My Lovely Wife

by Samantha Downing

Berkley Books

Publication Date : March 26, 2019

Pages : 359

Synopsis From Publisher:

Our love story is simple. I met a gorgeous woman. We fell in love. We had kids. We moved to the suburbs. We told each other our biggest dreams, and our darkest secrets. And then we got bored.

We look like a normal couple. We're your neighbors, the parents of your kid's friend, the acquaintances you keep meaning to get dinner with.

We all have secrets to keeping a marriage alive.

Ours just happens to be getting away with murder.

As an avid crime fiction reader sometimes I crave a read with a little bit of drama. After reading a particularly dark book full of gore and violence, I then crave a story which is realistic but also contains some soap opera TV theatrics. My Lovely Wife tells the story of a seemingly normal marriage but under the surface lay dark desires, violent compulsions, and deadly consequences. 

By appearances Millicent and her husband are a normal middle class couple; Millicent a successful real estate agent her husband a tennis instructor at the Hidden Oaks Country Club. In Woodview Florida the couple grew their businesses from the ground up with networking and putting in long hours. All of the couple’s successes are put in jeopardy when they give into their impulse to control and cross the line between fantasy and reality. 

Millicent and her husband are successful but they are still mediocre. They live in a nice neighborhood but in the lower priced area of the development. Millicent makes a good living as a real estate agent but the family still lives on a budget. They are surrounded by wealth and privilege however they have failed to make it into the inner circle. The first time the couple kills it was spontaneous but after getting away with it they begin to enjoy it. Since they were able to get away with it, in their minds this equals success. Not just success but the ultimate level of success. They are not only fooling the police but also their neighbors and clients. I do not think the couple really enjoyed killing but rather the thrill of getting away with it. They finally found something they can excel at, even if it is murder.

My Lovely Wife has a sly quality to it. The author does not spell everything out, but more hints at incidents leaving the reader to use their imagination. This slyness continues until the very last page. 

I have read other books and watched TV shows about real couples who kill. One partner typically dominates the other. I absolutely loved how Downing never revealed the more dominate partner. This leads back to the sly quality I mentioned previously. Both husband and wife commit despicable acts, but it is up to the reader to decide who is more devious. 

My Lovely Wife is a perfect binge read. It’s fast paced, filled with over the top drama, and an ending which left me shocked and a little disturbed. Fans of Michele Campbell and Rena Olsen should add My Lovely Wife to their list of must reads. 

**Thanks to Berkley Books for my free review copy of My Lovely Wife **

Murder and Moore Rating :

4 out of 5 Stars