"One man's disappearance throws four women's lives into chaos--and not all will survive. . .

Vicki works as an aromatherapist, healing her clients out of her home studio with her special blends of essential oils. She's just finishing a session when the police arrive on her doorstep--her ex-husband David has gone missing. Vicki insists she last saw him years ago when they divorced, but the police clearly don't believe her. And her memory's hardly reliable--what if she did have something to do with it?

Meanwhile, Scarlet and her mother Zelda are down on their luck, and at eight years old, Scarlet's not old enough to know that the "game" her mother forces her to play is really just a twisted name for dealing drugs. Soon, Zelda is caught, and Scarlet is forced into years of foster care--an experience that will shape the rest of her life . . .

David's new wife, Tanya, is the one who reported him missing, but what really happened on the night of David's disappearance? And how can Vicki prove her innocence, when she's not even sure of it herself? The answer lies in the connection among these four women--and the one person they can't escape."

As much as I enjoyed this book once I was settled into it, I found it very confusing at first with its different chapter narratives between Scarlet and Vicki and also the various characters in the story.  It is quite a twisted and quite sinister storyline and makes for uncomfortable reading in places.  Nevertheless, I stuck with it and enjoyed it, but was left with some questions unanswered.

I enjoyed this book, I was listening to it as well as reading it, as I am still struggling to concentrate on reading at the moment. 

The characters were great, and I found myself gasping and shaking my head in dismay a few times. 
I likec the fact that the author raised awareness of epilepsy.  
The story did go on a little bit longer than I felt it needed to though.
The ending felt a little bit rushed too. 
All in all an enjoyable book.

What a wonderful story. I was transported into a fantastic read. Loved the characters. Felt so awful for little Scarlett 😢 David was a right a$$. And I loved how the Gov’s storyline played out. Didn’t see her twist coming so that was excellent. well. 

Almost 5 star from me, so close! Looking forward to more from this author.

Thank you so much for my ARC I really appreciated recieving it for my honest review in return.

I got to 40% of this book before I gave up, I just couldn’t get into the story and found the main character to be boring

I enjoyed reading this book by the talented Jane Corry. If you haven't read her books, try this one.

An extremely dark and twisty psychological thriller that will reel you in from the beginning.  This was a book I couldn’t stop reading it was such a good read.

I absolutely flew through this book. Jane Corry is an amazing writer who builds suspense and keeps you guessing right until the end. 
I have since read more by Jane Corry and she is now a auto buy author for mysef

Highly believable and scarily possible for people to become embroiled in the miscarriage of justice. Heroes and villains abound, but it is not always clear which is which. A great story, told by a first person with a difference.

Ach! This was written in the stifling, suffocating, claustrophobic present tense, which I hate. My heart sank when I started it. Actually, that's not quite true: the story is written from two POVs, Vicki's and Scarlet's, and it is the latter's whose narrative is in the past tense. However, seventy percent is present tense and it just doesn't work. 

In spite of that, this is a gripping thriller…thank goodness, as it helped to mollify my present-tense disappointment. 

Vicki Goudman is an aromatherapist whose ex-husband goes missing. His current wife sends the police to her home studio, but Vicki doesn't manage to convince them she has nothing to do with his disappearance. As time goes on, the odds are stacking up against her. Trouble is, she's finding it hard to convince herself she's innocent because of her memory lapses. 

Scarlet is only eight years old, daughter of single parent, Zelda, who thoughtlessly uses her as her drug mule. Inevitably, Zelda ends up in prison, and Scarlet is swallowed up into the foster-care system, long-term because Zelda keeps tripping up in prison. 

Vicki's mission is to get to the bottom of her ex's disappearance. Tanya, Scarlet, Zelda and she are all connected. The 'how' is well handled, and the 'who' keeps you guessing right to the very end. It's absorbing, twisty, the characters lives skilfully interwoven, but neatly wrapped up: present tense is forgiven, this time.

This is Jane Corry's third novel, and she is like good wine, just keeps getting better as we go along!! Recommended!

I loved My Husband's Wife and so I couldn't wait to get into this one. A deeply engrossing mystery. Jane Corry is definitely one of my favourite mystery author.

