I had heard great things about Tarryn Fisher’s latest standalone psychological thriller THE WIVES and because I had read MARROW I knew I was in for a rollercoaster of a ride and a major headf*ck and I wasn’t disappointed.

Tarryn Fisher creates the most delusional, unreliable and twisted characters EVER and THE WIVES is no exception. Meet Thursday… at first you think she’s a happily married woman, devoted to her loving husband Seth, she works as a nurse and enjoys her life and then BOOM.. we find out that actually Thursday is one of three (yes! 3) wives. There’s also Monday and Tuesday who take turns during the week sharing Seth! WTAF? Let me tell you now… I have 1 husband and believe me that’s more than enough for me, no way Jose would I entertain this set-up, but Thursday has been living this way happily for the past 3 years. The wives know about each other, but they don’t know each other, they don’t know their names, where they live or anything else except that they all agree to live this strange life sharing Seth on their given days of the week.

However, everything changes when Thursday accidentally finds the name and address of Monday and as we all know “curiosity killed the cat” or in Thursday’s case it seriously f*cks up her head and marriage as she decides to track down Monday and see the competition for herself.

Be prepared to have your head turned, your brain frazzled, your mind blown whilst reading THE WIVES as nothing is as it seems. Another seriously disturbing and strange book from Tarryn Fisher.

Welcome to the world of Tarryn Fisher, pull up a chair, pack enough WTF in your suitcase to last you the journey, you’ll need it!!

It’s difficult to delve too much into this story without giving away spoilers, even though I want to shout OMG JUST WAIT TILL YOU GET TO THIS BIT!

Meet Thursday,

Thursday is happily married to Seth, he is a hard working businessman, and travels all over the country, so she really only gets to see him once a week, ironically on Thursday as he works away from home.

Except Seth isn’t staying in hotels when he is working away, oh no, he is visiting and staying with each of his wives! Yep you heard right, he also has Monday and Tuesday to visit on his little trips too.

You see, Seth (and his wives) are polygamists, he is married to 3 women at once, and Thursday tries her best to be happy with this situation, she makes sure that she is the ‘Best Wife’ by being that lovely old quote by Jerry Hall “You must be a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen and a whore in the bedroom.” 😲

And although she likes to be Seth’s confident, he doesn’t tell her much, if anything about the other Wives, not even their names or where they live, so it’s not surprising that one day Thursday, by complete accident finds a slip of paper in one of Seth’s suit jackets, a Doctor’s prescription, with another woman’s name on it, what’s a curious girl to do but to pull out that laptop and start Googling!

Who is she, could it be one of the other Wives?

What transpires is something that will have your head spinning, and your mind asking whether or not you want to “have a little lie down” Be prepared to want to talk about this book with EVERYONE!!

Tarryn Fisher has such a wonderful way of writing flawed characters, she isn’t scared of showing someone in a bad light, and she always makes you think twice and put yourself in the shoes of the MC and think “I’d probably do that too”
If you haven’t read anything by Tarryn before then I would highly suggest that you pick this one up and start your love of her from there 😊

When I saw this I knew I absolutely had to read it. Tarryn Fisher is one of those authors for me, a bit like Colleen Hoover or KA Tucker – must read. This is her latest offering and is a mystery/thriller.

The blurb drew me in… a man with three wives and the protagonist is one of them. I don’t want to say too much about the storyline because for me when I was reading this I was like *gasp*, *gasp*, *gasp* right until the very end.

I don’t usually stray into the mystery/thriller genre, preferring to remain firmly in the chick lit and romance lanes so it took me a little while to get into the book. Having said that once I got into it I was hooked, I flew through the last half of the book almost not daring to believe what might happen next. Fear not though – Tarryn keeps you guessing right until the end.

I felt myself getting a little disappointed around 80% when events start to unfold in the book which bring the whole picture together. At the time I had hoped for an alternative road for the story to go down but again having said that I was left completely stunned by the ending Tarryn had in mind.

