A Lovely Wife is definitely a misnomer. A demented psycho is more like it.

Everything Millicent does seems innocent on the outside, but it is truly evil. She plans things that will benefit her and only her with her family being at the brunt of the control issues she has. Millicent is definitely a character to hate.

One day after a number of years of marriage, she had the most bizarre plan. Her husband who was never given a name in the book did what he did to keep Millicent pleased most likely because he was afraid of his wife.

MY LOVELY WIFE is unbelievable, but Ms. Downing does an excellent job of keeping you engaged from the first page, and the engagement doesn’t stop just like Millicent doesn't stop the murders of young women.

Ms. Downing's debut is unique and well-written, but also has a story line that is unthinkable and unimaginable.

If you enjoy a fast-paced book that takes you on a crazy ride and will have you biting your nails, then MY LOVELY WIFE will be a book you will want to take a look at.

You HAVE to read this book to believe what the characters are doing. You won't be able to turn the pages quickly enough. 5/5

This book was given to me as an ARC by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked the second I read the synopsis for My Lovely Wife. It’s so dark, and intriguing. And I am very happy to report the book did not disappoint. At all. I finished all 350+ pages of this in less than 24 hours. On a work day. Because it was nearly impossible to put down. Hey, I may have spent six hours sneakily reading on my phone at my desk, but I still finished all my work. Just saying. Also, I have no regrets.

I am still kind of in awe that this is a debut novel, because it did not feel like one at all. The writing was seriously impressive. And you all know how picky this MA grad is about writing. It was really good – it pulled me into the story without being the least bit intrusive. I rarely say this, but My Lovely Wife was a pleasure to read. I’m really looking forward to Samantha Downing’s next thriller, but I’d honestly read anything she writes because she just does it so well.

One thing I’m always a bit nervous about going into thrillers are the twists. Because for someone who doesn’t read a ton of thrillers (it’s not even in my top five most read genres), I am very good at predicting twists. Not to brag, or anything. So it’s a great book that can shock me. And this one did it. I might have gasped aloud at one point (at my desk while I was supposed to be working). I did see a few of them coming, but the big ones definitely caught me off guard, in the best way.

Unlike so many thrillers in the past few years, My Lovely Wife was not marketed as “the next Gone Girl“. But, guys, I think this is finally it. It was similar while still being original, which I loved. I read Gone Girl four years before My Lovely Wife (almost to the day exactly, according to Goodreads), and I haven’t felt this way about a thriller since then. It’s seriously good.

My Lovely Wife is a 2019 Berkley publication.

Sly, witty, and brilliant!!

The tile, cover, and intriguing synopsis for this book made it sound too good to pass up- and it was!!

The premise is mostly original, as a husband and wife and their two children enjoy ,what appears on the surface, to be a nice normal, healthy, family life. However, this married couple, instead of engaging in a little role play to spice up their marriage- indulge in a little murder on the side instead.

The husband, who never reveals his real name, tells this story from a first person perspective, giving us a play by play of events as they unfold, adding all his twisted inner thoughts about what has happened, what is probably happening, what he hopes will happen, and what he is afraid will happen- which is as fascinating as it is horrifying.

I can’t believe this is a debut novel!! Smart, devious, well-constructed, and wildly entertaining!! I loved it! If you love psychological thrillers, you do not want to miss this one! Relish it and savor it and try not to feel too guilty if you find yourself laughing instead being justly outraged by our narrator and his lovely wife. This book was almost TOO fun! But, if you love dark humor, twisted and disturbing plots, with loads of surprises, I promise this one will deliver everything you ordered and then some!!

5 stars

If you are looking for something twisted and dark, well then step right up and read all about it!

Millicent and her husband seem like a normal couple. They are raising two teenagers. She sells houses. He is a tennis coach. He is also the narrator of this twisty little tale. After he kills someone to protect his family, they think think all is normal. Until it is not. Why did they like it so much? They are setting up for another girl when a girl that he thinks has been long dead, turns up. The surprising factor, to him anyway, is that she was recently killed. His wife had kept her alive for a year. This is all a big setup because of a past serial killer from the area but things go way out of hand. He slowly starts to realize that he is in big trouble. They all are.

This is quite the sordid tale. I love that it was told with the husband’s POV. It gave the story a little different spin. He is not at all innocent in everything but he is in way over his head. Millicent is quite the character. I figured a few things out on my own, pat myself on the back, but there are more than enough twists and turns to keep you reading. And the ending……It was definitely one of those!

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Books for an advanced copy.

Oohh this was a wickedly twisted read, one of those thrillers that is just really fun to read in a dark and disturbing way. The blurb says it best, an average married couple with a penchant for murder, does a domestic thriller get any darker than that?! Spoiler alert, it doesn’t.

