I ended up enjoying this one more than I thought I would. I loved that it’s written from the perspective of the wife of the murderer and getting her side of the story. It could be quite repetitive at times but it was still a fast read. I wasn’t really expecting the twist in the end, but looking back I should have seen it coming.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great storyline with excellent characters. I would highly recommend this book as it was a great read.

This was an interesting book. Somewhat predictable, but not in a bad way. It came from several different POV, which I really liked. It is very obviously set in the UK, just from the ways things are said and called. I find it fascinating how each society calls things completely different words or phrases. Usually it is easy to figure out, and in this book, that is the case. I found that the book had a good storyline, but I think that the characters could have been developed a bit more, but I was able to figure things out. I did have a hard time putting it down. I wanted to know what was going to happen. It was written quite well, especially for a debut novel. I would be interested to read more from this author. I do hope she continues!

This was a very average thriller for me with a premise I’ve seen done a few times before. I did enjoy the writing and the fast pacing so I will still check out for this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for this ARC.
-----
Unfortunately , this book just didn't do much for me. It fell flat in a few ways. I really liked the plot, and was excited to read it, especially when I realized there would be multiple POVs, something I always enjoy in a book. However, there was just something about this that didn't connect with me.

This is a tricky book to review without giving away too much of a spoiler. Tom, Beth and daughter Poppy have moved to the Cotswolds from their bustling lives in London to set up a much nicer family life for the 3 of them. Beth has her ceramics cafe which is building up trade nicely, although this has taken its toll on Beth's ability to get to know the locals as it has taken up so much of her spare time.
So when the local constabulary knock on the door asking to interview Tom, Beth has very few friends to call on for support. What would they think of her? She hears mutterings among the school mums suggesting she must be involved too - but Tom's innocent isn't he?
I wasn't sure whether I really liked Beth to be honest, despite there being nothing I could put my finger on to say why. I felt sorry for her having to deal with the fallout of Tom's arrest - her privacy was destroyed for a while, as is the case when a big story hits the media. But probably the last quarter (if that) of the book started to get me thinking. What if the school mums were right after all?
As I say, I don't want to spoil the tale but for me the jury is still out as to whether the book worked as a whole. It felt a bit like the author changed her mind part way through as to which of two paths she was going to take the story. Overall yes, I enjoyed reading it but it doesn't rest comfortably for me how the tale concluded. And I think it's best to leave things there before I say too much! 3.5 stars rounded up to 4
My thanks to the publisher for approving the review copy of the book via NetGalley.

Incredible!

Wow! Wow! Wow! #TheSerialKillersWife by AliceHunter is such an amazing read, I know why it’s a #bestseller now! Twists galore, scarily realistic and unputdownable! Bloody loved it!

It had been sitting on my TBR for ages so when I was asked to recommend a book for the September Bloody Scotland Book Club - I chose this and so glad I did. It was intense and chilling and once I started, that was it - hooked. Full review will be posted on my blog after the BSBC.

#buythisbook #highlyrecommended #serialkillerthriller

for a book about a serial killer (or his wife), this was so incredibly boring. we are rarely given a peek into the killers mind and when we are, WOWEEEEE is he boring and uninteresting.

A bit different to my usual reads. I quite enjoyed it. . . . . .

In Alice Hunter's The Serial Killer's Wife, this twisted psychological thriller will keep you in suspense and asks you how well do you know somebody? It all started for Beth Hardcastle when the Lower Tew police knock on their door. They wanted to bring her husband Tom in for questioning, regarding his former girlfriend's disappearance from eight years ago. That started the investigation into Tom's past and how her once-perfect marriage had crumbled by unraveling secrets and dirty lies. It made her doubt and second-guess her husband and how she could protect her daughter Poppy from him. While Beth works at her own pottery cafe, she wondered about her friends and fellow co-workers and if she could trust them and they should trust her, since the former runner of the book club Camilla Knight had an accidental allergic death the year before. During this time, while the police hones in to Tom's dark past to Katie, Beth befriends Adam Knight, the young widower in her cafe, and develops a friendship with him which turned into something more. While Tom was arrested not for one murder, Beth became a target in her neighborhood from journalists and informed the police about those incidents and a possible connection to another murder by handing over crucial evidence--another nail in his coffin. Meanwhile, she unearthed another disturbing truth about Tom--he's been having an affair with someone else who could also be another victim in his crime spree. To save herself and her daughter, she would do all she could to separate herself from him and telling him goodbye right afte the trial. But the ending is so shocking, that I didn't see it coming.... I can't give it away.

3.5 star, but rounding up

From the synopsis alone, The Serial Killer’s Wife sounds like a thrilling ride, and I was excited to jump on board. It wasn’t the exciting rollercoaster I had been expecting, but I did still enjoy this book.

With the opening scenes, we jump straight in to the story with the police knocking on the door of the Hardcastle family home in search of Tom Hardcastle, but Tom isn’t there, and Beth has no idea where he is, or why the police could possibly want to talk to her husband. This leaves Beth with so many questions, questions that you as a reader are also asking and trying to figure out the answers to.

Throughout the story, the time switches between then and now, and we get to experience it from multiple POV. Those POV include Beth, Tom, and the victims. The chapters from the victims POV were particularly interesting, and at times a little hard to read.

