‘The Secret Wife’ by Emily Shiner

Synopsis

What happens when the perfect family trip becomes the perfect nightmare?

Cara is a devoted mother to two little girls. She loves her hectic life, but she looks forward to a relaxing weekend alone while her husband, Michael, takes the kids on a camping trip.

But their dream trip turns into a nightmare when their daughters are taken, deep in the forest.

One is returned safe. But one is still missing.

As Cara and Michael frantically search for their little girl it becomes clear that this is no random abduction – her disappearance is linked to shocking secrets which are only now being revealed.

And Cara begins to wonder how well she really knows her husband. Is the stress making her paranoid? Or is she finally seeing him as he really is?

Time is running out. How far will Cara go to find her daughter?

My Review

If there’s one thing that I like doing, it’s discovering new authors.  Emily Shiner is certainly a new author for me.  I read the synopsis for ‘The Secret Wife’ and it certainly sounded like the sort of book for me- a psychological thriller with a twist or two.  Well it was certainly that and more.  I really enjoyed reading ‘The Secret Wife’ but more about that in a bit.

I have to say that I didn’t especially like the characters of Cara and Michael and I can’t say that I warmed to them.  There was just something about each character that set off little alarm bells ringing for me.  That could just be me being far too suspicious and paranoid.  Neither of them seemed particularly honest and reliable and both seemed rather selfish.  Michael came across as a bit of a bully and at times I did think of him as a domestic abuser.

It took me a little while to getting ‘The Secret Wife’ which was partly to do with the fact that I couldn’t take to either Cara or Michael and partly to do with the fact that I was tired when I started reading the book and finding it hard to concentrate.  Eventually I did get into the story and from then on I found it difficult to put the book down for any length of time.  The more of the book that I read, the more of the book that I wanted to read and the quicker the pages seemed to turn.  I had my own theories as to what was going to happen although those theories would occasionally change as I worked my way through the book.  All too quickly I reached the end of ‘The Secret Wife’.  I found ‘The Secret Wife’ to be a gripping read, which kept me on my toes and which kept me on the edge of my seat throughout.

‘The Secret Wife’ is well written.  Emily has one of those writing styles that is easy to get used to and easy to get along with.  Emily certainly knows how to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into what proves to be a compelling read.  The story is divided up into chapters, which are voiced from the points of view of the main characters and narrates events as they see them.  The different chapters interlink really well and the story flows seamlessly as a result.  Reading ‘The Secret Wife’ was a bit like being on a scary and unpredictable rollercoaster ride with several twists and turns along the way.  I felt as though I was part of the story which is all down to Emily’s very vivid and realistic storytelling.

In short, I did enjoy reading ‘The Secret Wife’ and I would recommend this book to other readers.  I will certainly be reading more of Emily’s work in the future.  The score on the Ginger Book Geek board is a very well deserved 4* out of 5*.