What a great mystery thriller and perfect summer read. Nellie and Richard seem to have the perfect life, a house in the suburbs, Mercedes, trips to Europe, then everything starts to change in their marriage. Nellie becomes an alcoholic and Richard falls in love with his assistant. You would think this is a typical plot but there are so many twists and turns that it keeps you guessing the entire book, even into the prologue.

I received this book as an arc from NetGalley.

This book would have been a solid 5 star except that I got confused about who was who in the beginning. As the book blurb states - "you will make many assumptions" - and, as I found out, you will be wrong. Eventually, everything is clarified. The book is highly suspenseful and continues to surprise the reader up to the last page. Enjoy the wild ride!

I would give this maybe 3.5 stars at most. Wow, there's a lot of gaslighting happening in this book (and that's not a spoiler, because it's super obvious almost right away). The plot is intricate and there are a few twists and turns along the way (the first major one is revealed at the end of "part one" and was super predictable in my opinion), and I kind of knew how it would end, though I didn't see the final reveal (the epilogue) coming. But, that was kind of far-fetched, but it did make a twisted story even more twisted. There were some really well thought-out/full circle moments, which I liked.

The storyline is definitely unique, so I appreciate that. What I don't appreciate is the overabundance of description everywhere. The first few chapters were really only a few pages in substance, but it was like the author wanted to make it longer so there were more and more descriptors added. Unlike some other thrillers (even ones I really hated like THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR that I hate-read in a day), this one doesn't make me want to turn the page and get through it in one sitting. Near the end it started picking up, but there really is so much detail that needs to be waded through that it loses some of its effectiveness and disturbing feelings. I feel like the editor or publisher was like "this needs to be at least 300 pages", so it was filled with detail that was unnecessary and detracted from an otherwise potentially interesting story.

Also, there was one major plot hole that never really got filled (re: a tertiary female character who acts strangely and seems like she should be important, but isn't...trying not to spoil anything here for people who haven't read it). I'm kind of annoyed by that. I don't know if she was meant to be a "red herring" or if we're supposed to left wondering what her deal is, but it just felt forced.

Very addictive thriller with many twists and turns throughout. You will not be really sure what is real and what is not. Nellie is a beautiful young woman engaged to Richard a wealthy , nurturing man. Her life is full of fine dining and travel. Vanessa is a divorced woman hanging on by a thread and drinks way too much. you will think you know what you are reading and have a full grasp of what is happening. You don't. .

Before reading this book, I read reviews saying there were twists. I sure didn't expect any of these twists! I was confused a little bit when I found out that the 2 points of views were actually the same person. And I kept thinking the woman is just a stalker and can't move on but that wasn't the case. The story kept me interested through out.. It sort of had a 'Girl on the Train' feel to it but WBU is a better story with at least some likable characters. I wish there could have been a little bit more suspense with the husband towards the end. This book was different enough that I will recommend this to my fellow readers

Brilliant, brilliant book! I really struggled to put it down and loved every minute of it. I really like the difference in the three different parts, each gripping in their own way.

This one is going to set winter book club meetings on fire. I finished a week ago and I still can't think of what to say without giving away too much. We're introduced to Vanessa & she's basically Rachel of TGOTT's drunker, messier cousin. She was a good unreliable narrator because of it. Actually all three of our main characters are working their own shady agendas making it a challenge to decipher who is telling how much truth.

There are some delicious twists throughout, but the biggest one revealed at the end of part one was one of my suspicions (reminded me of that Twilight Zone episode with the woman on horseback). I thought the epilogue was a bit pat and think the story would have finished more strongly without it. All in all, I'd read another by Greer. Now I'll need to find something to read when everyone else is reading this in a few months. Definitely recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley for the advance reader copy, for which I gave my honest review.

The Wife Between Us is a story of a women struggling with her past, a women struggling with her marriage and well a lot more! The story has a lot of telling details that lead to a twist in the middle but you have to really pay attention! It is well written, and can be a bit confusing at times. I thought it was interesting how much the main characters struggled with their pasts, and how it affected them so deeply in the future. I gave it three stars because it's a little slow and not as intense as I hoped.

Thank you to NetGalley for the pre-review copy!

I really enjoyed this book! Enjoyed the connections and twists that made up the ending perfectly!!

The Wife Between Us is very different from any suspense novel I’ve read. What makes this novel so unique is the clever and surprising way the story enfolds. Like a puzzle being pieced together, the reader finds answers piece by piece, until, at last, a complete picture is formed. Although I was invested in the story right from the start, I didn’t understand at first what the suspense element was. The tension builds slowly. A creepy, unsettling feeling began to grow until I couldn’t stop turning the pages. I always felt a sinister surprise was lurking around the corner. And there were plenty of surprises!

It would be a disservice to readers to reveal the details of this story. Take the advice I did from another reviewer who advised not to read too many reviews but to dive into this book blind. You will both shocked and pleasantly surprised.

So you tell yourself, here is the story of one wife being dumped for a new younger wife. You would be so wrong. It is a book you have to read from cover to cover to understand the characters involved. A couple meet on a plane, fall in love and live happily ever after, not so much. Can a woman fall in love and lose her own identity? There are so many personalities and directions for this story, so many questions to be answered. I don't want to give anything away.

