I wanted to love this book, but ended up not feeling hugely engaged. The writing is beautiful, the plotting tight and sustained, but I didn't really care that much about the characters, and the double narrative slowed things down. I've been a bit lukewarm about many of the successful domestic-noir-with-a-twist publications lately, though; this is much better than most of them! Thanks so much for the chance to read.

What a twisty book!

We know at the start that Louisa has just been in an accident that has killed her two children and husband, who was chasing them.
Her husband Sam has also left behind a jealous pregnant girlfriend Sophie, who believes that she and especially his child deserves some of his estate. Sophie starts to stalk Louisa to get what she wants.
Both Louisa and Sophie are unreliable narrators, who to trust?

Well, I must admit this book was a little slow for me at the start and I was wondering if it was worth the read....it was! Once it started delving into the now and then chapters, through Louisa's marriage to her new life with a new name, job and home to hide from Sophie, I was transfixed. All of a sudden I was questioning everything I was reading. You start to believe one thing, then something else crops up.

There is no more I can say about this book because I'm sure I'd give clues to what happens, therefore I'll just say that this is what I believe a good psychological thriller is about. It made my heart thump and questioned if I really wanted to read on (more like having a hand over your eyes in a movie).

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy to read and review

I went into this story expecting one thing, but the author managed to twist things round so much that it ended up being something I didn't expect. I love the way the story is written, the author manages to make the reader feel sympathy for one specific character and dislike another at the same time.

As the story goes on we learn a lot more about what has happened in the last and that has dictated in a big way how the characters lives have gone up to the present day.

A great read, with lots of twists throughout.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing a copy.

A compelling and disturbing thriller

This author is new to me, but she certainly knows how to construct a page-turning thriller!

The action takes place in Cambridge and London, over a period of around two years, opening on full throttle, as Louisa Williams and her two young children are forced off the road into a tree, by her husband, Sam who then slams into the back of her car. There is an explosion, and Sam dies in the fireball which engulfs both cars.

Next we meet Louisa properly as she wakes in hospital with Sophie, Sam's lover, looming over her and trying to disengage the life support system, all the time hissing vitriol at Louisa.

It seems that Louisa has been very lucky to be alive in view of her many injuries, and bravely battles to regain her mobility. Apart from Sophie everyone, the Coroner, the hospital staff and the media see her as a tragic heroine who tried to free her children and who sustained terrible burns in the process.

Almost two years after the crash, Louisa picks up her life again, moving to an upscale apartment and joining a prestigious design company. Then she meets Adam who is everything her husband was not, and he moves in with her. Meanwhile Sophie continues to plot and to seethe as she seeks 'justice' for herself and her unborn child.

The complex interweaving of the plot in this novel shows us all of the characters in their public and private selves; each jumps off the page and tries to enlist the reader in their cause.

I really enjoyed this, a real old-fashioned thriller of which Agatha Christie would have been proud. There is real pace, together with misdirection from all sides, and I couldn't put it down! It is just the right length to while away a cold and dismal Winter weekend.

Pashtpaws

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Her Husband’s Lover is a brilliant and chilling Psychological thriller. This is my first book from this great author and makes me wonder why.

This was a bumpy, up and down read for me, I went from liking and hating both lead female characters Louisa and Sophie and Louisa’s husband Sam, and did not know who to believe.

The story is told in chapters between Louisa and Sophie, with both points of view so believable, it will leave your head spinning.

Adam was just adorable.

My only criticism is that I feel that I would have liked an extra chapter to tie things up a bit more.

Her Husband’s Lover is a brilliant 5* read that I highly recommend.

Many thanks to Headline and NetGalley for providing a copy of this wonderful book and this is my honest review.

Her Husband's Lover is a twisted and occasionally dark tale of family disharmony, a domestic noir as it were. It is partly the story of a very troubled and complicated love triangle of sorts, and partly a dissection of the resultant mess when the affair is brought to a very difficult and deadly end. It is a textured and layered novel which drew me in and kept me hooked, partly because of the strength of the characters that Julia Crouch had drawn and partly because I just wanted to know what the truth actually was.

This was a difficult book for me to judge initially because you are faced with not one but two unreliable narrators. At least this is how it seems. The two narrative voices used throughout are those of Louisa and Sophie and both have their reasons for being deemed unreliable. Louisa, or Lou as she comes to be known, is suffering a slight memory loss after the accident, and avoiding talking to anyone about what happened or about her children, making relying solely on her point of view almost impossible. But then Sophie has an ulterior motive, and the first time we are introduced to her character she is essentially threatening Lou's life. Indeed throughout she is portrayed as a spoilt, ex-addict and former model who had imposed herself upon Lou and Sam's marriage.

