Louisa is a new mum with a new baby and a teenager to keep her busy. Sheer lack of sleep has her at her wits end, when she is offered the chance of a night away with her best friend, to recharge her batteries.
Unknown to her, as a surprise for her upcoming 40th birthday,  her husband and best friend have organised a party, inviting everyone on her Facebook profile! 
This opens up the biggest can of worms possible, threatening to dislodge the very fabric of Louisa's life.
The phrase "page-turner" must have been coined with this book in mind!! From the very first chapter, I couldn't put it down. Its fast paced story with intriguing characters draws you in, hook, line and sinker!
I hesitate to say this, but I think this may well be the best book I've read in a while!

Talk about a page turner ! The Missing Wife is a mind blowing, suspenseful ,shocking psychological thriller . I absolutely could not put it down once I started. I just had to know what happend. The whole story was very well-written & interesting right until the very end.This author makes the whole story come alive ( it was as if i was living the story )The places and characters were all well developed. This was my first read by this author and will not be the last. I can absolutely see this book becoming a lifetime movie. I highly recommend this book.   If you enjoy gripping psychological thrillers with some suspense and mystery then you definitely should read this one. I promise you will not be disappointed in this story. It was very well done. There are twists and turns right up to the end. 
You can also read this review and all my other reviews on my fb page at Joyce Stewart Book Reviews , my fb Group Stewart Book Reviews Book Club , Good Reads at Joyce Stewart Reviews and instagram at Stewarts_bookreviews.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-ARC and the opportunity to read this book. My review is honest, unbiased, and voluntary.

Gripping psychological thriller that keeps you guessing right to the end. Lots of twists and turns, good characters and a dynamic storyline.

By the end of this book you will KNOW that Louisa is a VERY exhausted mother on maternity and her baby cries ALOT! Other stuff will happen, at the end. I did enjoy the story, but, it did feel very long.

I picked this book up and went in with a different expectation. I thought I knew where the story was going. Surprise! Surprise! I was wrong. The Missing Wife is a psychological thriller; a story of obsessive love, breath-taking deception, and masterful manipulation. By the end, I hated all the characters but liked the book! There were quite a few twists in here, most good, some predictable; nonetheless this was yet another book I found difficult to put down.

Louisa is an exhausted, sleep-deprived new mother and, approaching her fortieth birthday, the very last thing she wants to do is celebrate. But when her best friend Tiff organizes a surprise party, inviting the entire list of Lou’s Facebook friends, she’s faced with a new source of anxiety altogether: a room full of old college classmates who she hasn’t spoken to in twenty years. And one person, in particular, she never expected to see again is there – her ex-boyfriend from college, the handsome and charismatic Oliver Dunmore.
When Oliver’s wife Melissa goes missing after the party, everyone remembers what happened that night differently. It could be the alcohol, but it seems more than one person has something to hide. Louisa is determined to find the truth about what happened to Melissa. But just how far does she need to look…?

I liked how the characters were defined in this one. I like books where the protagonist is not deliberately made to run towards trouble and she can make logical decisions - albeit, in this case, one too many chapters late. Despite all her flaws, I liked Louise. The rest of the characters especially Tiff were annoying. But there were enough red herrings to cast suspicion on and that is probably what made this book good. The plot of the missing wife felt a bit clichéd. Thankfully, the focus was not on the police investigation, because that seemed like a very half-assed effort by whichever PD was doing the investigating. The twist at the end was shocking. I did not see that one coming!

Thank You NetGalley, Avon Books and Sam Carrington for an arc!

This book was quite frustrating to read, though I got through it relatively quickly since it does hook you in. 

The main character was the main issue for me, she was so trusting throughout the whole book even with characters who have proven to be untrustworthy, and it was so annoying to read. The plot was actually not bad, there were twists which I didn't expect and the ending definitely saved the book for me. 

A very interesting read!

Kept me turning the pages constantly! I love books like this and sometimes I think they're all going to be the same, but this one had a different premise. I loved it!