If you’ve not read any of Tarryn’s books then I’d highly recommend this along with ‘F*ck Love’, ‘The Opportunist’ and ‘Atheists who Kneel and Pray’. #TheWives #NetGalley

Thursday is married to Seth. They seem to have a great relationship, the only issue being that Seth has two other wives: Monday and Tuesday. Of course, everyone knows where they stand. They have rules – the main one being that the wives must never find out anything about each other.

Which is fine, until Thursday gets curious and starts snooping, determined to find out who she’s sharing her perfect husband with.

The idea is fascinating, and I can’t help think that perhaps as readers, the opportunity to be somewhat voyeuristic when it comes to a polygamous marriage, is a bit too much to turn down. I was really looking forward to reading this, but have to admit I ended up feeling really let down.

It started well – pacey and entertaining, but it quickly lost its way. At the halfway mark a twist is thrown in that, frankly, makes what comes afterwards utterly ridiculous. It’s almost as though the author wanted to write two separate books, either of which would have worked perfectly well on their own, but decided to cut-and-shut them in to work. Which, frankly, didn’t work at all.

I enjoy novels with an unreliable narrator; however, I do think you should make them likable somewhere along the way. It didn’t take long for me to hate Thursday, and I didn’t much care whether she was right, or trustworthy. It didn’t help that the other characters were too underdeveloped for too long that I didn’t feel any interest in them either.

I was left feeling confused, and a few hours after finishing, I’m still not entirely sure what I’ve just read.
Thank you to the publisher who provided me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

I started this book and managed to finish it but then I am sorry to say I wondered why I had bothered! The characters had no depth, no soul and I didn’t care about any of them! I like to at least appreciate something in the character of the heroine but there was nothing there! The tale became increasingly convoluted and implausible . I want to be able to find something good to say about this book but unfortunately the only good was finishing it. Sorry!

Finished the book in one sitting! It’s a story that revolves around what you think is initial a polygamy relationship, but as you read, you begin to second guess the nature and manipulation behind each character, it literally keeps you guessing through the whole book, about what is the actual reality of the lives of the characters! Without giving too Much away, there’s an element of mental abuse, and psychotic mental issues. Brilliant book and I loved that for once, I couldn’t predict the ending at all!! The reason it’s doesn’t get 5/5 is at times there was a lot of words to explain a very simple scenario on certain characters, and it would’ve been nice to learn a bit more about the other so called wives!

I read this very quickly, which is testament to how drawn-in I was to finding out the conclusion, and I admit I enjoyed the twists. There are lots of questions to be asked - I hestitate to call them plot holes, but you do have to suspend disbeliefe and just go along for the wild ride! I won't say it's amazingly well-written, but it tells a chilling story very well.

This is a very clever book- not at all what it seems but it takes a while to realise how easily you are led down one specific path only to find out you were wrong in almost everything you believed.
Thursday loves her husband but it turns out she is not so sure she wants to share him with his other two wives any more. Talked into a polygamous relationship at a very young age she shares her husband with 2 other women and only sees him on her agreed day of the week.
Breaking all the rules she sets out to find the other wives, who live in another city and also don't contact each other.
As the tale unfolds you find out more and more about Thursday, the relationship with her husband and the things she discovers about the other wives as she finds them first online and then in real life. She is a character that is hard to like, or even empathize with as she gets herself embroiled in her obsession with the other wives.
Things get pretty dark and as the truth is revealed many unexpected twists lead you to a less than satisfactory resolution for Thursday.

The Wives, Tarryn Fisher

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: Mystery & Thrillers, Women's Fiction

Moan: women's fiction – why alienate potential readers? Men write books enjoyed by women and men alike, and they read the same.

