Lila Ridgefield has been putting up with her husband Aaron’s controlling behavior for a long time. One day she makes a shocking discovery and decides to take action. Six weeks later, she is surprised when the principal of the high school at which Aaron works tells her Aaron is missing with no sign of his car or any indication he showed up at work. As the investigation into Aaron’s disappearance continues, Ginny Davis, the CID investigator, will wonder if Lila is a victim or a killer.

This book has some back and forth between timelines as well and points-of-view, switching between Lila and Ginny. There are also some true crime podcasts since Aaron’s case is noticed by the person broadcasting a podcast about young women in the area who have disappeared. Lila is both tough and vulnerable at the same time, while Ginny is intelligent and looking for justice. I really enjoyed the cat and mouse game between the two of them. The book has several unexpected twists and the ending is both surprising and creepy. Some of the activities uncovered during the investigation are very disturbing but the book overall is suspenseful and entertaining. I think the book would appeal to fans of Alafair Burke or Karen Harper.

Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow, and Scene of the Crime Early Reads for this ebook. An advance copy was provided to me at no cost, but my review is voluntary and unbiased.

Wow, so she was the perfect wife. Took care of everything, and her husband. She worked in real estate so she could be the perfect wife. She always did what Aaron asked her to do until she just got tired of it and him.

So, she killed him, or she thought. But then his body disappeared?? What happened? Was he really dead, where did he go, who is taunting her?? And the list of questions goes on.. and on...

This was an intriguing story with some suspense in it. I did enjoy reading it and I will be looking for other books from this author!

"My taste in men sucks.

Yes, Lila, it really, really does.

Pretty Little Wife is chock full of excellent writing, believable characters, effective dialogue, and pulse-pounding pacing. The one thing that prevented me from giving this book five stars was that I'd mostly figured it out by the 17% mark, and had completely figured it out by the 30% mark. Thankfully, the fairly obvious red herrings didn't distract from my enjoyment of this story. And, oddly enough, I actually quite loved Lila.

Darby Kane just became my latest must-read author. I'm definitely recommending this one!

Available December 29, 2020.

Enthusiastic thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for my review copy.

When Lila's well liked husband, Aaron, goes missing, the town immediately assumes that Lila has something to do with it. She's never fit into the mold that everyone expected of her and that's enough for the town to be suspicious. In this case, everyone is right.. .But everything isn't as simple as it seems. Lila thought she had planned everything out perfectly until Aaron isn't where she left him and she starts receiving notes from someone who knows what she did.

This book definitely had lots of twists and turns, as well as many unreliable characters to keep you guessing up until the end. I really liked the detective, Ginny, and found she was the one I was rooting for most of all. I didn't really connect with Lila, but that was part of what made the book so interesting and suspenseful. She has a very calculating and cold surface, but there were many times in the book where her past is exposed to see why that is.

Anyone who likes a suspenseful book with lots of unreliable characters should pick this one up!

I’m not sure how to feel about this one. I was intrigued by the story, but only kept reading to find out what was going on with Aaron. The characters felt flat — especially Lila. I know she’s supposed to be a little cold and standoffish, but those were essentially her only characteristics. I still think I’ll be reading more of this author, though. It’s a promising first book.

I think Lila for sure has RBF. She’s so hard to read. From the beginning, we know that she had something to do with the fact that her husband is missing. It’s pretty clear. Not crystal, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist. She is pretty confused about one thing though–her body isn’t where she left it.

Is he a zombie? Is he alive? And honestly, those seem like the better answers. How does a dead body just go missing?

Great premise, right? In Pretty Little Wife, the reader gets a front row seat to the relentless interrogations and everything that Lila is up to in the days following her husbands, ahem, disappearance. The detectives think they have it figured out, but Lila knows, that even she has no idea what is going on.

I really wanted to love this one more. I just never truly got into it. You know, that tipping point when you stop noticing that you are reading and turning pages and you just lose yourself in the story? Still, I kept going, for almost 400 pages. I did check Goodreads when I was done, and many people did not agree with me so who knows!

Special thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for an advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review. This one is out December 30. Get your copy!

Domestic thriller. Podcast element. Lila's husband Aaron is missing. Soon unexplained missing women get connected to Aaron's case and the police just want answers. Lila wants answers herself because she believes she killed her husband but he's not where she left him. There's a lot of suspects, Ryan, Jared, Samantha, Cassie, etc... It's more a case of finding out who knew what, at the same unraveling the true crime taking place.