“Assume nothing,” says the blurb for THE WIFE BETWEEN US, and like an amateur magician the sales pitch calls attention to the trick rendering the execution far less effective. I’m not sure, but I hazard the guess that this is in part why I didn’t enjoy the book as much as I had hoped to.

I’m joining the ranks of readers who are let down by what turned out to be a book with too many awkwardly choreographed, convenient twists told in a style that might have been cool it if weren’t also kind of confusing.

I’ve read a lot of books lately that play with format. Stories in multiple points of view (or told in second ala YOU), stories that start at the end and work backward (Megan Miranda’s ALL THE MISSING GIRLS), ones like Jane Harper’s THE DRY that seamlessly blend past transgressions with present day investigations, and each of them have been expertly handled. THE WIFE BETWEEN US falls short. In fact, when the first big twist came before PART II, I was like, “Who is Vanessa?”

Several characters are a tad thin or more appropriately the trick of character is thin because I understood soon-to-be-wife Nellie well. Vanessa’s POV was, in my mind, “I” and so when I *spoiler alert* find out these are the same woman, I was confused. We have too many variables with the roommate, the sister-in-law, the aunt, the family history with the mother, people Nellie met from her life with Richard and those from the bar and the preschool and college. There are so many names in this book that it’s a chore to keep everyone straight.

Sub-plot is an issue for me, too. “Nellie’s” sorority sister story feels like one too many ingredients in an already unbalanced character soup. And the pregnancy. It felt like a setup for the big reveal into Emma, which some applaud but I rolled my eyes at because there are way too many coincidences at play here.

Ultimately, if a blurb is going to promise “The read of a lifetime,” any novel risks falling short. I think marketing should leave it to the readers to determine what is or isn’t worthy of such high praise. If a book really is that good, readers will say it. Reviewers will say it. When a publisher says it, it comes off as a sales pitch born of ego. I admit, I fell prey to it, but I’m even more let down by the finished product.

Richard is portrayed early on as the “best thing ever” and any woman knows no one is ever that good (particularly in fiction). I wasn’t surprised when the book delved into his dark side, though I never fully bought into why Vanessa would go so far as to set Richard up to fall for Emma and then go to such lengths to try to stop the wedding she orchestrated.

Believability is thin for me with this one as Richard is portrayed as controlling but with Vanessa’s incessant drinking (ala GIRL ON THE TRAIN) I felt like I was reading an unreliable narrative and perhaps a recycled idea. I am over rich people in romance (money being the reason the main character’s flaws are overlooked). I am over drunks. I am over trickery because expert storytelling does this without hype or attention called. The prose is decent. The plot is quasi-cohesive if not overly-ambitious. The execution is mediocre at best. Dialogue is well-written and if I hadn’t been promised the thrill of a lifetime I might be warmer on THE WIFE BETWEEN US. Then again, maybe not.

A clever idea of Vanessa and Nellie being the same could have been mind-blowing if it were one of fewer (if not the only) twist. As it stands, I just didn’t love this one. An okay beach read at best. I’m stuck between 2 and 3 stars for what turned out to be a slow, disjointed and oversold read.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the authors for this ARC.

This book will stay with me for a long time. Thought-provoking and mysterious, it captured me and would not let go.

It's separated into three parts, at the end of each I had just started to think I knew what was going on, and each time I was very wrong. All during part one, the story seemed simple enough, was flowing nicely, then came the shock at the end of it. That happened repeatedly throughout the story.

I spent so much time trying to figure out who was in the wrong, who was the victim. In the end, I got answers to questions I hadn't thought to ask. However, there were still a couple things I question, even after everything.

This is one of those stories that make you think. You read a line that makes you go, wait a minute....
Very well written and interesting. I loved the whole thing and could see myself reading it more than once.

Note: I received this advanced readers copy of "The Wife Between Us" from Netgalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

“The Wife Between Us” is one of my favorite mystery/suspense novels of the year. Though it tells a story that readers have seen before, it does so in a fresh way that hooks the reader from the very beginning. The plot reminds me vaguely of “The Girl on the Train,” though I thought this novel far surpassed “Girl” in terms of twists and character likability.

The novel begins by switching narratives between Nellie, soon to be the next wife of Richard, and Vanessa, Richard’s (recently made) former wife. This swapped narrative continues for roughly half the novel, at which point comes a change that leaves us with only one first-person POV to read. I particularly enjoyed reading Vanessa’s first-person perspective, finding her smart and resilient, though possibly a bit unhinged.

The biggest downfall for this book is not the book itself but its description. We are told—before we even open the book—that nothing should be taken at face value. For me, this made me instantly on-guard and suspicious of everything being presented to me. Because I was actively looking for a wrench the author could throw at me, I figured out the first big reveal well before the story delivered it. Had the description of the book given me a general overview I would not have been as likely to consider that such a reveal would have been possible for this story. That being said, the novel still managed to find a few more twists in its second half that I certainly did not see coming.
I thought the pacing of “The Wife Between Us” was perfect for the genre. I was gripped and felt compelled to read the book quickly; at no point did I become bored. The more I learned about Nellie, Vanessa, and Richard, the more engaged I became in discovering the truth. As it’s referenced in the book, there are usually three sides to every story: his, hers, and the truth.

