My Wife, The Serial Killer was a great debut! I enjoyed the dark humor and the chaos within the book, it was an overall fun read. Thank you NetGalley and Storm Publishing for this advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review.

We follow Fran, the ordinary housewife, married to her policeman husband, Gareth. They have recently moved to a charming neighborhood which they thought would be a perfect setting to finally start their family. There's just one problem, Fran killed the neighbor.

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This one really had so much going for it. The plot sounded interesting and I was really devouring the first half of the book. Once things started taking a legal turn and we got a lot of Gareth's POV, I started struggling. Gareth was such a boring character to read about, it was everything in me to get through some of his chapters. Also, there was talk about infertility that ultimately just felt like filler, rather than spoken about in any meaningful way. After the halfway point, we really lost steam. Which is such a shame, because I was really enjoying myself and getting to know Fran's character and her motives. This is definitely a "why-did-it-happen" rather than a "who-did-it." The ending just fell flat for me, as things declined and the ending felt very forced. We saw characters change their entire personality in the last bit, which made it feel very out of place. Not to mention, we didn't really get the ending you were hoping for.

This one would be perfect for fans that wanted a less gory Mindf*ck series, with the dark sarcastic humor of Finley Donovan.

*Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for my honest review.*

This was such a fun and quirky book! The story vastly differs from my normal reads, but I still found the story enjoyable. I loved being in Fran’s mind. She was hilariously relatable and I had so many laughs every time she would try to be normal while interacting with others. Her relationship with Gareth was sweet and their infertility struggles really resonated with me. I liked that their marriage was not sunshine and rainbows. However, I was so dang mad at Gareth for his actions. I felt personally offended for some strange reason. Maybe because I related to Fran so much — apart from the whole killing thing, lol. The ending was suspenseful and fast-paced, but I do wish we would have gotten an extra chapter or two to see how certain things panned out. That’s just a personal preference, though.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and storm publishing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!!
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Fran and Gareth are your average married couple with a very geriatric cat. The only bump? Fran murdered her neighbor (and isn’t sorry about it) and Gareth (a local detective) is investigating the aforementioned neighbor's murder not knowing it was Fran who did it.
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This book joins a short list of books I finished in less than 12 hours this year. It was just purely entertaining. It’s such a plot that could be really really dark but somehow isn’t without going out of its way to be fake cozy and light. Books where you root for the “bad guy” are always an entertaining change. It’s also an entertaining change when the characters aren’t perfect at their plot line. Gareth is supposed to be a strait laced detective, who ends up faltering several times. And Fran is a murderer who almost messed up so many times it was giving ME a panic attack, several times I was like CMON FRAN!!! Starting with the murder and feathering out was a fun way to get the story without starting outside the murder and making your way in. I would’ve really loved to get into Fran’s childhood more to really understand what was going on. I know we got the gist of it, but Fran and Angus were such complex, interesting characters I would’ve really loved to hear more about their time in the home.. It is a very fast moving plot full of flawed characters with twists, turns, and conclusions. Honestly, I selfishly want this to be a series. Especially with that epilogue. Give me mooooreeee.

Dark and funny murder mystery. The FMC is unhinged but likable. I laughed, I gasped! I thought it was a good mix of different elements in the book. The MMC is trying to solve the murder. I thought the book was well written. It had suspense which I liked and also had romance and funny moments. Snarky and whitty is a good way to describe the characters.

Thank you for the arc read! I throughly enjoyed it!

I read a lot of romances & YA but I also love a good horror or thriller. While “My Wife, The Serial Killer” was indeed a thriller, it fell short for me. I didn’t like the main characters to be honest. Gareth’s passive golden retriever personality was more annoying than endearing & Fran? Her reckless stupidity was downright infuriating. With that being said, it was a quick read with a humor that I actually enjoyed a lot & a pace that kind of meandered towards the middle & picked up towards the end. Not something that will stick with me & not something I consider a waste of time, just a bit of a disappointment.

Rating: 2.8/5

From the title and accompanying synopsis, I had anticipated "My Wife, the Serial Killer" centering around a serial-killing strong female character à la Villanelle or Sweetpea. However, although this novel is clearly derived from that sphere of influence, author, H.J. Garbett, takes this story down a somewhat different track.