This is told entirely from the point of view of the husband and something that was interesting in a quirky sort of way was that you never know his name. Yep, that’s right not once is her referred to by his real name though he does have an alias….intrigued yet?! I sure was and this was one fast paced, page turner of a read. The story progressed in a way that I didn’t predict (for the most part) so I won’t ramble on about the storyline itself, but if you like domestic thrillers and don’t mind macabre, then this one is for you! It takes a look at a marriage that has crossed way over to the dark side and does it in the most entertaining way possible.

This is an impressive debut from an author to watch, she has the whole engaging, simple, pacey writing style down and came up with a really fresh and exciting story. Recommended for a weekend binge read, it’s one you won’t want to put down once you start.

My Lovely Wife in three words: Disturbing, Wicked and Fiendish.

I sincerely hope this author is already at work on her next book! This is the perfect domestic thriller, in my opinion--twisty, fast-paced, and hard to put down.

Millicent and her husband are busy raising two kids and working full time, but when they decide to spice up their marriage, they turn to the unconventional: murder. This book is well-written and the short chapters keep you moving. Highly recommend!

This book has been marketed as Dexter meats Mr. and Mrs. Smith and that is right on. It's told through the POV of a husband (I don't think we ever learn his real name)who, along with his wife, start murdering people to keep the spice in their relationship going. It was disturbingly awesome. It was a fairly fast read, well-written and well-paced. Once the tables turned, I didn't like it quite as much, but it came to a satisfying end. I only wish we would have gotten to learn a bit more about Millicent's character.

This book is like that bag of chips that you open up just for one or two. Before you realize it the bag is empty and you don't know how that happened. Talk about dysfunctional families. On the surface our narrator and his wife Millicent live a disciplined and orderly life with their two teen-age children. We know, however, that there are shenanigans going on from the outset. What secrets are the parents keeping from each other? Does the couple that kills together stay together? Beware of opening this book as all other activities may seem like an unnecessary distractions.

A big thank you to Berkley and NetGalley for a digital ARC of this debut novel.

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing is not the book to give to a newlywed couple. This one should be reserved for those couples who are maybe not so infatuated with one another anymore. This book features a couple with two children who just happen to have a zest for murder. However, not all is going as well as they think and there's plenty of subterfuge happening. A story that moves along quite rapidly. Read and enjoy!

I can already tell that this book is going to be absolutely adored in the thriller community. My biggest issues were that the finale seemed very rushed and I wish it was expanded more. The ending, however, was absolutely eerie. I am interested in where Samantha Downing goes next in her thriller career.

When you meet that special someone you just know you want to spend the rest of your life with, it’s a special moment, a life altering moment. That is exactly what Samantha Downing’s MY LOVELY WIFE is about, life altering moments as one couple keeps their marriage alive with their own deadly secrets. On the outside, they were the perfect average couple, attentive to their children, but behind closed doors they become monsters and not even the police suspect them. But what happens when one monster is just a little darker, a little more twisted and a little more secretive?

Hang on tight, prepare yourself to look at your neighbors and wonder, are they who they seem to be?

Samantha Downing has done a remarkable and chilling job of taking us into the minds of madness, of a love of a different kind, of the depths of depravity that can be done in the name of love. Edgy, dark and certainly thrilling, if you need a peek into the darker side of life and the “rest of the story” in what can make a couple a couple, what is the cement that bonds them, give this one a try, it will make your skin crawl with unease and your mind reel.

I received a complimentary ARC edition from Berkley Publishing Group!

Publisher: Berkley (March 26, 2019)
Publication Date: March 26, 2019
Genre: Thriller
Print Length: 378 pages
Available from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
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Definitely a different kind of marriage...

Millicent and her husband are anything, but your normal couple. Their secrets are out of the normal realm (truly dark secrets). They may look like the perfect couple, but in this case, looks are deceiving, very deceiving!

They have been married for years and have two children. The family dynamics are off the charts with Millicent at the forefront running things her way. More like her way or the highway! You could call her a  "controlling" wife. She seemed very animated to me.

Full of twists, devious outings, and a few cringe worthy "date nights".

Recommend to fans of twisty, domestic thrillers with a darker edge.

I absolutely, thoroughly enjoyed this book. The writing style drew me in and the story was twisted and fun enough to keep me turning pages. I will say that I saw several — well, pretty much all — of the twists and reveals coming, but that didn’t take away from the enjoyment. Great job for this debut book. Can’t wait to see what the author comes up with next.

I had such high expectations for this book. Unfortunately, I was disappointed.

The story is written in first person, from the husband's perspective. For a man with psychopathic tendencies who lives on the edge, he is remarkably dull and complacent. Honestly, he bored me.

The wife is rigid and robotic. For reasons I don't understand, he finds her militant personality sexy. But there is absolutely nothing sexy about their relationship.

Pacing is slow, largely because the husband is clueless. He doesn't ask questions and doesn't want to know details, and so the murder aspect of this story remains on the periphery. We spend a lot of time with him screwing up his kids, making excuses to leave his job, and dealing with his obsessive thoughts about what his wife is doing with "their" victims.

