The Wife and the Widow

As I read this book, I felt like the alternating chapters flowed really well. That is, until I realized that some chapters were actually set in a different timeline. Kate’s husband, John, has been lying to her about his job and his business trips. In fact, when she does some investigating, she traces him back to the vacation home on an island that was given to them by John’s parents. What she finds there is deeply unsettling. As the story continues, we meet a widow, Abby. Yet, Abby and Ray are married with two children.

It is not until more than halfway through the book that the reader realizes that some of the chapters are set in the past and some are set in the present. This confused me quite a bit and I would have loved there to have been some sort of marker telling me that it was a chapter from the past. The story itself is riveting and as it unfolds there are secrets that both families are hiding that are truly unspeakable. I did not expect the ending at all but it closed up the plot very well. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of suspense, thriller, and mystery stories.