I really enjoyed this one!! I love when I think I’ve guessed the end of a book and then it goes in completely different direction.

NetGalley ARC | Gahhhh, this book gave me nightmares, and I loved it. If you need a fast-paced, creepy AF thriller this winter, don't miss Pretty Little Wife.

This title would most appeal to true crime podcast, eerie feminist revenge, and dysfunctional family lovers.

See our full review on The Uncorked Librarian along with more December 2020 book releases here: https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/december-2020-book-releases/

Thank you to the author and publisher for providing TUL with a free and advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Lila and Aaron seem like the perfect couple living in small town Ithaca, New York. She’s a former lawyer turned real estate agent married to the beloved high school teacher and coach. When Aaron mysteriously goes missing, the whole town begins to wonder if his disappearance is tied to that of other women who have vanished nearby. As suspicion mounts, the mystery surrounding whip-smart Lila and her lack of grief grows. Throw in an equally-savvy female detective investigating the case, and you’ve got a twisted domestic thriller.

Aside from the mystery and darkness that are the hallmarks of the thriller genre, this book also addresses the ambiguous nature of justice and how public perception can decide your fate. Main characters Lila and Ginny rarely felt boxed into their respective roles of wife and detective, and I enjoyed reading from the perspective of two strong female characters who were piecing the puzzle together right along with me throughout the book.

This book will be available on December 29, 2020. Thanks to HarperCollins/William Morrow & NetGalley for an advanced copy!

First, it took me only two sittings to finish Pretty Little Wife. I read as much as I could in one sitting, before I had to get up and do my life. It's THAT good.



Second, when I was in the midst of my first reading, I'd read nearly half the book before I realized I had things to do. I absorbed this book, and couldn't pull myself away.



Third, the characters are....well, you want to hate every single one of them. But at the exact same time, you find yourself loving and rooting for all of them.



Fourth, goddamn it, this book is good! Okay, we have a wife who may have killed her husband. The detective who is trying to figure out what's going on. And then the other characters who are way more dynamic than tertiary characters should be. The author does such a great job of sucking the hell right out of you, and placing you in the middle of the story. You want destruction and pain and to know what the hell is going on.



People have compared the book to Girl on the Train or Gone Girl, and I can now understand why. Both of those were books that made me mad and sick and desperate to find out the truth.



Pretty Little Wife is worth your time. Read it.



5/5 Stars

I did not sleep What a epic ride. I enjoyed the gripping story and places this book took me. I will be adding this to my favorites. Well-done.

I’ve had an on and off again relationship with thrillers for the last year or so but when I read the description for this one I was immediately sucked in. A missing husband is nothing new but a wife who is panicked not because her spouse is dead, but because his body isn’t where she left it reeled me right in. I’m so happy to say that this reignited my love of the genre because it was a really strong debut and one of those rare thrillers that hooked me from the first page to the last.

This is one with a super tricky plot with plenty of twists and turns so discussing it in any detail is difficult. In fact it’s so incredibly twisty you will need to suspend disbelief a few times in order to truly enjoy the reading experience, but if you’re able to just go with it, you’ll have one hell of a wild ride. It had a really strong ending, a powerful opening chapter and the middle was great too so overall an excellent thriller that was just a lot of fun.

Holy moly! I loved this. It took a little while to get into but once I hit that point I was hooked! I did not see the end coming at all.

Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane is a twisted domestic thriller.

Lila and Aaron seem like the perfect couple until one day Aaron goes missing. A student went missing a few months ago. Are both missing people connected?

Lila has always been the mysterious wife that people rarely see, but Aaron always talks highly about. A few weeks ago, Lila and Aaron got in a fight and things never got back to normal between them. What was the fight about? Is it related to Aaron’s disappearance?

Pretty Little Wife had so many twists, I could not figure out what actually happened. All of the characters are very complex. Ginny is the lead detective on the case and Lila’s only concern. Lila thinks she knows what happened to Aaron. Is she wrong? The story is told from the perspective of Lila and Ginny. There is also a True Crime Podcast featuring Aaron’s disappearance. Lila’s point of view switches between past and present.

Pretty Little Wife starts out showing all of Aaron’s flaws. Lila is an excellent character but unlikable. She did many things I wouldn’t agree with. Lila is so complex, smart, and interesting. Only one of Lila’s coworkers seems to like her. Most of the characters think Aaron is great and Lila is awful. Are they right?

