Not too long after discovering that her husband has been having an affair, Julie Barrett discovers his dead body in their bed. Although she immediately becomes the primary suspect, Julie decides to pursue her own investigation. After all, she is innocent. The question is, to what lengths will she go to prove it?

This makes this book sound promising enough. However, this was rather a slow read to me. For one thing, I felt a disconnect with Julie. I also felt that there were a couple of inconsistencies, like how can her friend phone her while she is hiding out? After all, the police confiscated her cell phone, unless the investigators released her personal property and I just somehow missed it. This book just didn’t draw me in like most thrillers that I read and enjoy. It read very slow most of the time. However, I will give this author at least one more read because I truly enjoy psychological thrillers.

Many thanks to Bloodhound Books and NetGalley for this ARC to review.

An excellent read. A real page turner that had me holding my breath at times and reading far later than I should. Highly recommended read

A woman discovers her husband is cheating. That same night she goes out for drinks with girlfriends. She has too much to drink and her friend assists her to bed. But the next morning she wakes but her husband does not. So begins this rollercoaster ride. I devoured this book in one day - and still the surprises kept coming. One of the more unusual premises, but I was completely sold on the story. I would love to read more by this author.

Julie gets up one morning and gives her son breakfast and takes him to school and it's only when she gets home she realises her husband is still in bed but when she tries to wake him she finds out he is dead. Of course that puts her under suspicion as how could she not know he was dead! then when it is found he was smothered in his sleep Julie is the prime suspect for murdering him and no one seems to believe she had nothing to do with it. She needs to solve the murder herself and employs a dubious private eye to help her but he seems to be more incompetent than helpful.
I enjoyed the book and the change from her usual police novels as this was from a totally different perspective, I did feel that I lost sympathy for Julie as the book went on and some of her decisions were downright stupid but on the whole I could see the reasoning behind them.
I do hope Miss Russell will write more like this.
Thank you to NetGalley for my copy.
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A big thank you to Sarah at Bloodhound Books and Netgalley for my review copy of the book and for inviting me to participate on the blog tour.

I found this book to be a bit of dark comedy which I wasn't expecting. There were moments when I was laughing and then groaning the next due to the actions of the main character.

The first chapter does a brilliant job of reeling you in as we discover that Julie's husband of 20 years has been having an affair and to her almost disbelief she finds him dead the following morning.

We follow Julie has she tries to find out more about her husbands life and his mysterious affair whilst she is also trying to prove her innocence to the police who suspect she has had has a hand in helping her husband along. Julie, bless her, does not make matters easy for herself and seems to lurch from disaster to disaster as she tries to solve what has happened. You do ultimately feel sorry for her as first and foremost she just wants to protect her son.

I found this to be a bit of a slow burner but once the action starts going, it speeds up everything including your reading as you are eager to find out what really happened to Paul.

I haven't read any of the Leigh Russell books but I will definitely have a look at changing that!

Having thoroughly enjoyed the first Geraldine Steel novel I was excited to be given something a little different in the form of a psychological thriller from the same author. Unfortunately I don't think she is quite as strong writing this genre as crime. The story started very well and promised to be exciting, but didn't seem to fulfil its potential. I didn't feel that I got to know many of the characters (it may have been the author's intention to keep the reader guessing by giving away little information about them) but it was still quite obvious who the killer was early on in the story. I found it hard to like or empathise with the main character Julie. She seemed very detached and level headed one minute, then did some very silly things the next. But then who knows how any of us would act in the same situation? Overall an easy to read book and thank you to the publisher for the advance copy.

I have read quite a few Leigh Russell books and always enjoyed them, so I was looking forward to getting started with this one.

Finding out her husband Paul was having an affair took it all out of Julie, after looking through his mobile phone It seems that he's seeing someone called Bella. It seems he's seeing her when he's supposed to be going to his squash game. It seems it's not shuttlecocks that are being played with.

When Paul is killed, it then becomes a case of who wanted him dead, and enough to actually kill him. It's a race against time for Julie to prove that she didn't kill her husband.

