What a tangled web we weave! There are so many lies and deception, it was hard to decide which character I disliked the most. Usually when I don’t like many of the characters, it’s hard for me to get into the story. That was definitely not the case this time. The Trapped Wife pulled me in immediately. Just when I thought I had figured everything out, the story would go in a totally different direction. This unputdownable thriller had me racing to the end for the shocking, twisted conclusion. The plot is twisted, disturbing and at times heartbreaking. Trigger warning: Death of a child. The main character frustrated me, while keeping me on her side, yet shaking my head at the same time. Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for my copy.

I loved this mystery story. Do you love a good suspense? I think you will like this tale. Recommend to all friends and family!

*I received a free copy of this novel from NetGalley and Bookouture for my honest review.*

I'm not gonna lie.... the tag line is spot on for this book! Every time I thought I knew what was happening, it was wrong! For the entire book!

The novel unfolds in dueling time lines. Now, Dr. Jen is grieving her husband's death and dealing with a new pregnancy that is the result of a possible rape. Then, the story is about 2 youngsters who are outcasts and struggling to make it through school.

Jen is trying to come to terms with the pregnancy and loss when a new patient worms his way into her life and home and she has no choice but to let him.

This was my first novel from Samantha Hayes, but I will be reading more. So many twists and turns! I felt like I would miss something if I blinked.

A little spoilery summery of thoughts flitting through my head while reading The Trapped Wife.

Ok wait, this lady is gonna let a strange man watch her drink at the bar while she pee’s 👀 madam? You trying to die?

Why did you have to tell him your husband died AFTER y’all slept together 🤦🏼‍♀️ you couldn’t have left that detail out?

Oh no, not the baby. Why are you telling him you’re pregnant? He drugged & raped you 😬

This dumb bitch.

Aint no way this teenaged boy’s dad just died & he’s finna eat casserole with this strange man.

Holy shit what was that ending 🤯

Ok while some aspects of this story are unbelievable, I like to suspend my disbelief for the duration just so I can enjoy the shock value. I will admit….I was in no way shape or form prepared for that ending. I didn’t see it coming. And basically that’s the one thing I look for in my domestic thrillers! 3.5⭐️’s

Thank you to NetGalley, Samantha Hayes & the publisher for this advanced reader copy!

THE TRAPPED WIFE is a standalone psychological thriller by bestselling author Samantha Hayes. This novel will mess with your mind and keep you turning the pages until you reach the end. A definite winner!
Her Novels:
In Too Deep (2016)
The Reunion (2018)
Tell Me a Secret (2018)
The Liar's Wife (2018)
Date Night (2019)
The Happy Couple (2020)
Single Mother (2021)
The Trapped Wife (2021)

The novel opens with Dr. Jen Miller’s first day back to work since the accident, six weeks ago when she lost her husband, Jeremy. Jeremy was killed in an avalanche, while on a skiing trip in Switzerland, while making documentaries and filming of travel destinations. Her husband went on a ski trip and never returned. He is now presumed dead.

But Jen suspected her husband was having an affair with Madeleine, a travelling work associate.

Jen and her teenage son, Kieran both took time off to grieve their loss, but now after Kieran has returned to school, Jen returns to her practice and her patients at the Waverly Medical Practice, a community practice.

But before her husband’s death, Jen had a one-night stand with a man named Scott Shaw at the medical conference in Oxford. She soon discovers that she is pregnant with Scott’s baby. But she couldn’t remember that night!

Scott ends up showing up at her practice posing as a new patient, who seems so familiar to her! He then shows up at her home and wants to be a part of Jen’s and the baby’s lives. Jen is ashamed of her behavior and lets Scott blackmail her into letting him move into her home. She doesn’t want her best friend, Rhonda or husband, Chris, a cop or teenage daughter Caitlin to discover the truth.

What is Jen thinking of? Why would she allow this stranger to just move in to her home with her son? What is Scott up to?

I won’t say anymore. You must read this book to find out.