The story line is good but unfortunately the main character, Louisa, is quite weak. I found it hard to empathise as most of the time in wanted to shake her into action.  Part of the basis of the story is that she is sleep deprived, and relying on anxiety tablets, but she is still exasperating! Perhaps someone more sympathetic than I am would enjoy this more.
Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC

Louisa is a 40 year old with a teenage daughter and a fussy newborn. I could empathize with her. She is exhausted, no one seems to be helping her, the baby cries all the time, she can't focus or remember simple things, and now she suspects her husband and best friend are having an affair. When her husband books her a night out at a local hotel, all she wants is a complete night's sleep. Instead she is greeted with a surprise birthday party attended by all of her Facebook friends, none of whom are really Louisa's friends, and her first love Oliver whom she hasn't seen in twenty years. In her despair she drinks too much and remembers little of the evening. Oliver comes around to ask for her help in searching for his wife who went missing the night of the party. At this point I found the book going a little odd and unbelievable. Her husband welcomes Oliver and befriends him, even going out drinking with him. I can't imagine too many men would welcome their wife's ex into their lives so readily. Still, I read on to find answers for the questions I had. What caused Louisa's trauma induced amnesia from around the time she last saw Oliver? Why did he come back? Where is his missing wife? What is Tiff up to? Louisa's despair and postnatal depression are palpable. The book takes a surprising turn.  I found the ending satisfying but out of character for the rather weak Louisa. Still, for the most part I enjoyed this book and the author's very readable style of writing.  I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book for review. I hope to explore more of Sam Carrington's work.

I hate to admit it as I am a big fan of the author but I was slightly disappointed by this book. The plot was a good one with plenty of scope for twists and turns but I just couldn't warm to Louisa. She was the proverbial victim who seemed to go through life allowing things to happen as if she had no control over her life. Everyone from her husband to her friends were allowed to walk all over her. She didn't want a party in the first place and she certainly didn't want her ex boyfriend back in her life but she just went along with whatever other people wanted. It was therefore very hard to sympathise with her when things went wrong and it spoiled the book for me.

Review posted on Goodreads and Amazon

Like many psychological thrillers, this one has a strong family drama theme. Written in the third person from Louisa's point of view, it focuses almost exclusively on her emotions, motivations, observations and thoughts, This does mean that the other characters in the story fade into to the background, even though they are in many cases, the key to the storyline.  

Louisa is an unreliable protagonist, sleep-deprived, looking after a young baby. She may also be suffering from postnatal depression, but because everything is seen from her point of view, and she has no insight into her mental health, this possibility is alluded to, but not explored.  Diagnosed with dissociative amnesia, where the person cannot recall personal information, not explained by ordinary forgetting, usually triggered by trauma or extreme stress, she knows she has secrets. but cannot recall them.

The plot is for the most part believable, the pacing varies, but you are drawn into Lousia's story. How much of it is in her mind?  Is her paranoia, justified, or a symptom of her mental state?  Despite her unreliability, I did sympathise with Louisa. The remainder of the characters, could all be guilty of something, with the exception of her teenage daughter, who I also like, especially as she realises how fragile her mother is, as the story progresses, and supports her, the best she can.

The clues and the misinformation are integrated into the plot well, but they didn't surprise me. The final few chapters are bizarre, but not unimaginable, who knows what they would do in those circumstances?

I received a copy of this book from Avon Books UK via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I hadn’t read anything by Sam Carrington before so I was intrigued to see what this book would be like. If you’re not new to my blog, you’ll know that I read a lot of thrillers, especially psychological ones. Sometimes I find the to be a little samey and predictable. Whilst I did pick up on where the story was going, I did still thoroughly enjoy this reading experience!

The Missing Wife centres around Louisa who is having massive problems sleeping after having a new baby. She’s starting to forget things and her mind is generally a bit of a mess. She’s definitely not in the right place for the surprise 40th birthday that her husband and her best friend have planned. She doesn’t really keep in touch with her old friends and finds herself being confronted with them at her party (including her ex boyfriend Oliver!) Their relationship ended badly several years ago and she hasn’t heard from him since. Yet things are set to get worse, Oliver’s wife Melissa goes missing. Louisa was incredibly drunk at her party and doesn’t remember anything about Melissa’s whereabouts. When Oliver arrives at her door asking for her help, she feels she has to help him… especially as he keeps alluding that she owes him a favour…

This book is interesting because of Louisa’s mental state. She’s remembering things slowly and her mind is incredibly muddled. You’re never sure, as a reader, whether Louisa is a character that’s stable enough to get on board and believe in. There are moments in the story where I doubted her. She’s certainly a fascinating character. Louisa and Oliver’s shared past is intriguing. I was eager to find out more about their history. There’s not many characters that you can trust in this story and I personally LOVE that.