Wow, this book taught be a lot about myself. Am I just gullible? Or are the story lines that good? I like to think its option two ;-)

I never realised how easily I accept what I'm told, and as the story expanded, as Thursday discovered more about the other wives, I finally began to question all the things I'd accepted as fact. It wasn't until then I realised I had just believed every word I'd been told. When the cracks in the story appear it was hard to know who was telling the truth, and it devolves into quite a dark and twisted story. It made me think of that phrase “its only paranoia if they're not out to get you”

Its hard to say much without spoilers so I'll try to keep it simple. I don't understand that multiple marriage thing, the way Thursday is so blindly accepting of crumbs of Seth's time, and when the reason for the third wife came out, given their own past I was so angry. And then of course the story gets more complex and I'm wondering, was it really like that, did things really happen that way.
Even when the story gets to the point where you're wondering just who is telling the truth, there are still more revelations and secrets to come out, things get ever more complex right up to the end. I kept thinking – its getting late, I'll just read a bit more, and a little more, and finding myself getting closer to the end, so then it was – may as well finish now ;-) That's a hallmark of a good story for me, when I'm so absorbed by the characters and actions I just don't want to put it down until I know whats going to happen.

Its a gripping read, had me totally hooked into the story. Its also incredibly sad in a way, with innocent people getting caught up in the actions of (imo) a selfish person. Was the family situation to blame? I tend to say no, lots of folk have difficult childhoods, but who really knows.
I found the ending sad in a way for all of them and yet curiously satisfying in what happened. My two least liked people got a form of punishment for their actions – IMO – of course. Karma.

Stars: five, a cracking read, had me hooked, but in a way also incredibly sad that peoples lives could get changed by the actions of another person.

Arc via Netgalley and publishers

I would firstly like to thank Netgalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I went in completely blind and I wasn't disappointed!
Right from the very first page, I was hooked. How could I not be?
With twist after twist, this book just got darker, unsettling and intense the more I read.
How did the author think of this story idea?? Genius. Not only did I find myself biting my nails contemplating what was gonna happen next, I also found myself both rooting for and wanting to kick some sense into a couple of the characters.
This book has given me a headache in the best possible way. It's one that I'm gonna be thinking about for a while! Mind-blowingly brilliant!
While I'm still not sure what I thought of that ending, I definitely HIGHLY recommend this book! Can't wait to read more from this author!

This was a very intriguing book. For the first half I found that I couldn’t put it down but I felt the plot was very weak in the second half

This book was a great read ,I read it really fast!. The only trouble was that it got a bit confusing half way through but as you get further on in the story, it makes sense again!!.
The ending is ok but could have been better. I had to knock one star off because of the negatives I highlighted earlier, but it's definitely worth a read though!, you won't be able to put it down!!

From Goodreads: "Thursday’s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She’s never met them, and she doesn’t know anything about them. She agreed to this unusual arrangement because she’s so crazy about him.
But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very different—and horrifying—story about the man she married.
What follows is one of the most twisted, shocking thrillers you’ll ever read.
You’ll have to grab a copy to find out why."
My thoughts
Hmmm. I finished this book a few hours ago and overall my feelings towards it are mixed. On the one hand, I found it compulsively readable (so don't be surprised if you see me recommending this as a bingeworthy read in future blog posts). On the other, I felt the actual plot was rather confused as to what it was trying to do, and the ending fell flat as a result.

The writing and narration of the main character, Thursday, reads very much like a typical thriller - it's pretty basic and enabling of a fast-paced plot, which is good, because it definitely made the book easy to whizz through. I didn't want to put it down and was stealing every minute I could on the tube and on my lunch breaks at work - all good things right?

However, I did find myself wondering at some points what exactly was keeping me hooked. The book opens as a twisted story about the complexities of polygamy, which definitely intrigued me. But then it tries to do a Gone Girl esque twist out of the blue in the middle of the book which turns the story into something else completely. From here on out I think it was pretty much all downhill, with the beginnings of a good plot lost in what felt like a totally separate story.