The Dead Ex is a psychological thriller told from various viewpoints. Vicki is David's ex-wife who falls under suspicion when David goes missing. She has contacted him numerous times over the years to let him know where she is hoping that just maybe he will come to his senses and want her back. Scarlet is a young girl who ends up in foster care after her mother is arrested during a drug bust. Helen is a young woman who is hired by David to take photos and enters a torrid affair with him. What is their connection? What do all of the characters have in common? 

I was intrigued and trying to figure out who all the players were and what their connection might be the first half of the book. During the second half of the book, I was able to put some things together and the pieces fell into place.... but not all of them. The Author still has a few tricks up her sleeve! Even with the tricks and twists and turns, I found my attention wandering while reading this book. While I found this book to be enjoyable, it did not fully grab me or my attention. The novel is well written with several twists, turns and reveals along the way and yet, I was still left slightly underwhelmed.

I did enjoy this book, but found it a little hard to follow at times. But that could just be me. I would recommend readers to try this book and see what they think.

I have read this book twice now it's that good. It follows the life of a few people each with different things in their life that have a- big impact on what happens to them later on. . When revenge and jealousy come together it has dire consequences which will affect them all . The story keeps you wanting to read on and has a good ending to it. I will look out for other books from this author.

I received a digital arc of #TheDeadEx from #NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was the first book I've read by Jane Corry so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was intrigued by the blurb! As someone who has epilepsy I was drawn to this book because of that - you don't find many books where the main character has this condition and I was curious how the author would portray it. She definitely did her research! I thought it was quite an accurate portrayal of one type of epilepsy, although as she explains there are many different types.

I really enjoyed the story. I loved trying to work out how Vicki, Scarlet and Helen all fitted in and knew each other. All the way through I was trying to work out if Vicki was guilty and couldn't remember or if she was being framed by someone, and if so who and why. Just prior to it being revealed I had worked it out but it was still a nice twist in the story. I wasn't expecting the final twist revealed in a suicide note though. 

Overall the author created suspense, anticipation and intrigue. I couldn't put the book down. My only gripe was a few spelling and formatting errors which I assume will have been corrected for publication. I would recommend this and would read more by Jane Corry in the future.

I absolutely loved Jane Corry's previous novel, Blood Sisters (reviewed here) and was so looking forward to reading her 2018 release, The Dead Ex. But then life got in the way, reading unfortunately got pushed aside as I seemed to roll from one drama of my own to another and I didn't get around to it. Well, aren't I kicking myself now after finally picking it up this week? Once again, I was completely sucked in and held captive by Jane's twisty, compulsive writing as I devoured this addictive book in a couple of days.

The Dead Ex begins with alternating chapters told from the perspective of Vicki, a reclusive, seemingly timid aromatherapist who definitely has something to hide in the present, and Scarlett, ten years previously, an eight year old child who's caught up in her chaotic mother's criminal activities. Both narrators where fascinating and gripping, but what really intrigued me was trying to work out just what connected the two of them together. There is absolutely no way I could have guessed, and loved the turn the book took!

There's a LOT of theme's running through this book - child neglect and family loyalty, Female relationships and bonds, a need for a sense of belonging, ambition, power, loss of identity...it goes on. Vicki is a fascinating character with so many layers that even by the end I'm not sure I'd seen them all. Jane Corry writes each aspect of her so convincingly, I completely believed in her. I also absolutely loved the references to aromatherapy oils and uses, which I find fascinating and felt really complimented the book.

I flew through this book, despite reading it over a couple of busy days, grabbing any moment I could to read a bit more. With fascinating and complex characters and a plot that left me second guessing at every turn, this is compulsive reading at it's best. An absolute page turner that manages to surprise and shock over and over again.

I would rate this 3.5 stars.

This was a fun thriller, it took me on quite a ride trying to figure out exactly what was happening. I did think the book had a few issues at the end which overall brought my rating down.

Overall, an enjoyable read.

It took me a while to get into the book in the beginning but I found it a compulsive read.  I kept wondering what would happen next;  There were a lot of twists and turns.  An excellent read.

Wow omg i loved this what a fantastic storyline and a great plot which i didnt see coming i was hooked from the first word until the last fullstop.

I loved this book , just when I thought I had it figured out something else happened to change my mind. Cant wait to read more books by this author.