The story is told in multiple POV, both in 1st and 3rd person. The ending was a real surprise and one that I didn’t see coming.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for my digital copy.

I was so looking forward to reading this, as I've read and enjoyed other books by this author, but unfortunately, I did not enjoy this one at all. Stilted, predictable, and very unbelievable. There's suspension of disbelief, and then there's suspension of all sense of reason. This book fell into the latter category for me. Unfortunately will not be recommending this one. 2/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. I read this in one night as I was so hooked. Always a sign of a 5 star for me!

simply unputdownable, incredible character and world building with so much excitement and tension!

4.5 Stars

If you are after a jaw-dropping and addictive psychological crime thriller packed with twists that will leave you barely able to catch a breath, then look no further than Samantha Hayes’ The Trapped Wife.

Jennifer is a woman who seems to have it all: a satisfying and fulfilling career as a doctor in a small town, a beautiful home that wouldn’t look out of place in a lifestyle magazine and a teenage son. Everything seems to be going swimmingly for Jennifer – until her husband Jeremy disappeared on a work trip and seemed to vanish off the face of the earth. Jennifer and her son are left all alone in the world and they are full of questions for which there seem to be no answers. What happened to Jeremy? Is he still alive? Was his disappearance an accident? Or is there something far more chilling and terrifying afoot?

Jen has already got a lot on her plate and further worries and complications are the last things she needs at the moment. Yet, when she finds some shocking texts on his phone, Jen begins to ask herself just how well she knew the man she married. Could Jeremy have abandoned her and her son and made a new life for himself far away from their family? Is Jeremy someone she should never have trusted? And are there more secrets about Jeremy waiting to be discovered?

At the back of Jen’s mind, however, is that niggling fear about the events that took place that night at the medical conference. Try as she might, Jen simply cannot remember what happened after she had taken her first drink. Her mind goes blank regardless of how hard she tries. Could her new patient hold the key to uncovering this mystery? Just why does Jen feel so uneasy and frightened every time she sees him? He seems so familiar yet nobody in town knows who he is. Has Jen met him before? Or is her imagination playing tricks on her?

As Jen begins to piece together the shattered pieces of this twisted puzzle, she realises that there is only certainty: everyone is lying – including her.

Guaranteed to send your heart rate skyrocketing, Samantha Hayes’ The Trapped Wife is edge of your seat suspense at its most chilling. A book that sucks you in from the very first page, The Trapped Wife exquisitely blends danger, foreboding, creepiness and terror in a top-notch thriller where the shocking revelations and twists and turns come so thick and fast they will leave readers reeling.

A superb thriller I was still engrossed in in the early hours of the morning, Samantha Hayes’ The Trapped Wife is not to be missed.

This was a mind blowing read. Straight forward and filled with suspense and mystery. It follows the life of Jen, a doctor who is living with her 16 year old son. Recently, her husband died in an avalanche and she's trying to move on. All of a sudden, a man shows up in her life and basically starts stalking her. That is when things start to get heated and she realizes she might be in danger.

I don't want to get deep into the plot so as not to share the whole story but just know this - I thoroughly enjoyed reading this! It is psychological thriller at its best. The storyline was so twisted, to the extent I questioned every single character from Jen to her best friend Rhona to even young Kieran. Honestly, I felt so anxious anxious to know what will happen next. Each chapter ended in a more complex twist and I was left wondering who is lying and who isn't. The characters were developed well, I related to Jen on a deep level. Written in two POVs - Jen and Rhonda, the descriptions were so picturesque and vivid. If you are a fan of Psychological Thrillers, then this is definitely the book for you.

Thank you very much to Netgalley, the Publisher and the author for the arc copy of this book.

Plot twists galore! A cracker of a mystery/psychological thriller type book by the fantastic Samantha Hayes. It slowly builds up leaving no stone unturned. Clever, intriguing and gloriously dark. It’s perfect with a cuppa!