Ginny was the only character I actually liked. She is a real strong woman. She really wants to figure out what happens and will do anything to find the truth. She is always analyzing everyone around her to try to figure out what actually happened.

Pretty Little Wife is an excellent thriller debut for Darby Kane. She writes romance as Helen Kay. I didn’t know Darby Kane was a romance writer until I was working on this review. This makes me appreciate the book even more.

I highly recommend Pretty Little Wife to domestic thriller fans especially if you like twisted stories with unlikeable characters.

I highly recommend Pretty Little Wife to domestic thriller fans.

Thank you NetGalley, Edelweiss, William Morrow Paperbacks, Harper Collins, and Harper Audio for Pretty Little Wife.

4 thriller stars

Lila Ridgefield is one of those memorable characters that are just fascinating to read about! Lila is the pretty little wife to Aaron, a high school teacher in Ithaca New York. She’s whip-smart, an attorney when they lived in North Carolina, now she’s occasionally selling houses. Lila has many layers and has more to her than meets the eye.

Things get interesting when Aaron disappears. Lila isn’t worried because she took care of things and knows exactly where Aaron should be – except he’s not there! The police swarm in and Lila is suspect #1 in his disappearance. I enjoyed the banter between Lila and Ginny the lead detective. These are two smart women who don’t back down! Who will get the upper hand here?

The shocking twists just keep coming and while I didn’t find Lila all that likeable, after a while I started to root for her! There are some other disappearances of college women and the police are trying to figure out if all of these things could be connected. I must say that I actually figured this one out, but I definitely enjoyed the thrill ride.

Pretty Little Wife
By Darby Kane
⭐⭐⭐⭐

I think the best word to describe this book's twists is: satisfying! There are lots of twists that I did not see coming and it was satisfying to read them. It's a well written and full of details story and it was very fun to read. The beginning of the book is very appealing and caught my attention but then after a while it become a little slower but still on focus and most of the chapters are important and need you to pay attention to them. The very end was a bit cheesy (the last scene with Lila and Jered) but it's ok because if I explain what bothered me I'll end up writing spoilers. Overall a very nice and fun read full of twists and I recommend it. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane Available now through BOTM or December 29, 2020

This might have been one of the most satisfying endings I’ve read this year!! Not gonna lie though this book is a ride on the hot mess express and I loved the whole thing!!

Lila Ridgefield killed her husband.
Put him in his car, drove it to the high school parking lot, where he’s a teacher and coach, and left it.

She put the incriminating evidence inside the car too. Videos of her husband with students. So....yep...he deserved it.


Lila has planned this to perfection, so imagine her surprise when the next morning she finds out her dead husband is MISSING! The car...gone. His body? Also gone! The evidence? No clue.

The rest of the book is a game of cat and mouse that was so bingeable, so well done, I inhaled it!

Thriller lovers this is a MUST read! Lila is one strong female protagonist! The end, unfolds perfectly....so crazy and so perfect that I was mind blown! @hkdimon please write more thrillers cuz I’m a fan for life!!!

Thank you @Netgalley, @williaorrowbooks, for my advanced digital copy of the book! We are gonna overlook the fact that I had an arc and still ordered the book. Well I loved it so much I needed a hard copy!!

I had to force myself to slow down and really savour this. The story grows with a slow, steady pace as tense as a stretched wire. I found myself walking around worrying about Lila with her secrets and lies, and even though she killed her husband you kinda root for her along the way, I loved how the author made me feel that way. Ms. Kane uses some touchy subject matter in this story...spousal abuse, sexual abuse, infidelity, murder...the list goes on.

Darby Kane has an absolute gift for making her characters spring off the page at you. She is so clever you feel a connection with some characters even though you are getting quite worried they might be evil. This is what enables her to explore complicated issues in a thoughtful way as she humanizes her characters and shows sympathy towards them, despite their flaws... so your response to them is always multi-layered. I highly recommend you check this book out and buckle up for a thriller of a ride.

All. The. Stars.

Lila Ridgefield discovers damaging videos of her controlling husband with some of his female students. When he disappears, she is the prime suspect. Secrets from her own difficult childhood are revealed as the solution to the mystery of his disappearance,, combined with cases of three missing girls unfold. Although the characters are unlikeable, this quick read is a twisty, compelling mystery.