I don’t want to say too much and ruin the story. Just know there’s plenty to get stuck into.

Missing Wife is a psychological thriller. Louisa is a new (unplanned) mum at 40. Emily her teenage daughter and behaves like one! Brian, her husband is busy with his work. With, tiredness and sleep deprivation engulfing Louisa feels she’s losing control over life. To make things better (or worse) Tiff (her best friend) and Brian throw a surprise fortieth birthday party. That night, that party changes everything for her. It brings a man from her past, Oliver and a dark secret along with it. The secret is so strong that might push her over the edge. What happens next is inconceivable by her. It throws her life in a complete spiral. 
Will she lose her sanity and her memories or will she lose it all?

My take on the book:

The theme of the book surrounds guilt, betrayal, and revenge. All of them mixed together can become a dangerous concoction. 

I can divide the book into two halves, the time before the party and the time after the party. 

Before the party is not much and mostly story development and giving some kind of background to Louisa’s memory loss. The story moves from days in the weeks, sometimes in the mornings or in the evenings (am/pm style). There’s an air of suspense added in this to part of the story which it gives it a direction towards the party. This makes up around first 20-30% of the book, so you hold on to the suspense to build up.

After the party, the Louisa doesn’t much remember of it, so that’s one part of the mystery and but there’s another mystery that branches out from it. And starts intertwining as it progresses. The ending comes as a surprise and leaves the reader startled. 

This is my first book by Sam Carrington. I like the style and writing. There were details in the surroundings and in houses which helps in the imagination. I also admired the way the author wrapped up all the mysteries at the end. 

With the concept, the story and the ending getting nearly full marks, the characters did not sink in completely. I feel the characters didn’t get enough space to breathe. Louisa, Tiff, Oliver, and Brian are the major characters. But Brian and Oliver felt like support characters. They did not have enough depth or background to empathize with them. Emily and Brian are father and daughter but not much space is given to this relationship. I think there was a lot of scope for Oliver as well but somehow even that character did not get much space. The reason I feel this more because the book wasn’t from Louisa’s PoV, it was, in fact, it was a third-person narration. But while reading it would feel you are reading the book from her PoV. So Louisa and Tiff (somewhat) got space but none other characters. That’s like a downside of the book which had a huge potential. 

Having said that, I liked the author’s style and the mystery and has intrigued me enough to buy her other books. 

For this one though I will rate it 3 stars. 

Thanks, NetGalley and Avon Books for giving me a free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review of the book.

Louisa is an exhausted mom with a newborn and a teenager (!!!) - for her upcoming birthday, her best friend Tiff decides to throw her a surprise party - just the thing a tired, forgetful and stressed mother needs, right??  To throw icing on the cake, Tiff has invited her list of Facebook "friends", including her ex-boyfriend Oliver that broker her heart in college.   He is coming to help celebrate Louisa's birthday and is bring his wife Melissa too - yay!!The only way to get through this awkward party is to drink, drink, drink!!!
Then Melissa disappears after the party and Louisa has no memory what happened.  She starts to have unsettling visions of a dead woman - does this mean she is to blame?  As Oliver pleads with her to help him find out what happened (and clear his name), Louisa struggles to maintain her sanity and determine what is real and what isn't.  
This was a great read!  It kept me up reading until way past my bedtime and I enjoyed the buildup.  The ending was a little rushed but I enjoyed it overall.
Thanks to Sam Carrington, Avon Books UK and NetGalley for the ARC of this book!

Thanks to NetGalley for an early copy in return for an honest review
A very good read and one I can highly recommend to others. 
I could not put this down.
Thoroughly enjoyable with an amazing cast of characters that you cannot help but engage with.

