Thoughts on : Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane
Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane
Genre : Thriller
Stand alone
About the Book :
Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems. A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it’s discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection, if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth…..
With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She’s definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it’s gone.
I have to say felt a bit discouraged with thrillers by the end of 2020: I read several of them last year, but found most of them to be okay at best. I figured I had probably burned myself out on mysteries and went back to other genres. I was therefore a bit hesitant when I picked up Pretty Little Wife, but to my surprise, I actually really enjoyed this one – and I think it rekindled my interest for the genre!
The book started slow but it was still quite engaging, and I immediately enjoyed getting to know Lila. I loved that we knew pretty much from the start that she was involved in her husband’s disappearance, but we didn’t know why or how. It was also quickly obvious that she had some additional secrets, which made her all the more interesting.
I also liked the investigator, Ginny. She was competent at her job and believable. The dynamics between Lila and her were also very interesting; they were able to recognize and respect the other woman’s strengths, which made them all the more careful around each other. I was in turns rooting for Lila or Ginny, and I was never bored no matter whose perspective I was reading.
While the plot was in parts predictable, there was always a little twist to the “how” and “why” that made it somewhat more surprising. I was able to guess some things and others, I was more hesitant about. And so many secrets! The book got a bit darker than I expected (which I personally didn’t mind, but others might). I also loved how everything from the present and the past built up together and thought the ending was satisfying, which isn’t always a given with thrillers.
All in all, I really enjoyed this one. It didn’t reinvent anything, but it was entertaining – and that’s really all I could hope for right now. I’ll be reading the author’s next novel for sure!
Adding it to my list!