★★☆☆☆ (2.5 stars)
My Wife, The Serial Killer by H. J. Garbett
A murder comedy with a killer concept that fizzled fast.

Huge thanks to Storm Publishing & NetGalley for the eARC!! 💌

this was criminally underwhelming.
the pitch? immaculate.
a wife who kills. a detective husband investigating. a deranged cat. moral chaos in suburbia.

but somewhere between Fran’s darkly funny monologues and Gareth’s tragic case of chronic oblivion... the story lost its spark.

🎭 Domestic Noir
🥀 Suburban Gothic
🎭 Dual POV
🥀 Dark Comedy
🎭 Moral Ambiguity
🥀 Animal Sidekick (!!)

✂️ sharp setup, blunt delivery.
the first half? quick, snarky, twisted. I was rooting for Fran like she was auditioning for the morally grey hall of fame. the
second half? tone shift whiplash. the humour fades, the pacing crawls, and character arcs? shaky at best.

I get the intention — trauma, secrets, guilt. but the execution felt clumsy, like the plot couldn't pick a lane between satirical thriller and melancholic domestic drama.
also: can we talk about how Gareth had the emotional depth of a damp towel until the very end? 😐

📉 the downfall:
- characters acting out of character for convenience
- an epilogue that felt like a shrug
- emotional beats that didn’t land
- and that one cat who was more emotionally consistent than half the cast (justice for Mep tbh 🐾)

but here’s the thing:
this could have been epic.
I wanted it to be epic.
I prepped for a full on obsession.
instead, I got… ✨mild confusion and unfinished potential✨

would I recommend it?
maybe, if you’re into quirky murderers, weirdly loyal cats, and don't mind a shaky back half.
but if you’re here for a Lana Myers level of psychological slayage — prepare for disappointment.

This book reminded me so much of the mindfck series!! The book was very interesting and honestly had me hooked about half way in. The cover is absolutely gorgeous!

Fran is so freaking funny & witty! You’ll be like yesss girl the entire book! You fall in love with her cat & Gareth her man was quite questionable for a bit but end up loving those two!

Read if you love dark humor, cats, thrillers, women committing crimes !!

Thank you netgalley for this ARC!

This novel is filled with dark humour sarcasm,
murder-mystery,love,marriage and drama.
The banter between the protagonist's was comical, intense and enjoyable.
This book revolves around Francesca aka Fran who is a social worker in child protection and Gareth a detective,who has recently moved to their new house.They are a happily married couples,who's been trying for a baby for couple of years.One day their neighbour Mr.O'Neill goes missing that's when the story begins.
Gareth's head Vivian at work says it's a cut n right missing case as old ppl go missing all the time!!!
But when he went to investigate Mr.O'Neill home,he feels something is off as the investigation starts, many things begin to unravel and comes to life.Was he aware of his wife's past or what she's concealing?Did he even know his wife at all or what is she hiding???
The monologue of fran was epic,the bond between siblings is depicted well.
I didn't see that twist at end , overall it's a well written book.

I love love love this book!

My Wife, the Serial Killer follows Fran (a Social Worker) and Gareth (a Police Officer). Fran kills their next door neighbour due to their troubled history (I don't want to say too much and ruin it for you!). Gareth is asked to investigate the case before his colleagues name Fran as a suspect.

The book uses Fran and Gareth's POVs to tell the story of Fran's cover up and Gareth (and the force's) investigation in a clever, engaging and hilarious way. Seriously, I loved this writing style. It gave the story away little by little, kept me gripped till the very end and was just really, really funny.

I'd highly recommend My wife, the Serial Killer.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the chance to read this ARC. 🔪🚓💍

This was a good read. Some parts were a little slow, but overall I enjoyed it. I like how it’s a murder mystery but with some humor incorporated into the book. The main characters were great, and kept me interested in this book. If you love thriller with dark humor, this is a book for you!

This was an adorable dark comedy. Well, maybe not much of a comedy, but there were some definite laugh out loud moments and quotes scattered throughout the book.

It starts out with a bang and sucks you in immediately. The dual POV adds to the interest and it’s pretty nail biting reading seeing the inevitables loom over this couple as they careen down a path the blows up their whole world.

H. J. Garbett captures the perspective of a revenge killer (who thinks they’re being smart when they really aren’t) and a naive, but insightful, new DI. Add in a smattering of funny pets, work drama, and a nosy neighbor and you have a recipe for a story you won’t want to put down.