The engaging prologue sets the scene in a gruesome, yet humorous, manner and, at this juncture, it appeared to reaffirm my expectations of the content prior to reading the book. However, alternating between the character perspectives of Fran (the wife) and her police detective husband, Gareth, the story becomes more one of the nature of their relationship and Fran's previously undisclosed personal backstory.

"My Wife, the Serial Killer" is intelligently written and there are numerous examples of witty, understated humour as the plotline unfolds. However, in and of itself, this isn't enough to give the overall pace of the narrative the boost it needs in order to be up there with the best in the genre. I couldn't help feeling that the novel needed a rewrite, or at least some more severe editing, so that its delivery could be punchier and more impactful. Overall, though, this is still a decent read and would not deter me from returning to read more from this debut author.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for supplying an ARC in return for an honest review.

My Wife, The Serial Killer by H.J Garbett
Review by Amanda Wilcox
Characters:⭐️⭐️⭐️
Plot: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (about 3 1/2 stars)

I started reading My Wife, The Serial Killer on June 1, and finished on June 5. I love me a good psychological thriller and I couldn’t put down this book unless I needed to go to sleep. This book really kept me going. I enjoyed the characters and the story plot overall. Though, I did wish for more. It was a great story. I didn’t want it to end.

I really thought this was a good solid book, for me personally its definitely one of those where I had to read more to truly understand the reasoning behind some of the FMC decisions because they did not make sense at the time.
Did take a little bit to get through but once I did, it did have a comprehensive story.
Overall it was good.
Mep is my favorite character and carried the entirety of it for me.
Personally a 3.25 ⭐️

I am grateful to have received an ARC of this book through Netgalley 🙏🏻 Thank you Storm Publishing!

This was a fast-paced, darkly funny thriller that I had a hard time putting down. I loved the sharp wit and clever banter throughout. It struck the perfect balance between suspenseful and entertaining. Fran is an unapologetic force of nature, fierce and calculating which had me totally invested in her journey.

I did find myself wishing the chapters were shorter as I think it would have made the pacing of the fast moving plot better. And while I was totally invested in Fran and Gareth, I felt some of the other characters could’ve been developed more, like Angus. We get a little bit of his background with Fran when they were growing up but felt like more could have been flushed out with him. And Fran’s fate wasn’t explained after the shocking twist in events at the end, other than she might be still found guilty as an accomplice.

Without giving anything away, the ending didn’t quite land for me. Given what we know about Fran, I expected a different outcome that would have felt truer to her character. Still, it was a gripping reading experience and one I’d definitely recommend to fans of thrillers with a dark comedic edge.

I enjoyed this book a lot. I found myself enjoying both main character perspectives, although frustrated with out FMC at times, I enjoyed the progression. The book had really good pacing, I never felt that there was a dull moment in the story. It was an interesting read overall, even if I found some parts of the plot not to be the most believable at times. I appreciate the early copy and am very much looking forward to reading more books form H. J. Garbett! I could even see a potential second part to this story which I would absolutely read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️½
This was a pretty decent read. It had a good amount of suspense and kept me interested throughout. The pacing was solid, and there were a few moments that really pulled me in. While it didn’t completely blow me away, the ending was strong and wrapped things up in a satisfying way. Overall, a solid book — not perfect, but definitely worth the read if you're into darker stories with a twist.

I found myself rooting for the "bad guy" in this story and was surprisingly happy with the ending. Good read!

Thank you Netgalley and Storm publishing for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Fran Donoghue just killed her neighbor and Detective Gareth Donoghue is married to Fran.... This was fun and told in both point of views which is my favorite to read a book when there are two characters. This was witty and sharp. Fran is pretty crazy and you will have to see what Greth does. Totally a fun read!

First and foremost, this novel had my dying of laughing and grinning from ear to ear. I was entirely gripped from the start with the introduction to the FMC Fran.
Truthfully, I am not one for multiple POV’s in a book, but I found myself enjoying the different insights way more than I normally would. The other insights felt like they were placed very well to understand things better.
Fran was entirely unhinged right off the bat, as well as lowkey being crazzzzzzzy. Loved her though , even if maybe she needs a little help.
All in all, I love the dark comedy vibes and am currently considering a re-read already for the laughs the book gave me.
Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC copy!