The portrayal of women in this book is also very...odd. I understand it's supposed to be told from the POV of an unreliable narrator (and that's actually one of my favourite literary devices) but Thursday's constant spouting about the weakness of women and their subservience to men became a little worrying, especially as there's nothing in the book which acts to show that this shouldn't be the case. I suppose thrillers are supposed to get under your skin and make you feel uncomfortable, but it should be in a way that unnerves you rather than makes you roll your eyes...

I think this book would've been a lot better if the author could've made up her mind on what she wanted it to be. If this had been a book purely about the twists and turns of a polygamous marriage, and the secrets held within it, it would've been awesome. Equally, if it had been a psychological thriller about the destabilising effects of relationships, it would've been just as good. But trying to bring both together didn't really work - it ended up confusing and half-hearted.

Have you read The Wives? Will you be adding it to your list? As always, let me know your thoughts by adding me on Goodreads and/or Instagram!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this for review. All views above are my own. This title will be released on April 16th in the UK.

https://www.stackedshelves.com/2020/01/book-review-wives-by-tarryn-fisher.html

Okay so, the premise definitely had me hooked from the very first page. We're following Thursday, who shares her husband with two other wives and somehow, has no issue with that! They don't all live together and the only thing the wives know about each other is which day of the week their husband spends with each of them. This is until Thursday finds out their real names and goes digging a little deeper.

This is a fast-paced, hard to put down book with a lot of twists.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Wives but I think the author could have taken this book in so many different directions. I didn't click as much with the second half of the book as I did with the first half and I didn't love the ending. I would definitely like to read more by Tarryn Fisher though.

This book has a great premise. The main character is married to a man with three wives, only she never sees the others. They all live separately, with the husband visiting them on specific days of the week. She is Thursday and is, for the first time, beginning to question the arrangement...

The novel promises much and it begins well, with an interesting if not entirely sympathetic protagonist (who would allow their life to take this shape without pushing back at any point?). I found myself speeding through the pages to find out answers.

Then (trying not to be too spoilery, but it's useful to know), the novel changes tone and direction in a very frustrating way. I felt like the rug was being pulled from under me. There are unreliable narrators and then there are unreliable narrators who make you question whether a story is worth reading at all. As for the ending - I found it slightly satisfying but mostly horrible; my overall experience with the book was one of frustration.

The author is talented, but for me this book was a good premise without a strong plot to match up to it.

Disturbingly brilliant! Rarely does a book surprise me and this one blew me away! Each page makes you question the previous and wonder what awaits on the next. This is a genuinely well written and original story which plays with your mind and sanity. You will be intrigued then confused and end up amazed.

Starts off well but sadly tumbled into the ridiculous and unbelievable. Married to Seth Thursday is one of 3 wives, as her relationship unravels so does her mind - is anything she believes real? Thursday is an unlikable character who you struggle to sympathise with, the writing is sometimes choppy and while engaging at the beginning it becomes difficult to care about the fate of any of the characters by the end.

I enjoyed the 1st half of this book - setting the scene, introducing the characters. I was intrigued & looking forward to the conclusion.

The 2nd half though was rather incredulous, so unbelievable. Sadly for me a disappointing ending.

I loved this book. Amazing twists, fast paced, fabulous writing style. I would recommend this to anyone & will definitely be reading more by this author.

Thursday is in a Polygamous marriage and content, she accepts that her day is Thursday and she shares her husband, Seth, with two other women. However things shift when she discovers the names of the other wives , she cannot resist attempting to find out more about them.
When she discovers that one of the wives is pregnant it brings back the memory of loosing her own baby and also raises concerns as to her safety. Thursday, once devoted to her husband feels there has been a shift in their relationship and questions how she feels about her situation. She hasn’t told anyone of her circumstances and when things come to a head between her and Seth she finds herself in an unthinkable position.
I enjoyed this plot and it’s change of perspective. I did not enjoy the choice of language, even if infrequent, was it really necessary to refer to her “Pussy”? This spoilt it for me and stops me from giving a higher recommendation.