From the very start, I didn’t trust Tom, there was just something off about him, and it was clear that despite him being her husband, Beth was beginning to feel exactly the same way. I felt so sorry for Beth, and what she was going through, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the way she so quickly jumped on to Adam as soon as Tom was out of the picture. It just didn’t sit right with me. Adam seemed like such a genuine, nice guy, who had been through an awful time, and I think he deserved better.

The last chapter before the epilogue was a complete shock, which I never saw coming, and if I’m honest, it was the most exciting part of the whole book! I am glad that it was left right to the end though, as it made the revelation have an even bigger impact.

Overall, this was a nice slow burn thriller, with a huge twist at the end that made my jaw drop. It wasn’t action packed, but that didn’t make it unenjoyable. I do feel that there was something missing though, and I still can’t quite put my finger on exactly what that is.

Sometimes I just dive into a book without knowing much, this was one of those books and wow am I glad i did!

You can definitely tell Alice Hunter has experience with the prison system, and the story she crafts is BRILLIANT. The Serial Killer's wife is an absolute page turner and it was absolutely mind blowing. I could not get enough of Beth, Tom, Katie and Poppy. I love when everything seems perfect, and then it never ends up being what it seems. What makes it so great for me, is I think I started looking at my own neighbors a little closer. The plot twists kept coming, and it proves that most of us are willing to go as far as we can go for our family.

If you're looking for a fast paced, mindbending thriller, The Serial Killer's Wife is DEFINITELY it. I cannot wait to see what else this author comes up with.

Thank you to netgalley and Avon Books for the copy to reviewin exchange for an honest review

Wow, what an amazing debut! I haven't gotten enough sleep the past few nights because I had such a hard time putting The Serial Killer's Wife down. I liked that the story went back and forth between the past and the present and that it was told from the perspectives of both Beth and Tom. I thought the ending was great, and I didn't see it coming at all. I'm looking forward to reading more from Alice Hunter in the future...thanks to NetGalley and Avon for giving me the opportunity to read and review The Serial Killer's Wife and discover a great new author. : )

What a pleasant read! That sounds odd I'm sure. I don't know what to tell you. Other than this was a very cool sublime reading experience.

For those reader's that struggle to finish or enjoy reading a book when the main characters are all distasteful. I would ask you to consider taking a step back, let yourself read this, from a "distance". Detach yourself just enough so your focus isn't personally overwhelmed by characters that aren't exactly "quality" humans. Not everyone is that bad! I just don't want anyone to miss out on an enjoyable read. It's definitely greasy, that is, covered in slimy cleverness. I expected a decent read, entertaining enough for its purpose. However, I found it to be highly entertaining, smart and devious.

The Serial Killers Wife. What do you think? Would you know if your own significant other was a serial killer? Would you know if a family member was? You're sister, you're son, you're father? Everyone is quick to point the finger at the wife. Did she know? She had to, right! Was she an accomplice? We all assume we'd know if we were in the presence of evil. But then again, we're all hiding something. No one's an open book.

*Thank you to Avon Books via NetGalley for the digital review copy.

What a great read! This book hooks you in from the first chapter - so much so that I read it in less than a day. The characters are well drawn and the pace of the story is perfectly judged. A small town in the countryside and a perfect family of three gets turned upside down with the revelation that perhaps not all is as it seems in paradise.

The Serial Killers Wife is a good book with the essentials of a thriller mystery. Sadly, the book didn't wow me. I couldn't relate to or be sympathetic to the main character of Beth Hardcastle. The book was so focused on Beth and her life post the arrest of her husband, that the element of being a serial killer's wife felt neglected. The characters didn't feel genuine. Chapters on the serial killer were fewer than I'd have liked considering the title of the book. The plot was unique but would get a bit unbelievable at times. The twists at the end of the were really good.

Thank you NetGalley, Avon Books & Alice Hunter for an arc!

A great thriller with a whopper of an ending. Lots of secrets and doubts to throw you off leading to a great, fast paced read.

I really struggled with this book ☹️ I couldn’t understand why Beth the wife of Tom didn’t question and react to his initial arrest and why she didn’t ask more questions as surely to suddenly have your husband arrested for murder out of the blue would have made her want to find out exactly what have happened ?? So , unfortunately this book wasn’t for me as I was getting more and more frustrated with the main character that it ruined the storyline.

Hidden secrets in a marriage

What would you do if you found out your spouse was a serial killer? Told in alternating points of view, this British suspense thriller tells the tale of Beth, the wife, and Tom, the husband, in an eight year marriage that all of a sudden falls apart one day when Detectives come to the door looking for Tom as a suspect in the disappearance of a girlfriend previous to their marriage.

This was a well told story of secrets and more secrets and secrets piled on top of secrets. I enjoyed the alternating points of view format and thought this was a great debut novel. I recommend it to those looking for a bit of psychological suspense thriller in their next read.

I received this book from St. Martin's Press through Net Galley in the hopes that I would read it and leave an unbiased review.

Read this book if you love a fast-paced, page-turner, can't-put-down thriller! I really enjoyed this one and finished it in one session because I wanted to know what was happening next!