My wife, the serial killer. When I read the title and the blurb, I was reminded a little of the Mindf*ck series, and I love a badass, serial killer FMC. The story was entertaining with sharp, dark humor. The main character, even though she's the serial killer, and that character tends to be portrayed as unlikable, that isn't the case here. Fran is a badass, funny, and quirky. You don't understand her motives until the end, but that's part of the charm of this book. On the other hand, her husband, the detective investigating the murder, is a wimp. It takes a while to warm up to him and start to like it, and even now, I'm not sure I ever fully liked him because he was too bland in my opinion. There were just a few times when I thought "he's okay".

The first half of the story was funny and felt fluid, but after the 50- or 60-percent mark, it started to drag. It wasn't as humorous as the beginning, so it became boring because there were parts where nothing much was happening. The ending was also predictable.

Overall, it was a good debut novel, but with a bit more character development and refinement of the writing, it could have been great.

Thank you Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC.

3.5 ⭐️ Quirky, unhinged, funny! I was laughing out loud, wondering how the story would all play out and who doesn’t love a crazy main character! The book was so easy to get through, I thought it would be a 4-5 star read. However what brought my rating down was the ending, I don’t really love how it played out. It felt like Gareth’s whole personality changed and things wrapped up a bit too easy. But still an entertaining read overall, I would recommend!

My Wife, The Serial Killer by HJ Garnett, Francis and her husband Gareth have recently moved into a new home and as soon as she sees her next-door neighbor she knows she wants to kill him as a matter of fact she can’t wait. The real kicker isn’t the fact she’s killed before but that this time when their neighbor goes missing Gareth is called in to investigate. Even though he doesn’t get on with his new boss and she tells him to let it go he probably went somewhere else or maybe he’ll be found in a few days dead. Gareth instead continues to follow the clues and this is when he starts thinking his wife may just be a killer but her arrest is just the beginning. Gareth really loves Francis and totally regrets getting her in trouble but what was he to do it will be when the case goes to trial that he really knows his wife and it doesn’t stop him wanting her to come home. I usually am not a big fan of inner dialogue but I absolutely loved Francis and her inner most thoughts I loved how much they love their cat her brother who’s not really her brother there’s just a lot of love about this book and not gonna lie when I knew the whole story I did kind of agree. This book is so worth reading it’s not only funny but interesting and keeps you on the edge of your seat.#NetGalley, #TheBlindReviewer, #MyHonestReview, #HJGarnett, #MyWifeTheSerialKiller,

Absolutely unhinged lead character and smart, humorous writing = love.

This one gets 4.75 stars because rarely find a 5 these days. I wasn't super duper hooked or l'd have tipped it to a 5 though!

(Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC)

I was really intrigued by the premise of My Wife, The Serial Killer, a woman who casually kills her neighbor and a husband who slowly starts to realize his wife might be far more dangerous than he ever imagined. Sign me up. And to be fair, the book delivers on its promise of dark humor and chaos. Fran’s inner monologue is sharp and often hilarious, and there were definitely moments that made me laugh out loud.

That said, I found myself wanting a bit more depth. The pacing was quick, which made it a fun read, but I struggled to connect with the characters beyond the surface level quirkiness. Gareth, in particular, felt a little underdeveloped for me, and I kept waiting for a twist that never quite hit as hard as I hoped.

Still, I can see why readers are loving it’s witty, fast-paced, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. If you’re in the mood for something a little offbeat and enjoy stories with a Killing Eve vibe, this might be right up your alley. For me, it was a fun ride, just not one that stuck with me after the final page.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

3.5 stars! This twisty mystery was not what I expected (complimentary) but one I enjoyed (mostly)!

Slightly less comedy of errors than I thought I’d get, this is the tale of a cop married to a serial killer (though he doesn’t know it). In a fun combo, we’ve got our very unhinged wife, Fran, and her clever but kind of unaware husband, Gareth. The cat and mouse game they’ve got going on kept me hanging on through some moments that were trickier for me to read on a personal level (TW: fertility concerns). I found myself at times rooting for one of them to succeed, both of them to succeed, and neither of them to succeed - and I’d call that good character writing!!

Thanks so much to HJ Garnett and NetGalley for a chance to read in exchange for an honest review.