While I learned more about the characters and was able to piece together the backstory, I found myself expecting one ending but getting something quite different. The author added one last twist at the end of the book that seemed to come out of nowhere. In my opinion, the ending felt like it dragged a few chapters too long. I think the author was having a difficult time drawing the story to a close, so she added a new piece of drama to compensate. Regardless of this, I thought the book as a whole was fantastic. “The Wife Between Us” kept me on the edge of my seat without being cliché and is the picture of a well-executed suspense novel.

Before reading this book, I read that you shouldn't read too many reviews or else it spoils the twists and turns. I have to say that I agree with this. There is one huge twist that comes right before the halfway mark, and that was indeed a good one. But after that, I kept waiting for more bombshell twists that just never materialized. There were several small surprises, but nothing jaw-dropping.

That being said, this was a VERY entertaining book to read. I think I read it in a day and a half and just did not want to put it down. It's very fast paced, with the exception of a small lag in the middle. Characters are reasonably well-developed and for the most part multi-dimensional. This book probably won't be a standout to the already crowded psychological marriage thriller genre, but it is a nice addition to it.

**4 Goodreads Stars**

"She is everything Richard desires. Everything I used to be."

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen's The Wife Between Us tells the story of two women who both love the same man, Richard. Richard is attractive, wealthy, charming, and successful. Nellie is young, beautiful, and impressionable. Nellie meets Richard and is immediately swept away by his generosity and charm. Nellie and Richard become engaged, but there's just one small thorn in their side: Vanessa, Richard's ex-wife. 

I should start by noting that the book contains scenes with domestic violence, so if this is a trigger for you, you might want to avoid it.

We hear Vanessa's side of the story, one that, at times, can be murky and questionable. Vanessa does not want Richard's new fiance to marry him. Vanessa will see to it that the marriage does not happen no matter the consequences. Is Richard really as bad as Vanessa suggests? Is Vanessa's memory simply muddled due to her drinking and her mother's history of mental illness and insanity? Has Richard really committed the crimes Vanessa details? Who can we trust?!

There are several unreliable narrators in this book. Just when you think you can trust the narrators the book takes unexpected, thrilling twists that throw the entire story line for a loop. I am a fan of psychological thrillers that upend everything you thought you knew about characters, and The Wife Between Us is one of those books. Reviewing the second half of this book and its ending will reveal too many juicy spoilers, but you won't be disappointed by this book if you like plots with surprises.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen, and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy of The Wife Between Us.

Like an off-the-beaten-path mountain road, this book is twisty! Just when you think you have it pegged, you realize you've been thrown for a loop. This book is about a philandering, despicable husband and the hold he has over his wife. Or does he? The authors do a great job with keeping the reader on their toes. Do not miss out on this one, folks!

There’s an excellent chance you’ll rate this book higher than I did.

I was only two chapters into this book when I wondered, “Is this like (a favorite read from 2015)?” I’m not sure why I thought this - different genres, very different plots - but having wondered, I kept looking for hints.

So at some point in this book, I might have thought “OHHHH,” and instead I thought, “Yep, there it is.” I believe some of the following chapters felt tell-y to me, because they expanded on ideas I’d been weighing up for many pages already.

I thought one of the other central ideas was an effective one to explore, and overall I enjoyed the book. A couple of ending revelations make things tidier than they need to be, but that’s a quibble.

If you like this genre, I’d say give it a shot. There’s no way this book could compete with the ghost of one of my favorite reads of the decade, but it survived the experience. Unless you happen to ask yourself the same unlikely question, you’ll probably enjoy the reading.

(Goodreads review closes with a spoiler for the genre of my 2015 read, and a second spoiler for the author/title.)

According to its description, the reader will make a number of assumptions when reading this book--that it is about a jealous wife and how she is obsessed with her husband's choice of her replacement, that it is about a woman who is starting a new marriage with the new man in her life, and that this first wife was a terrible wife who the husband is fortunate to have out of his life. Then the warning comes: Assume nothing.

Vanessa Thompson is the wife, divorced from wealthy Richard, and is barely managing to survive. She lives in a haze of alcohol and is only jarred out of it when she learns Richard is planning to remarry. She wants to protect the future wife from what she went through when she was married to Richard.

This book is excellent, full of twists and surprises. It is one of those rare books where at the end I felt compelled to go back to reread passages just to be sure I squeezed every last drop from them. The storyline is so riveting that the book is definitely difficult, if not impossible, to put down. The conclusion was shocking and unexpected, just the kind of book that leaves the reader wanting more. And I do--I hope the next book by these authors is just as good as this one. I'll be waiting for it!

Much like the narrator states, there were several times in this book where I made an assumption that turned out totally wrong. I was intrigued from the very beginning and found myself up until 3:30am because I just had to know how it ended. Definitely a read I plan on recommending.