. I felt like the resolution in this book was solid. And the last revelation left me shocked. .

The only criticism I have is the lack of dialogue. I have a tendency to skip to dialogue when reading and I felt there wasn’t enough. I know that’s a personal preference and should in no way deter you from reading this

I'm afraid I spent the whole time I read this book just thinking how implausible the whole thing was.
Nothing rang true.
I was also tired of hearing how sleep deprived our main character was.... 
Not my cup of tea.

This book was definitely fast-paced and had an overall feeling of the bizarre.

Louisa has a new baby and is exhausted and ready for some down time when her friend Tiff arranges some time away. However, Louisa is surprised to find a birthday party planned for her with friends from her past invited. A woman is missing by the end of the party and Louisa struggles with her sleep-deprived memory to remember what she saw and what she thinks she saw.

There are definitely a lot of twists and turns in the story. There was a decent amount of suspense in the book and the ending was fairly surprising.

What a great mystery! Lots of twists and turns and red herrings with a totally unreliable narrator. But that unreliability is at the core of this mystery. Well crafted with believable dialogue and a compelling mystery. I could not put this down and now cannot wait to read this writers next book! I predict this will be this summers favorite beach read. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

A kind thank you to the author for an advanced copy for an honest review.

Twist after twist after twist, this book delivers!

Louise, turning forty with a new baby has enough on her plate. Sleep is what she is lacking at this time and a surprise birthday is not what she needs. Her best friend has went behind her back, invited everyone she can think of for her dear friend's 40th birthday. Drinks start flowing and her memories come seeping back. Is it new 'baby brain'? Hallucinations? Or memories she has blocked out?

This book grabs you in and doesn't let go. Gripped me from the beginning and read right through. Just when you think you know or have some idea how this will play out, hold on because it will be nothing you can imagine!

I was so looking forward to this book, but unfortunately it fell flat. The premise was interesting but I thought the ending was completely far-fetched. I totally sympathised with Louisa and her sleep deprivation, but the story repeatedly mentioned how she wasn’t sure if she had fed her baby, her confusion and the periods of missing time, and I found myself feeling increasingly concerned for her baby. She is also an unreliable narrator, which I know was part of the story, but I don’t feel like it was totally resolved.

I really loved this book right from the first page. It captured my attention straight away and I really had trouble putting it down. I loved the way it kept you guessing at who was doing what and to whom until I didn’t know who was causing the trouble.
I really would love to give this book ten stars as I loved it so much. I will certainly read more of this authors books.

Louisa is a sleep deprived mother who s best friend Tiff decides with her husband Brian to through a Surprise Birthday party does not go down well will say no more i so enjoyed this book so a want to read book very very twisty i so Recommend i was so so wrong on who i thought it was brilliant book so cant wait to read more from this author

This book irritated me from start to finish and I only kept on reading as mine was an advance copy.
Nothing in the plot is plausible.
What kind of husband or friend organises a surprise party for their sleep deprived wife on the pretence she is having a night away to catch up on some sleep? Do not buy the scenario.
What kind of person allows someone else to set up a facebook account and then doesn't change the password? Tiff didn't hack the account, she didn't need to, she already knew the password.
Louisa spent too much time thinking about things and not doing anything, completely disorganised. Why let a man you don't know or trust into your house? A mother's first instinct is to protect her child, although Noah wasn't in danger, she didn't know that.
Hiding evidence and trying to sort things out herself, it doesn't work like that.
The end of the book is a farce and I was glad to get to the end. Not a book for me.

Full of twists and turns that kept me reading until the end to see the outcome. I was not totally invested in the story but give it a solid three stars out of five. If you are looking for a quick read this is it.

Well written but somewhat tedious. The real twist comes near the end and races to a finish that does not make sense nor seems plausible. A quick read.

Enjoyable and a fun read!

The story caught my eye from the moment I read the blurb, and I just knew I wanted to read this book. I was not let down and can recommend this to everyone!