Such a fun book from this new author!

Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this eARC. I absolutely enjoyed this book and blew through it in less than 48 hours!

BOOK: MY WIFE, THE SERIAL KILLER
AUTHOR: H.J GARBETT
PUB DATE: JUNE 2025
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REVIEW
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
👮🏼‍♂️👩🏼‍💼
I was expecting a lot from this book with its title and cover, and I was not disappointed! Once I started, I couldn't stop. The book started off with the FMC, Fran cleaning up the murder of a man she just committed. Then life goes on until her husband, a detective, was assigned the case, first thought to be a missing person's case. The Fran's secret became harder to keep.
👩🏼‍💼👮🏼‍♂️
I felt like Fran was too clumsy and amateurish for the crimes she committed. With so much at stake, she should have been more careful, but she was just too impulsive, and it didn't change through the course of the book. Gareth, the husband detective was actually a very good one, and I liked that about him. It's admirable that he stuck to what was right at the end of the day. Anyway, it was really nice to understand the 'whys' of the fmc's action, and the victims deserved the horrible ending they got.
👮🏼‍♂️👩🏼‍💼
When the mcs were not murdering people or doing police work, they were actually a nice couple. They loved each other, were involved in each other's lives, and understood each other. They were also trying to conceive, which was more stressful on Fran than Gareth. But, both of them were couple's goals fr.
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This book was good and I enjoyed reading it. But, I would have preferred it if I had read more on Fran's past and childhood and her job as a social worker. But, it was not too bad, and I liked the ending, but I wouldn't say it was realistic. Too much happened for it to be that happy.

I loved this book and the ending was totally unexpected. Well written, fast paced and full of twists that just keep you hooked and guessing what next?
Fran is a social worker, married to Gareth who is a police detective; every day they each update for 60 seconds on their day until the day Fran kills their neighbour, she doesn’t fully update Gareth and when the neighbour is reported missing Gareth doesn’t fully update Fran.
Gareth is very law abiding and when he finds something in his hunt for the missing man he hands it in.
A great read, I devoured it. My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

I wish I could shout this from the rooftops: read this book! It has everything—biting dark humor, unapologetic flawed women, a rough-and-tumble upbringing, twisted family ties, crime, corruption, murder, court drama, ethical dilemmas, a gossipy neighbor, office politics… and the unforgettable Mep the Cat (a true icon).

I laughed. I was concerned. I cried. I was mad. This book dragged me through the full emotional spectrum—and it did all that in just 321 pages! It’s bold, sharp, and brilliantly told from two gripping POVs that keep you hooked and constantly guessing. Just when you think you’ve figured it out… twist!

The only downside? You won’t be able to put it down. Highly recommend!

✨ An absolute must add to your TBR✨

I was initially drawn to this book for the eye catching cover but after reading the synopsis I knew I had to read it.

This book is full of mystery and crime which made me devour this book in no time at all.

If you love an unhinged murder mystery this absolute page turner is for you.

It had me laughing out loud, kept me intrigued what was going to happen along with keeping me entertained with the slow ravelling of the truth.

Excuse the pun but you executed your debut novel perfectly 🤩

I absolutely LOVED IT!!!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Netgallery for my ARC 💖

What happens when Fran secretly kills her elderly neighbor and her detective husband makes it his ikigai to find the killer?
That’s what this book is about and honestly, it was a very fun book to read 🔥

It is one of those books that you pick up because the catchy title or that the cover caught your eyes but you stay for the chaos inside which keeps you flipping through the pages 🤝

At the heart of all that chaos is Fran the wife, the m*rderer, the absolute mess of a main character. She is completely unhinged in both the best and worst ways. Sometimes I was laughing at her witty comments, other times I wanted to smack her on the head. She’s chaotic, impulsive, and somehow still fun to follow.

On the other hand we have 😒 Gareth, her husband, who got on my nerves more than once. He claims to love Fran but ends up helping bring her down (even if not directly), and that rubbed me the wrong way. Still, I can’t deny his little redemption arc near the end was satisfying.

And the ending? I’m not gonna spoil anything but it was but it was wildly satisfying in the most unexpected way 👀

So if you like a book that’s sharp, chaotic, and just a little bit twisted you definitely have to read this one, which gets released 🔜 on the 17th of June!