This was an interesting read, one of those books where you find yourself really feeling for the characters. Julie was one of those characters that you wanted to help, yet at times you could happily slap her. I found a lot of what she did and the way she went about things a little stupid at times. It was almost like she was just trying to make things worse for herself. It seemed to far fetched.
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​This one was very different from other books i've read by this author. I liked it to some degree, but it wasn't holding my attention throughout. to me as good as I know she can write.

A big fan of Leigh Russell’s Geraldine Steel and Ian Peterson series and characters I was wondering if a standalone book would live up to them but the concerns were unfounded. Brilliant plot that twists and turns until, like the main character, you don’t know who you can trust or whom you can turn to, as she slowly uncovers the truth about her husband and fights to keep her son safe and with her. Read in less than a day a book you really won’t want to put down
#TheAdulterers’sWife#Netgalley

A complex thriller with loads of twists and turns. A wife and mother struggles to discover who murdered her husband while she slept.

I would like to thank Bloodhound and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Adulterer’s Wife’ written by Leigh Russell in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Although Julie Barrett’s marriage to Paul has lost the excitement it had twenty years ago, she’s devastated to find out that he’s having an affair with a young woman called Bella. Julie decides to wait to confront him until after their son Dan has taken his exams but on waking up in the morning she discovers Paul’s in their bed dead. The police believe Paul has been murdered and arrest Julie but she knows she didn’t murder Paul, so who did?
The plot was interesting and flowed well making it easy to read, but there was none of the excitement of previous Leigh Russell novels. Half way through I predicted who I thought was the perpetrator and wasn’t far wrong. I found Julie to be a bit wishy-washy and felt like shaking her on occasion, but nevertheless it was an enjoyable book and worth reading.

This was not a good fit for me. I found Julie’s actions so unrealistic and the plot was very predictable to me. She spent a lot of time obsessed over her husband’s money and getting rid of his things and not a lot of time actually doing anything. She whined and complained a lot and did some horribly silly things, in my opinion. I received this book from Bloodhound Books on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. It will be released on May 7, 2018.

This is the first book I have read by this author, I know shocking. What an introduction though.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Julie. Not only has she found out her husband is having an affair, he then dies. Obviously the fact that she is the closest person to her husband, she becomes the main suspect.

It really surprised me how some of the closest people in Julie's life react to her. Goes to show you don't really know people until something bad happens. I was as frustrated and as angry as Julie was. The police seem to be more than useless looking at no one other than Julie herself. This forces Julie to take matters into her own hands to try and get to the bottom of her husbands death.

This is one of those stories that has you second guessing and not knowing who to really trust. Sometimes I wished Julie would leave well alone as she seemed to be making things worse. The more she digs though the more secrets and lies unfold.

The Adulterer's Wife is a dark and brooding read that had me hooked throughout. It certainly kept me guessing right up until all is revealed. Will certainly be reading more by the author. A must read for fans of psychological thrillers.

Julia is devastated to find out that Paul, her husband of almost 20 years, has been having an affair on her. Her life is flipped completely upside down though when she wakes up one day to find him dead in their bed. This thrilling book is full of secrets and lies as she tries to find out what happened to him and clear her name.

This is the first Leigh Russell book that I have read but I will definitely be adding others to my to be read list! She had me hooked from the beginning and it was extremely hard to put down.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloodhound Books for the free advanced readers copy e-book in exchange for an honest review.

The Adultery Wife is a book with great possibilities but falls completely flat. Leigh Russell has too many wasted characters that could have been more than a name on a page. The thriller part of the story is giving away near the beginning leaving readers feeling bored. Instead of psychological thrillers readers are giving a mess of characters, plot that falls short of its potential and bland characters.


Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher Bloodhound Books for the advance copy of Leigh Russell The Adulterer's Wife.

A story about an adulterer and the wife who,had no idea about it. She loved him and thought she had the perfect husband.
Then one morning she got out of bed took her son to,school, and found her husband dead in bed, she had slept with him all night. Not knowing,
Then the mistress died, and the wife was accused of murder, it then went from bad to worse.
The police were convinced she was the murderer so did her son and her husbands parents.
The end was very spectacular.

