Thoughts on 3 audiobooks : The Wife by Alafair Burke – Suspicious Minds by Gwenda Bond – The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
The Wife by Alafair Burke
Narration : Xe Sands
Genre : Thriller
Stand alone
About the Book :
When Angela met Jason Powell, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.
Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look at the man she married…
My Thoughts :
This was my first time reading/listening to an Alafair Burke novel, even though I have a few of her thrillers on my list, and I quite enjoyed it. The story was interesting and I felt the author dealt with the subject of the allegations quite well, I was never 100% sure of who was lying or being truthful.
All along I had a good idea of where things were going but the book still managed to surprise me with a few unexpected revelations. I did feel that Angela’s general attitude and reactions were slightly flawed and made the story difficult to believe at times, but overall it was a good mystery.
* * *
Suspicious Minds by Gwenda Bond
Narration : Kristen Sieh
Genre : Speculative fiction, Horror, Thriller
Stand alone
About the Book :
A mysterious lab. A sinister scientist. A secret history.
It’s the summer of 1969, and the world is changing. Terry isn’t content to watch from the sidelines. When word gets around about an important government experiment in the small town of Hawkins, she signs on as a test subject for the project, codenamed MKUltra. Unmarked vans, a remote lab deep in the woods, mind-altering substances administered by tightlipped researchers . . . and a mystery the young and restless Terry is determined to uncover.
To face it, she’ll need the help of her fellow test subjects, including one so mysterious the world doesn’t know she exists—a young girl with unexplainable, superhuman powers and a number instead of a name: 008.
My Thoughts :
Suspicious Minds was, in itself, a fine novel; however, if, like me, you’re reading it to experience a little more of the Stranger Things’ unique atmosphere, then you’ll probably feel like something is missing. To be honest, remove the “Stranger Things” tag on the book and this reads like any YA sci-fi novel out there. There’s not much of what makes the show so captivating in this novel.
The characters are only superficially complex and they read as though they’re 2019 characters pretending to be in 1969. The exception being Terry who, as the main character, is more defined and interesting. I thought the worldbuilding was okay though, even though it wasn’t as immersive as I would have wished.
The story in itself was okay. I enjoyed it enough to follow through to the end, but I think I’ll stick with only the TV show from now on.
* * *
The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
Narration : Clare Corbett
Genre : Thriller
Stand alone
About the Book :
Emily thinks Adam’s perfect; the man she thought she’d never meet. But lurking in the shadows is a rival; a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves.
Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.
My Thoughts :
This is one I’m glad to have borrowed, as I didn’t like much about it.
I don’t mind flawed characters (love them in fact) or a predictable twist, but it becomes a problem when the characters are simply unpleasant. Especially when it’s the main character.
Emily appeared extremely whiny to me and everything felt so contrived. Why didn’t she confront Pammie more directly? Or, better yet : why didn’t she leave? It was really hard for me to understand why she stubbornly stood by Adam’s side when she said almost nothing nice about him. She kept saying how much she loved him, but it’s never really shown.
All in all, this one was definitely a miss for me.
