Lila husband is missing and everyone is looking for him except Lila.
Why is she looking for him? Because she killed him? She soon finds out his car isn't where she left it so now she too is looking for her husband.

This book was a little slower than I like my domestic thrillers to be. Overall, it's a quick, page turning read.

Thanks to Netgalley for my advanced ebook copy.

You’ll be forgiven if, at first glance, you think this is the normal little twisty domestic thriller beach read that seem to be everywhere nowadays.

It *is* twisty.
It *is* a domestic thriller.
It *is* a beach read.

But holy crap, it’s so much more! This is one devious and twisted (not just twisty) suspense thriller that will have you on edge all the way through!

Our main character is…wrong. So very wrong. But so much fun to read! I made the mistake of starting this book before work one day. I tore through it, was 50% through before work and finished the rest at lunch and I was so sorry it was over.

Expect suspense that just won’t stop and a very satisfying end to everything!

5 happy stars.

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane Was a bit confused at the beginning events taking place were vague and hazy. After the first few chapters the pace picked up and the events unfolding were easier to comprehend. None of the characters were particularly likable but the mysteries were more than enough to keep reading to discover what happened and was going on. There's more to the wife than being pretty. Very good suspense thriller.

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

Let me tell you: I'm a sucker for an antihero. Give me a morally-ambiguous heroine with a take-no-bullshit attitude, and I am a happy girl. So I was thrilled to be approved for Pretty Little Wife.

Lila is beautiful and smart and a devoted wife, but when she discovers her husband has a secret--a horrible, life-altering secret--she decides she has to take matters into her own hands. Resolved to kill her husband, she executes her plan and expects things to go swimmingly--until, that is, her husband is reported missing and she realizes the body is gone. Is Aaron alive? And is he coming for her next?

I loved this book.

On the surface, I expected it to be a run-of-the-mill standard thriller, and in some ways, you get all the successful ingredients you want from that genre: deceitful spouse, revenge, murder, twists--this, on its own, is done well, and Kane has a firm grasp on the status quo.

However, Kane also proves to be a master at layered plots. There is *a lot* going on in this story. While we get some depth to our characters, this is really conflict driven, and Kane doesn't skimp on the dilemmas. A detective sorting through the missing husband. A podcast dissecting local cases. Three missing girls. Tragic backstories (plural here). Along with a slew of other interconnected events, developments, and missteps leading back to the central mystery of what happened to Aaron.

That's not to say the characters are flat or boring. I loved Lila. You can't trust her, but that doesn't make her an unreliable narrator. Quite the contrary. She's smart, brazen, and tough. She's logical and unruffled and behaves in ways that would previously, IMHO, be attributed to the husband. She's not weepy, dramatic, or emotional. Practical and cunning. Kane really went for it with her reversal of power, and it pays off well. In a genre dominated by adoring husbands, murderous husbands, adulterous husbands, weeping wives, bitter wives, and scorned lovers--we get Lila, a woman capable of standing on her own two feet even when everyone around her tries to trip up her balance. A former lawyer with an analytical mindset, she's one of the most interesting characters I've read lately, and I couldn't get enough of her POV. I particularly loved her interactions with Ginny, and I think readers will, too.

Overall, Pretty Little Wife is a twisty, gritty, smart thriller with wonderful characters and intrigue for days. I'd recommend for fans of Gillian Flynn, Killing Eve, Big Little Lies, or The Sinner.

Big thanks to William Morrow and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

PRETTY LITTLE WIFE is a must-read for fans of domestic suspense. Some might compare this novel to GONE GIRL. Kane has crafted a well-paced story full of twists and turns. It's well-written and satisfyingly complex with an ending that will knock your socks off. The only reason it's not 5 stars is that I found the bully husband character to be a bit "cardboard" & one dimensional. But overall, I definitely recommend this one.

Oh boy, I could neither sleep nor eat (good thing) till I finished this twisted thriller. It enthralled me from start to finish. The heroine? Is Lila, who has submerged her life to keep her husband happy. Of course, he is never happy or content. He is a relentless bully and a predator.

It is Lila’s discovery of his actions that sets this exciting book in motion. If you liked GONE GIRL, I think you will enjoy jumping on this roller coaster. There are bodies, missing bodies and hurried bodies. There are red herrings. There is a brilliant policewoman who unfurls this mystery.

The book is set in Ithaca, unusual, but it really works. Kane has sent the reader on a real chase to uncover the killer(s) and figure out what happened.

Thank you Netgalley for for this delicious thriller.

Lila Richfield’s husband Aaron is missing and everyone is looking for him - his colleagues at the school he works at, his brother Jared, and the police. The only person that wasn’t looking for him was Lila - because she killed him. Until she found out his body and his car aren’t where she left him. So where’s Aaron? And who killed him?


<i>Pretty Little Wife</i> had a slow start as a domestic thriller. But by 35% I was into it and couldn’t flip through the pages fast enough. I love Kane’s character development of Lila and how, as we learn more about her background, it helps us understand her current situation more clearly.

Must read!!

What an amazing debut novel by Darby Kane. I will read anything she writes in the future! This book kept me on the edge of my seat unable to put it down. Such twists and turns. Loved loved loved it! I cannot wait to recommend this book to suspense reader fans. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

There seem to be a lot of disappearances when Lila is around. Are they connected? Is she responsible or is she just been the victim of a lot of bad luck? I highly recommend this novel. It’s a roller coaster ride of a thriller that plays out until the last page with you wondering do you know the main character?