Most enjoyable. I was hooked from the start. The main character seemed weak but still believable. Really enjoyed the plot and a nice way to end!

My thanks to Sabah and Avon for the blog tour invite and for providing the copy for review. 


New mum Louisa is exhausted so when she finds out that a surprise 40th birthday party has been arranged for her from her Facebook friends list it’s the last thing she wants. Especially when she discovers that an old boyfriend from her university days, Oliver, has been invited – and has accepted. 

She hasn’t seen Oliver for over 20 years and they didn’t part on the best of terms but he is married now; Louisa is married with a family of her own, surely it can’t hurt to speak to him again just for one evening. However when Oliver’s wife then goes missing after the party, Louisa finds herself dragged into past events that she has tried her hardest to forget.

This was such a suspenseful read and I had no idea which way it was going.  I don’t have children so I can’t relate to the exhaustion of a new baby but I certainly felt every minute of Louisa’s brain fogged days when she just closed her eyes for a moment and woke up several hours later.  It became more worrying when she couldn’t remember if she had fed the baby and especially so when she felt that her husband and best friend were undermining her and casting doubt on her ability to care for herself and baby Noah.

Because of her memory lapses and sleep deprivation, Louisa is an extremely unreliable narrator.  There was clearly some devastating event from her past that she couldn’t remember and Oliver’s reappearance in her life clearly had some connection to this, but what? The huge gaps in her memory from the past, together with the alcohol induced haze from the night of her party mean that Louisa has about as much idea as the reader of what is happening.  This was one of those stories where I didn’t trust anyone – I felt that everyone had something to hide and were at various times acting very suspiciously – and if you add in the little areas of misdirection and being led up the wrong path a few times, it’s no wonder my poor brain was spinning.   

With the exception of perhaps Louisa who I thought rather naïve and quite often unwise in some of her decisions, none of the characters were that likeable – Oliver had all the charm of a second hand car salesman (in my experience of course, I can’t speak for all!) – definitely a bit smarmy, verging on creepy, and someone who would score very low on my trust rating; and as for Louisa’s best friend Tiff, something wasn’t quite right there either.  My suspicions as to what was really happening and who was responsible were constantly changing, right up until the end.  

I have bought the author’s previous books, but this is the first that I’ve read.  I really enjoyed it and shall be hunting out the others from the bookshelves.

I delved happily into this book looking for suspense and trouble at home and I found it!  

Louisa and the tense relationships between her husband and alleged best friend kept me engaged and reading into the night.  One wrong move after another propels the story into a direction  that I found to be both complicated and satisfying. Carrington develops her characters convincingly, while not letting them stray very far from their respective lanes. I did want to strangle both the husband and the best friend early on--but also Louisa for her sleep-deprivation induced bad choices. Oliver is a character I'd have liked to see developed a little more subtly. A great beach read!

Tiff and Louisa has been best friends for years until Tiff began being judgy after Louisa had an unexpected child at 40. She started forgetting things and thought she might be losing it. So Tiff sweeps in to “help”. She also takes it upon herself to plan a surprise 40th bday party that takes a strange turn when Louisa’s ex shows up and his wife goes missing the next day. What happened at that party?  It takes several chapters for all of the events to unravel and put the puzzle pieces together while Louisa doesn’t know who to trust, including her husband, her ex of 20 years ago, or her best friend. What a neat mystery!  This was a quick read with lots of twists and turns to keep me guessing.

The Missing Wife by Sam Carrington is a mystery thriller, but unfortunately I didn't like it.  Maybe it was the mother in me or the years I spent as a child protection worker.  Everyone's past helps them choice what books they want to read.   First of all I did not like Louisa in any way, she resents her baby, (poor her) , and forgets to feed him because she sleep deprived.  I really wanted to like the book, it sounded so good, but I have to have someone to root for.  Too many unlikable people.  If you're not as sensitive as I am about children, give this book a shot, you might like it.  I'm sorry but I can not recommend this book.  I will try reading another book by this author. 

I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and the publisher.  Thank you.