You are introduced to recently widowed Dr Jennifer Miller. Her husband Jeremy disappeared on a skiing trip and is presumed dead. Grieving Jen is an emotional wreck. Not only because of her husband’s passing, but her affair “one-night stand” with Scott right before her husband’s death. And now she's pregnant with his baby!!



Honestly, I did feel it hard to believe at first, but as I got more involved, it became apparent that Jen has bad luck following her! Poor Jen! But that is not all. Someone named Scott turns up at the door who is bad news and blackmails his way in!

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC. Right from the start I was hooked The characterisation gets you so involved you can't put it down. Exciting, riveting, nerve- shredding! Excellent!

Oh yes, I knew with a title like this one it was going to be intense! Absolutely fantastic writing and the characters were wonderful. I loved the drama and intrigue this storyline gave me.

I really liked this book. I enjoyed all of the twists and turns. The book was nice and easy to read, and the story absolutely kept my attention. Thank you Netgalley for the arc. This is one I will be recommending to my friends.

This review is not intended to change your mind if you want to read the book, it wasn't for me, that's all.
Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author of this book.
A bit too slow ad tangled, I mean, the husband is presumed to have an affair and to be dead, the wife is having one night stand and she got herself pregnant. Really? I could not connect with the main character, sorry.

I wanted to love this one. The writing was a little to slow paced for a thriller. It took 75% of the book before the wheels started to turn and answers started to well be answered. Jen should have never told allowed her patient anywhere near her, let alone tell him she’s pregnant with his baby. She gave him all the ammo needed to black mail her. It just seemed too ridiculous for me to believe. She’s a doctor but she just kept letting this guy walk all over her. I will give this author another shot because I felt the writing was interesting. But this one just took too long to get to the point.

We learn straight away of the pain in Jennifer’s life. She is a well respected and loves GP in a small community. She is just returning back to work after the death of her husband Jeremy, who is missing, presumed dead, after being swept away by an avalanche when skiing. Jen is struggling to grieve as she suspected that Jeremy had been having an affair and is left with a lot of unanswered questions. Jen and her teenage son Keiran are supported by her best friend Rhonda, her policeman husband Chris and their daughter Caitlin. Jen suddenly realises when not feeling well that she is pregnant. She had attended a medical conference two months earlier and keeps having flashbacks of a night when she had had too much to drink and a man chatting her up. One morning a stranger, Scott, turns up at the surgery for an appointment and she realises that she recognises him as that man and maybe he is the man who got her pregnant without her consent. She soon suspects that he has a hidden dark side and is dangerous. Scott turns up at Jen’s house and threatens to blackmail her when she tells him about the baby. There are many layers to this story. We learn of Jen and Rhonda’s teenage years and how this story is connected to the lives of two young boys, from totally different social backgrounds, who become school friends and form a Kill Club. I love Samantha Hayes storytelling. Her books are full of tension and menace, with plenty of red herrings and twists and turns. A brilliant read, that had me hooked from the first page.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

Evan and Mac are two young boys who may have done terrible things. They don’t fit in and to make up for it they make a pact to form The Kill Club.
Jen is a mother working full time as a GP in a small town. After a blurry one night stand she discovers she is pregnant and suspects her drink was spiked. Already coping with the death of her husband on a skiing trip, she then finds out he may be still alive and is blackmailed by her one night stand who won’t leave her house.
Life is full of secrets and some people have more than they should. Also people do terrible things when they let emotion take over.
Great story line, characters you either like or dislike, people who may not be as they appear and a whole lot more.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free digital copy of the book in return for an honest review.

This was quite an interesting story! It certainly makes you wonder what you would do in similar circumstances. I was enthralled from the start and it only got better!

An interesting book with a premise Ive not really seen before.

Fabulous writing as usual and well drawn characters. Many twists and turns to satisfy the mystery reader.

There is a real sense of creepiness and dread running through this novel.

Very good, I enjoyed this book, there was a lot to keep you guessing, not everyone is who they seem...