I saw the first twist coming early on. I kept reading in the hopes that something would shake the husband out of his stupor. When something finally did, I just didn't care anymore.

Thought-provoking beyond just the suburbanite murderous couple. I found myself frequently stopping to think about what we miss in life because we are preoccupied with things that should not, perhaps, take so much of our attention. This is a great read for those who enjoy domestic suspense, but also a worthwhile read for those who find themselves wondering from time to time, "Why is it again, exactly, that I'm doing this?" I particularly enjoyed the obsession that Millicent had with trendy health foods and other faux markers of wifely and motherly perfection, given her extra-curricular activities.

This was a creepy psychological thriller that was a good page-turner. I'm not sure I liked either of the main characters, but somehow that didn't matter. It was a good beach or cabin weekend book.

★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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You've been married for a decade and a half, the kids are in high school, you're pretty established in your careers, middle age is around the corner -- how do you keep the spark in your marriage alive (or reignite it)? There are dozens -- probably hundreds -- of suggestions out there, but probably none quite so . . . homicidal? The couple at the center of My Lovely Wife murders women -- an idea so out there, I can't imagine there's enough wine in the world to get Kathy Lee and Hoda to promote.

They pick the victims together, he goes out and gets the women into a vulnerable situation and then she takes over while he spends time with the kids. This is an over-simplification, but not by much. This joint-project does seem to bring them together, giving them a common goal, something to talk about -- it even seems to rekindle the romance. Sometimes their interaction is pretty sweet -- sometimes, it's a little sad. But at the core, you can see these two featuring in a very different kind of novel if only they had a different . . . activity to bond over.

Meanwhile, their son is acting defiant toward his father's authority and is sneaking around with a girl. Their daughter is becoming more and more anxious -- a media-induced anxiety disorder of some sort. While they're dealing with the difficulties of parenting adolescents, they're focused on their next target and evading the police. You have to feel for them as parents, really. They're doing everything they should and you just can't tell if the children will respond the way they hope. It's a clear sign of their dedication to each other that they keep going.

It's a great premise, really -- and that alone is going to earn it some accolades. Downing does a pretty good job delivering on the promise of it, too. But after the original "What??" moment (which wasn't that much of a surprise if you've read the blurb, but was still skillfully executed), I waited a long time to truly get hooked by this story. I kept feeling like I was alllllllllmost hooked, but I never got past the mildly curious level. I kept waiting for the hook, expecting it, wanting it -- but it just didn't come. Until some time in the last fifth of the book -- and then even though I'd seen two of the big reveals coming, I hadn't seen the reasoning behind the most important one. Also, Downing absolutely nailed the climactic portions of this book -- all the dominoes she'd spent the whole novel setting up came down just as designed and were absolutely riveting to watch.

I want to complain about how long it took for me to really get hooked, to get invested in the outcome of the book -- and I guess I am -- but it was all worth it. I do think it's dangerous to hope that an audience will stick without you that long -- but seeing the design and how she set it all up, I just don't know how to quibble that much. Because the pay off was just that well done.

This isn't your typical story about killers -- it's not over the top and funny, it's not dark and moody, it feels like a book about a fairly stable couple living in the nice part of Atlanta. Which is what the book is, but this couple has some pretty horrible secrets to explore. While it didn't click for me until the very end, I can easily see where many people are going to love this book. Downing is a writer to watch, and I know I'll be eagerly waiting for whatever comes next.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley in exchange for this post -- thanks to both for this, but it did not affect the substance of this post beyond giving me something upon which to opine.

Bonnie and Clyde meet Ted Bundy and his wife...kinda how this book reads. What happens when a young married couple, madly in love, striving to find financial stability, working to build careers, team up and decide that becoming co-serial killers is a great idea?! Yep, you get this book. It is a roller coaster of a ride, with some humor in spots, some daaaark places in their past, some eye-opening decisions, and some fabulous twists that leads down a long and twisted rabbit hole. Looking for that next great thriller? This could be it.

I honestly thought My Lovely Wife was going to be a solid 3 star for me until about midway through. Up until then the book was fast paced, likable, but lacked the edge and suspense I love with thrillers. THEN some things started happening that had me questioning everything I knew so far, and really piquing my interest to where this story was really going.

The second half of the story did not disappoint, some twists I had figured out already, but I love seeing how the get there, and there was one that kind of took me by surprise. When everything came together at the end it was a surprise how it all played out.

The last line of the book has me wanting more. This is a stand alone as far as I know, and it wasn’t left open ended but with the way everything ended with the couple I’m curious what happens next. Companion novel perhaps?

This book was different. A husband and wife serial killing team look to hide their extracurricular activities by copycatting a famous local serial killer. But when that backfires on them, they are left scrambling trying to cover their tracks. Will they get away with it? It takes many twists and turns to find out. This book kept me on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend it!