The action flows back and forth between past and present, detailing the months after Lou and Sam's marriage, through the birth of their children, the symptoms of Lou's post natal depression, to Sam's affair and right up to the present day where we see Lou trying to reclaim her life and Sophie trying to reclaim her rights to Sam's money. Because Sophie has an ace up her sleeve, one which should guarantee her the rights to a percentage of Sam's estate.

Nothing in this book is as it seems. Both women prove themselves untrustworthy for very different reasons at very different times and I found myself switching back and forth between who I believed in, who I trusted, and what my understanding was of what was happening. One of these women is unhinged, the other underhand. Both are guilty in their own way for what comes to pass and I can't help thinking that if someone had bothered with the simple matter of taking legal advice, the whole thing could have been different. But then the book would have been shorter and a lot less interesting too, so you can't have everything.

Where I struggled a little was in believing that the very erratic behaviour of one of the two women was never questioned. Certainly there were few people around who knew either of them well, but surely someone would have noticed that something wasn't right and that there was almost a bi-polar switch in character at times. And it was almost too easy for Sophie to get information on Lou. Yes, I would say that she was clearly nobody's fool, but for a woman with no money and no contacts, everything just seemed to fall into place almost too easily for her.

This was only a minor niggle, and it is just my opinion. If you can suspend disbelief and perhaps a little resultant frustration, then this shouldn't affect your enjoyment of the book. The writing is very strong, the characters built of layer upon layer of complexity. The pacing in the book is just right and it did pull me along with the story at a pretty strong gallop. There wasn't a time I felt I wanted to walk away from the story, and the way in which the truth of the story is drip fed in worked perfectly keeping me guessing right up to the end. The image the reader is given of Sam and Lou's marriage is one of abuse and manipulation but just where the truth lies is not entirely clear, at least not until the twisted oh so cleverly constructed ending.

I really enjoyed this book, but I didn't quite love it. I'm not sure why. It is a very good premise and very skilfully told. Perhaps it was because I was expecting some of it - I saw some of the tells early on and although there was enough of a twist to keep me guessing, I wasn't entirely surprised by what came to pass. That said, there were still one or two elements that I hadn't suspected, that threw me and had me applauding the author for the way in which she was able to hide the truth. And then the ending. Yep. Had me nodding in respect because I never would have seen that coming. It was verging on dark, the detachment of the perpetrator written brilliantly. A clear sociopath if ever there was one. And it did manage to leave me with a certain amount of satisfaction, knowing that ultimately true justice was likely to be served.

For that reason I gave the book a twisted and unexpected 4 stars.

Wow wow wow, what a book!! This was an amazing read. Domestic noir on acid! The psychological thriller is taken to a higher level with this book. I won't rehash the blurb here, sufficient to say there are some extremely unreliable narrators in this book and you really won't see where the story is going until the end.
Trust me, you will want to keep reading this on and once you have finished you might want to read it again, to say ah now I see! This is the first Julia Crouch book I have read and I will definitely seek out more of her books. Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for the opportunity to read this as an arc.

5 Stars!

This is a brilliant book, start to finish, it had me hooked.

Really great storytelling with a few twists, a few shocks, a few 'really?!?!?' moments.

And that end....! I kept pressing the button on my kindle thinking surely there must be more, that can't really be the end?!

Read it now before the spoilers.

Am now off to read all the author's previous books!

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for this advance copy.

In this deeply disturbing psychological thriller, we meet Louisa Williams who is trying to build a new life for herself after the car accident that ripped her world apart. Dealing with the death of Sam, the loss of her children, and scarred for life, Louisa has left her past behind her and moved to the city, in the hopes of creating a different future than the one she always thought she would have. Leaving her married name behind, she becomes Lou Turner again. With a new apartment, a new job, and a new caring, younger man, Louisa starts to feel confident again and that everything is a little brighter. But when her husband's lover, Sophie, tracks her down and starts demanding money, Louisa's past is soon firmly mixed with her present. Sophie wants the money that she feels her daughter, Sam's daughter, is entitled to, but more than that she wants to clear Sam's name and she will stop at nothing to expose Louisa for the liar she believes her to be. With plenty of twists, turns, and unbelievable shocks (trust me you will be shouting OMG about twenty times!) HER HUSBAND'S LOVER by Julia Crouch is a pure masterpiece of crime fiction. Fast-paced, with gripping characters, and exquisite detail, HER HUSBAND'S LOVER by Julia Crouch is a must-read for 2017!!