Really enjoyable book. Gareth is a detective working homicide to keep our streets safe and his wife Fran, well she is also ridding the world of nasty cruel people - just by totally different means. This book was funny, warm and the various quirky characters were very interesting and likeable. This was an easy read and I will be looking out for more by this author.

"Marriage is about compromise. For example, I kill people. Garett doesn’t. So we meet in the middle—I kill fewer people."

🔪My Thoughts
My Wife the Serial Killer is a delightfully dark and quirky debut from Garbett. Told in dual POV—from Fran, an unapologetically unhinged serial killer, and her husband Garett, a police detective—it flips the usual whodunit trope on its head. Here, we know the who and when right away; the fun is in unraveling the why.
Fran is chaotic and compelling, while Garett goes from golden retriever energy to full feral cat by the end. The mystery takes a backseat to the character dynamics and dark humor, making for an entertaining, if slightly slower-paced, read. If you liked All the Other Mothers Hate Me, this should be next on your list.
⭐⭐⭐💫

Read if you like
🩶Morally gray female lead
🐶Golden retriever x feral cat dynamic
💍Married couple dynamic
🔪Killer with a conscience
🎭Dark humor meets domestic drama
🕵️Detective married to the killer

As someone who greatly enjoys both detective stories and books written about the mindset of killers, both real and fictional, *My Wife, the Serial Killer* seemed to be written just for me. Unfortunately, the book did not quite reach my expectations.

It follows the aftermath of Fran killing her neighbor, Mr. O'Neill. I personally found Fran to be quite unlikeable, but I'm certain there will be many who will disagree with me. I do not think so because of the murder, on the contrary, but because she comes across as arrogant, fake, and self-righteous, while constantly going back and forth on whether she would consider herself to be a psychopath. The synopsis assured us that we would agree that Mr. O'Neill deserved to die, and I spent a good part of the book trying to discover the reason why. On one hand, it kept me interested enough to try to understand the intricacies of why Fran believes she was so justified and is thoroughly unrepentant, but, on the other hand, it made Fran sound even more unhinged and cold until we find out what had been actually going on.

With a dual-POV of both the killer and the detective, both married, I expected the conflict to arise from Fran having to cover her tracks from Gareth, her husband. While that is certainly one of the plot points, it is not focused on for as much as I would have liked. Precious time and energy is focused on secondary issues such as visits to fertility doctors or the health and personality of the elderly cat. I found myself struggling not to flip through those sections and wondering how certain details would tie back to the main investigation.

I am very sad to say that part of my problems with this novel come down to the writing style. It is considered a Humor & Satire story and while a lot of the jokes are very funny, especially in the beginning (I am still laughing at the joke about Siri or the Zodiac Killer), as time goes on, it feels like there are certain quips thrown in that end up distracting from the narrative and making a lot of descriptions unnecessarily verbose. Bits such as the speculation of what goes on in deposit rooms in fertility clinics, whether one of the character's hairline is receding, or how someone's penis is hanging out during a fight seem to go on entirely too long and do not have any sort of payoff. Moreover, since both Fran and Gareth are somewhat quirky in their inner dialogue, sometimes it was hard to distinguish whose POV it actually was.

My favorite part of this story was how H. J. Garbett did a masterful job of sprinkling different pieces of evidence and covering loose ends. More than once I found myself being surprised by a piece of evidence I had forgotten existed or had been left behind, but no ends were left unwoven. As I said before, Fran is arrogant. She truly believes that her cover-up job is more brilliant than it actually was, and I was constantly confused about whether every character she came across truly believed her excuses. The author does a really good job of balancing her as a somewhat unreliable narrator while also explaining why, in her mind, all the actions she takes make sense.

I truly wish I could have loved this book, but I truly believed the author will continue to improve, and I will certainly keep an eye out to see what he comes up with next.

Thank you to NetGalley, H. J. Garbett, and Storm Publishing. This review is left voluntarily and honestly.

This. Was. Dark.
I definitely expected there to be more levity to break up the heaviness, but there was none. It was an interesting book, and I enjoyed the conclusion. The narrator struggles with self diagnosing as a psychopath throughout the book. Her view of her detective husband is a bit sketchy- condescending and adoring, alternately. She even steps in to intimidate his coworkers. Definitely a bizarre and interesting plot. If it were quirkier, would make for good tv.