The

A good slant on a familiar storyline the plot was plausible and the characters interesting l thought the final quarter of the book was a little rushed to tie up the loose ends but it was a book l enjoyed

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this book, but was missing something. The writing was great, characters well developed, but I felt like it never got to that place I love thrillers to go, and I truly was expecting it too. Definitely one worth reading, but wish there was a bit more thrills in it!

I have heard good things about Leigh Russell and read several reviews of how good her other books are. So, I was excited to read this. But for me personally, I thought this was so farfetched it was unbelievable.
The Adulterer’s wife is about Julie and Paul. Julie has found out that her husband Paul is cheating on her. But, they don’t want to tell their son Dan who has Cerebral Palsy because he has exams. So the next night, Julie goes out with her friends Nina and Karen and comes home drunk. She gets into bed but husband Paul does not wake. The next morning, she goes to drop Dan at school letting Paul have a lie in. But when she gets home she realises that Paul is dead in bed. Julie is accused of his murder.
Julie then goes out, to found out what really happened and to confirm her innocence in all this. But the things she does in the process of it just makes her look guiltier. I understand that her husband cheated on her but boy, you would still have a little feeling towards her husband of 19 years and a father to your 17-year-old son, wouldn’t you? Julie I found her to be cold and callous and all she was thinking of was getting hold of the money.
I had high hopes for this book but, I thought this was unbelievable and very predictable. The premise was good but it didn’t deliver. I laughed in places because how unbelievable this story sounded and the ended well I won’t spoil it for you, you will have to read it yourself.
Thank you Netgalley and Bloodhound books for a copy of this book.

Wow. Really enjoyed reading this. Great pace and lots of twists to keep the reader guessing

I have read and enjoyed all of this author's previous books; both her Geraldine Steel and Lucy Hall series so I was quite excited to see how she would fare with a stand alone psychological thriller, especially as this is one of my favourite genres. And I'd have to say that she handled it pretty darned well.
Paul and Julie's marriage is getting a bit stale but they have stayed together predominantly for the sake of their son, Dan. But, despite their differences, they have been loyal to each other; or so Julie thinks. One day though, she sees a text on Paul's phone that leads her to discover he is having an affair. Not only that, but an affair that has been going on for a fair while. She feels completely betrayed and devastated but as Dan is right in the middle of exams he has worked so hard for, she decides not to challenge him. She does tell her friends though on one of their girls' nights out. But it is the morning after the night before from hell for Julie after a rather raucous night as she discovers Paul dead in their bed after returning from taking Dan to school. Worse than that though, as the police rule it murder and she's their main suspect.
And so begins a rather intriguing cat and mouse game as Julie calls on every resource available to her to try and find out who killed her husband and why and, in doing so, save herself.
Firstly, I have to say that I did guess the killer early. More than likely because this is my bread and butter genre and it takes a lot to fool me these days. But, I hasten to add, that knowing whodunit is not the be all and end all of this book. And anyway, I have been wrong in the past - spectacularly so - so it didn't ruin my enjoyment of the book as a whole.
Julie was a bit of a funny fish for me. One minute she was overboard with things like hiding evidence - especially early on with the phone - but then, on other occasions, she was so naive it was almost comical. But then again, she was mostly driven by her emotions and I guess a bit all over the place, especially with regard to her son, so she is bound to be inconsistent at times. Some of the motivations for her actions did also leave a lot to be desired but, on the whole, none of what I read was too far over the line of credibility so I was easy able to just live with my niggles. The rest of the book, the plot and the writing more than made up for things. Suffice to say that she really was her own worst enemy at times.
Relationships in this book between certain characters were also a bit hit and miss and I'm not talking about Paul's infidelity here! Not giving details but we had quite a bit of "he said/she said" and blowing hot and cold that I did get a bit dizzy at times. Apart from these, the characters themselves were well described and, within their storylines, the majority were credible and congruent.
Pacing was good though and the action allowed the plot to get on with itself nicely. There was also no superfluous waffle or padding which was also refreshing. We also had all the usual other key elements of a good psychological thriller; secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour.
All in all a good solid debut book for the author in this genre. I do hope she writes another in the future, although I'm also hoping for more Geraldine and Lucy too. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.