This book opens with a car chase where Louisa is trying to get away from her husband Sam with her children. The car crash that follows leaves Sam dead and her children gone too. Louisa has to recover from this and in time she does but the reason behind the heartbreak is still there, her husbands lover and her baby but that's ok she can just ignore them and get on with her life can't she?.
To say this book had me gripped is an understatement, just when I thought I was in control something else hit me from a place I wasn't expecting and my emotions were pulled from under me.
A great book that messes with your mind.
Thank you NetGalley for a copy of the book.

HER HUSBAND'S LOVER BY JULIA CROUCH

Whenever there are triangles it is never a good thing. This psychological thriller was a bit long. If I give any advice to somebody who is considering reading thas book; it would be don't trust any of these characters. I actually liked Sam and I liked Adam even more. Louisa was crazy and I could tell by the way she treated her first child Poppy that Louisa was very unstable. Louisa is married to Sam who she leads everybody to believe that Sam ran her car off the road toad with intentions to kill her and their two children. The detective believes Louisa. Sam was wrong for having an affair with Sophie. Nobody believes Sophie who is pregnant with Sam's child because she had a criminal record having to do with the court system not believing her allegations that her photographer raped her when she was modeling.

What I liked about the book was that everything was not as they seemed. I also was impressed that the characterization was so well developed. I like the fact that the more I read my sympathies changed. For instance, at first I felt so bad for Louisa and I thought Sophie was a drug addict without any class. The more I read I didn't feel like Sophie was the vengeance seeking character that we all thought initially.

The story goes back and forth in time. I think that too many psychological thrillers are written in cookie cutter format. I am also getting tired of alternating chapters told through a few character's points of view. I miss a good story told through dialogue pulling us along as the thread is pulled from a piece of fabric. You will mostly hear from Louisa's point of view in this novel. I was entertained and I didn't know how the novel would end. Adam is the most likable character. Adam had many virtual good qualities. I thought that Sophie was a caring mother and that Sam would have wanted to provide for his daughter. One thing I am wondering about that didn't seem realistic was that Louisa inherited all of Sam's wealth and none of it went to his children.

Thank you to Net Galley, Julia Crouch and Headline Publishing Group for providing me with my digital copy for a fair and honest review.

A compelling read. This book had me gripped from the beginning. I really wanted to know how this plot was going to unfold. Unfold it did with some great twists and turns.

Her Husband's Lover is one of those books that you don't want to put down. A dark and twisted tale, it has several surprises that made me sit up and think again about what I had supposed to be the truth.

Louisa and Sophie are two women who live on the edge of their nerves. Louisa is fragile because she is recovering from a car accident in which she lost her husband Sam and her two children.

Sophie is frayed because she is alone, pregnant and penniless.Neither of these women is reliable; both are inextricably linked.

In a tense and exceptionally well plotted tale, Julia Crouch has created two characters whose stories are at odds with each other. Louisa the wronged and grieving wife and Sophie the poor and pregnant mistress.

Neither woman is especially likeable, both have reasons to be bitter about their circumstances. But which is the reliable narrator? Can we trust anything we are told?

As they attempt to rebuild their lives following Sam's death, Louisa and Sophie each find that it is impossible to leave the other behind.

Julia Crouch has created an intense psychological thriller which will keep you absorbed well into the night. Recommended.

Her Husband's Lover

I can't express enough just how much I LOVE books that mess with my head, let me tell you, my head is well and truly messed up!!!

Two unreliable narrators, one is Sam's wife, the other his lover. This psychological thriller is going to be up there in 2017's too reads, it's gripping and you won't want to put it down. I was reading this corker well into the small hours, totally engrossed. It left me dizzy trying to work out all the twists and turns! Highly recommended.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book, with thanks to Netgalley and the publisher. 5*

Firstly I have to say that this book is a real page turner, from the explosive start to the abrupt ending. I haven't read a Julia Crouch book before but I can understand why lovers of the psychological thriller consume whatever she puts out. So, why the three star review rather than higher? I just found it all a bit too predictable, there were no real surprises and I guessed what was going on from quite an early stage.
The characters were, in the main, pretty unlikeable. The only 'nice' person is Sam, but I found it inconceivable that Louise would be with him. There were other threads connected to him that didn't seem to have any place in the story so I'm not sure why they were there. I also struggled with Sam but can't say any more as it would give away some if the plot.
To sum up, an easy read that keeps you turning the pages but nothing special - a good holiday read.
My thanks to Netgalley for this arc.