My Wife The Serial Killer - H.J Garbett

‘Fran Donoghue has just killed her neighbour. Don’t worry, you’ll agree, he deserved it.
Detective Gareth Donoghue has a terrible feeling about his missing neighbour.
By the time this is over, that will be the least of his worries…’

Oh my god, THIS WAS SO GOOOOD!! I saw the premise on Netgalley, requested it, and was so glad when it came in! I picked it up one evening at about 10pm, when I’d finally managed to walk away from my desk, (my final uni assignments this term are killing me …) and finished it at just gone midnight.

I loved it, it’s like nothing I’ve ever read before?! I don’t think I’ve ever really read a black comedy; but now I need countless more?! Fran, amazing, her one liners? Fucking fantastic. Gareth? In the middle, sure, I was pissed at him, but my god did he redeem himself! Beryl and Tony the dog? Wonderful; truly, magnificent side characters. The back story that slowly unfolds, finding out who Angus actually is, the police corruption?! All of it with a hilariously comedic vibe whilst also containing graphic descriptions of murder? Yes please. The description of Dexter meets Schitts-Creek thriller is absolutely how it reads, and I loved it, and need so much more now!

Please give me all your black comedy recs, I need more, immediately. This is published on June 17th, 2025 - don’t walk, RUN to get it!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There's that old saying, "Never judge a book by it's cover," however in the case of My Wife, The Serial Killer, I saw those earrings with knives dangling and read the synopsis and it all intrigued me. I am glad I went for it. If you are a fan of dark, twisty, and humorous mysteries this is for you.

Fran Donoghue is a serial killer. She has just killed her neighbor. "You can't exactly ask Siri where's the best place to hide a dead body-that would surely have the SWAT team ramming my door down in no time." Obviously, Fran is a bit unhinged. Gareth Donoghue is a police detective and Fran's husband. Gareth is a people pleasure who texts like a Grandma. He has been assigned to look into the "disappearance" of their neighbor. The couple have a cat named Mep, who is a fun character. I really liked the neighbor, Beryl, and her dog, Tony.

This is a debut novel from H. J. Garrett. It is a quick, fast paced read. I found the main characters well developed. The plot told in the two POVs of Fran and Gareth keeps the reader engaged and I enjoyed seeing the mystery unfold from each of their perspective. The Epilogue gives us another perspective (no spoilers). I look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Storm Publishing, for an ARC. The opinions in this review are my own.

This was an entertaining read, it definitely started off a lot slower than I would have liked, but after the first half it picked up considerably. The first half took me a while to read due to this, but I flew through the rest.

One thing I really couldn’t fault is the characters - they were all so interesting and were written really well. The author somehow had us feeling sorry for serial killers!

For me personally, my favourite part of a book is the twists and turns, which this book lacked considerably .

This actually is a classic case of not judging a book by its cover. Although the cover is quite frivolous and there are parts of the book that brought a wry smile to my face, the actual story is quite dark and in places sad and emotional. I was drawn into the story from the outset but confess I was a bit frustrated as to why a seemingly random killing should have occurred. Obviously as the book progresses we learn a little bit more about the background which made me overcome my irritation. Some of the characters were more caricatures than was strictly necessary but overall I enjoyed the book.

4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dark, weirdly funny, and surprisingly emotional. this book was NOT what I expected, in the best way.

The title sounds wild but what really hit me was how cleverly written it is. It’s sharp, offbeat, and full of morally gray characters that you kind of hate yourself for liking. The tone walks this perfect line between dryhumour and unsettling tension I laughed, I gasped, I questioned my own taste in fiction.

The pacing is tight, the twists hit, and even though the plot is a bit outrageous, it never feels gimmicky. It actually explores some deep stuff love, guilt, loyalty, and what you really do when someone you love turns out to be someone else entirely.

Why not 5 stars? A couple moments felt slightly too absurd or rushed like it leaned a little too hard into the satire when I wanted more character depth. But honestly? Still a super satisfying read.

If you’re into dark humor, domestic thrillers with a twist, and stories that don’t take themselves too seriously but still pack a punch highly recommend. Just… maybe don’t recommend it to your spouse. 🤣


❤️ Thankyou storm publishing for this copy.


❤️shaye.readss