"Louisa is an exhausted, sleep-deprived new mother and, approaching her fortieth birthday, the very last thing she wants to do is celebrate."

"Sleep-deprived" is the defining aura of this read. While I was intrigued by the story, the constant talk around sleep deprivation only heightened my own exhaustion and desire for the read to hurry along. I wanted to love this story, and while I did not technically dislike the story by any means, it ultimately did not fascinate me.

Louisa's character was tired and messy. The storyline didn't quite add up realistically, and I found the explanation regarding Louis's mental health struggles to be lacking. I suppose this would have helped me understand her character more deeply - an in depth understanding regarding her past and current struggles with memory loss/amnesia.

Would I not recommend this read? Not entirely. Would I have preferred a TV series out of it? Sure! Do I think this read will entertain others' more than it did myself? Absolutely.

I'm conflicted in how to review this, so I will just give my thoughts and let people decide for themselves.

I found the main character to be too gullible. And why didn't she share her thoughts and concerns with her husband? Her behavior wasn't normal. But then again that makes sense because she wasn't normal. It frustrated me, yet it added to the story.

I thought parts were confusing and I wasn't sure what was going on. But then again, the main character was confused. I think it added to the atmosphere of the story.

I didn't like any of the characters, and wasn't sure who I was rooting for. But I was drawn in, and wanted to know what happened next.

Overall, I'm giving it 4 stars because I was really drawn in and there were twists after twist. I think this will stay with me for a while. I

Thanks to net gallery for an advance copy, which did not influence my review.

3.5 stars. Overall I really enjoyed The Missing Wife, it was a fun quick read but it had little thrills, an obvious antagonist and Lou was a level of naive and gullible that just doesn't seem realistic.
I'd recommend to a casual reader.

Louisa is an exhausted, sleep deprived new mother of an infant. And she is getting ready to turn 40. Her best friend Tiff and husband, with the best of intentions, plan a surprise 40th birthday party for her. Since she doesn't have many friends, Tiff contacts all the "friends" on Louisa's Facebook page, including her ex-boyfriend Oliver from college. Louisa drinks so much at the party that she doesn't remember much of it. Oliver's wife, Melissa goes missing after the party and Louisa starts to have small flashbacks that she might be involved in the disappearance.
As Oliver weasels his way into Louisa's family, befriending her husband and Tiff, she begins to wonder if she can trust him. Should she trust him or trust the "memories" that are starting to come back to her from 20 years ago? Why is Oliver really back in her town and her family's life? And where is Melissa and did Louisa have anything to do with her disappearance? I don't want to give too much away but you will not be disappointed in this story. It was very well done. There are twists and turns right up to the end.
Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this advanced reader's copy in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion.

I really loved this book and warmed to the characters . I did keep saying to the leading lady just ask him why he’s covering for you and what you did but I suppose then there wouldn’t have been a story at all . I will look forward to reading more from Sam Carrington in the future

Summary: Louisa is about to turn forty years old, and just had a new baby. She and her husband also have a teenager, which all together has made her sleep deprived and forgetful. Louisa has an amnesia from her teenage years that is blocking out a traumatic event that happened to her, but she can't remember what it was. When her best friend, Tiff, and her husband, Brian, team up to give her a surprise birthday party, Louisa starts experiencing flashbacks. Especially when she runs into her old boyfriend, Oliver. After the party, his wife goes missing, and he invades Louisa's life. Where is his wife? What happened to Louisa as a teen? How is Oliver involved in all of this?
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.Review: I really enjoyed this thriller. There are twists and turns until the very end. Louisa seems like an innocent bystander at all the tragedy taking place in her life, but is she really? What are the secrets that she can't seem to remember? Everyone in this book is keeping a secret of some sort. Best friends, husbands, and old boyfriends. This book was so much fun to read and I would love to read more by Sam Carrington. There was a shocking ending and feeling that left you wondering how Louisa will cope in the future. Highly recommend if you love a good thriller!