What a ride this book is! Many twists that left me breathless. The ending was a bit strange, but still really enjoyed this book. 5*

This is the first book I have read by this author but, on the strength of it, it won't be the last. It managed to hold my attention at a time when I was really excited, and a little nervous, about something and, considering the issues I have with concentration, that's no mean feat. I even managed to get certain things right before they were revealed so I know I was really submerged into the pages.
Louisa is starting again. She has managed to escape her husband, Sam, but the circumstances around this escape has left him dead and her both physically and mentally scarred. Leaving her rehab, she relocates to a high rise block in London and starts a new job in the city.
But soon her past catches up to her in the form of Sophie, her husband's lover. She never believed the verdict at the inquest regarding Sam's death. She claims to know a whole different Sam, one who would never do the things he was accused of posthumously. She wants his name cleared, she wants to expose Louisa as the person she really believes her to be and also, via her son, conceived probably on Sam's last night, she wants something for their future. But how far will she go to achieve all of this, and who will get hurt on the journey?
This book flits about in time but, that said, it is always very clear when we are. It helps that Louisa has rediscovered herself as Lou in the present day so it is always obvious where we are at in the story. It is told in the present day with flashbacks from both Louisa's and Sophia's pasts filling in gaps at appropriate points in the storyline. As we discover more about each characters' pasts, it becomes clear that there is more, much much more to the story than what appears at first. And that's all I am going to say about the story in itself as I think that saying anything else would probably not make sense as I am desperate not to include spoilers here.
The two lead characters, Louisa and Sophia, are both brilliant. They are very similar to each other but in completely different ways, (this does make sense honest!) and their rather interesting and toxic relationship comes across to be very realistic. Each has a very different version of the days and months leading up to that fateful night when they both lost Sam and it is very hard sometimes to cut through the noise and pick out the fact from fiction from fantasy. The development of these two characters, along with all the rest of the cast, throughout the book is very well executed. No mean feat considering their, um, complex natures. They definitely kept me on my toes as I was thrown hither and thither all the way through with my thoughts and feelings switching as I learned more about what happened and why. I do admit to having some idea of what was going on, I thought at one point that I had it licked and knew exactly where we were going, and I was partially right but then oh! here comes another curve ball, expertly delivered, and I got so dizzy trying to keep up with all the twists and turns that I gave up with my guessing and just let the book take me as it wanted. And it took me all round the houses and back again.
Reading that last bit back makes it sound over the top, unnecessarily complicated, but that really wasn't the case. Each twist and turn was expertly crafted and seamless within the narrative. There were many jaw dropping moments but not one was questionable, the plot was that well worked out.
It was also for me quite an emotional read. The characters really did get under my skin and I have to admit that I did invest in them, wholeheartedly. I shouted at them on occasion, as well as sympathised, empathised, loved, and hated as I travelled their dark journey with them.
All in all a gripping, thrilling, dark and intense ride that, at times, totally gob-smacked me, and which left me completely satisfied albeit breathless at the end. I really can't believe that I have never read this author before. I am definitely going to rectify that. And soon.

My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

This is the first book I have read by Julia Crouch and I was caught off guard by how dark and intense this psychological thriller was. This story follows Louisa, an abused widow who is trying to restart life after a devastating car accident, in which her husband dies. Her recovery is interrupted by her husband’s mistress, who will do anything possible to tear down her life and image. It was a riveting story full of twists and an a dark, unexpected ending.

This started off great then I felt it took me to over half way before I was really gripped by it again. I did a lot of flipping back and worth between liking and disliking particular characters and generally felt like the author was messing with my head. I had an inclination of where we were headed but like a dodgy sat nav there were a few turns that I didn't expect. I haven't read anything by Julia Crouch before so my expectations were based purely on the blurb and it didn't disappoint.

Her Husband's Lover is a measured yet chillingly paced novel, full of twists and turns that will have you screwed up beyond belief by the time you have finished. No clear cut or easy answers are provided here - you will be helplessly hurtle into a black hole that will leave you lurching from one angle to another as you try to make sense of it all!

Dark and twisted is the only way to describe the plot of Her Husband's lover - we start with the car crash and Louisa lying in a coma in hospital, her husband Sam and their children gone. Enter Sophie determined to avenge her lover's death - determined to make Louisa pay for what she believes she is owed and from there on in we are embroiled into what is undoubtedly one of the most chilling domestic noir novels of the year - seriously the author takes noir to a whole new level!

Sophie and Louisa narrate this tale and OMG what unrelaibale narrators they are! With the story told from both their points of view the reader will be reeling between despising and feeling sorry for both of them! Julia Crouch has excelled herself with the development of the characters in this book - they will manipulate you and play mind games with your brain, seriously you are not going to know who or what to believe throughout this book!

The novel gives you abuse, betrayal and deception all tied up into one mind blowing plot. The reader is the mouse and Julia Crouch is the cat toying with your mind - this book left me on the edge of my seat and I literally could not put it down - so much so that this morning I was applying my make up and doing my hair with my eyes firmly glued on the pages! Julia Crouch I blame you for my slightly askew appearance this morning!