Wow! What a great read!
The Wife and The Widow is my first novel by Christian White and now I must read his debut novel, The Nowhere Child!
This unsettling thriller is told from 2 perspectives: Kate a widow who quickly learns and is compounded by her dead husband's secret life, and Abby a wife whose world is torn apart when she is forced to confront the evidence of her husband's guilt. Only when these women meet can they discover the entire story about the men in their lives.
Nothing is quite as it seems as this captivating story unravels.
Highly Recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

This has been one of the best books I have read so far this year. I enjoyed the plot twist which I did not see coming! Once you start reading you will not want to put it down!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest opinion.

Kate Keddie is a stay at home mom. She has one daughter, Mia who is ten years old.
She and Mia head to Melbourne International airport one evening to pick up her husband John from a business trip, but he is not on the plane.
Abby Gilpin works part time at a shop in Belport, a small island town off the coast of Victoria, and does taxidermy as a hobby.
She has two teenage children, Lori and Eddie, and is married to Ray, a caretaker and landscaper.
Alternating between Abby, the wife and Kate, the widow, Kate is trying to find answers into the brutal murder of her husband.
He was supposed to be in London for a conference, but was found dead on the island where they have a vacation home.
Abby is consumed by true crime stories and begins to suspect her husband Ray is a killer.
This gripping, sinister and atmospheric psychological thriller was tough to put down.
A suspenseful, skillfully written story with a surprise ending I did not see coming!
Thank you to St. Martin's Press Minotaur Books for the e-ARC via NetGalley.

LOVED IT! Did not guess anything until the second twist and the unfolding was perfect and the ending was OMG! I hate slow builds, but know they are worth it. I hope everyone who reads this gets just as shocked because it was SO good. Christian White was a new to me author and now I have backlist and future books to add to my ever growing TBR.

I mean with a title like this how could you not want to dive right in?! My first novel from Christian White and I already cannot wait to read more! Honestly this will capture your attention as soon as you start the reading the first page.

Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Wife and The Widow.

Wow did this book throw me for a loop!! Kate (the widow) goes to the airport to pick up her husband who’s returning from a business trip except he never shows. She finds out he never actually went on his business trip and starts digging into his life and what he hasn’t told her. Abby (the wife) starts to suspect something is up with her husband when he starts acting strangely after a dead body was found near a known “lover’s lane”, you could call it, for men. The entire book you are guessing and making assumptions about how these two women’s lives could be intertwined and I was actually dumbfounded once I reached the first big twist. I actually had to go back and re-read a few things because I was like “wait, what just happened???” A lot of my recent reviews have been about some great books that were just missing that big shocker that I so thoroughly enjoy and this book gave me exactly what I crave for when reading!!

The Wife and the Widow by Christian White is an unsettling thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband’s secret life and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside when she’s forced to confront the evidence of her husband’s guilt. How are their stories connected?

This was SO GOOD. The chapters are short and end on cliffhangers, making this very much a 'one more chapter' type of read. This book brings the two women to come together to discover the story of the men in their lives and the answer is brilliant. The misdirection was fantastic and I was rethinking the breadcrumbs as soon as I finished. The characters are very real, flawed, and believable. I loved that Abby's hobby was taxidermy, it was extremely fitting. I cannot wait to read the next by Christian White.

The Wife and the Widow was a page turning experience. as Christian White ends each chapter (which is a speedy 10 pages or so long) in a cliff hanger, not allowing you to put the book down. The suspense factor is amazing in this one, and I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller. Set in alternating chapters between two different women (the wife, and - you guessed it - the widow) who have not met but are connected by an unsolved murder.
This book had me guessing throughout, and near the end I was able to piece everything together, which is the only reason this wasn't a complete five star read for me. I had beeen hoping for White to throw one more big twist at the end. This may be a bit greedy of me, because there were plenty of twists and turns in his story. I am now a Christian White fan, and will be picking up his first novel, The Nowhere Child asap!
Thank you to St. Martin's press and Netgalley for the early copy of this wonderful, 4.5 star read. My favourite of 2020 so far!
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This ended up being good but not great. There was one twist that I really enjoyed...otherwise this felt like a story/mystery I'd ready before.

Since I enjoyed Christian White’s first book, The Nowhere Child, I was interested in reading this second novel of his. I like books that shift between perspectives and the author did a good job showing the dual perspectives of the widow and the wife. However, I should have been more on the ball and read this book continuously without taking breaks for other books. I found myself confused and that I missed out on some great twists. Take my warning and don’t do the same. I look forward to White’s next book.

Thanks to NetGalley, Minotaur Books and the author Christian White for a digital review copy. This book was published January 21, 2020.

A well written, solid thriller! These are hard to come by these days. I loved that the “twist” was clever and not just an out of nowhere change in plot. I would recommend this one for sure!

EXCERPT: For a moment Kate nearly allowed herself to slip into autopilot. The temptation to submit and roll over like a frightened puppy was strong. But that was the old Kate. That was the woman who didn't want to hear about the monsters under the bed, the woman who let the men in her life show her what to do and when to do it.

She had tried never to think about death, but the few times she had, she'd decided that when it came it should feel like an ellipsis: a gentle trailing off of a sentence. It should be a whisper of words, a padding of gentle footsteps. This, being killed by a deranged middle-aged woman, felt too sudden, too mad. This couldn't be how it ended.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, The Wife and The Widow is an unsettling thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband’s secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside when she’s forced to confront the evidence of her husband’s guilt. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives. Brilliant and beguiling, The Wife and The Widow takes you to a cliff edge and asks the question: how well do we really know the people we love?

MY THOUGHTS: Very cunning Mr. White. Very cunning indeed! Now, how to write a review that is not going to give away the important stuff...

This is a stunning family drama that had me guessing (wrongly, I may add) the whole way through. The author is a master of misdirection...I was constantly re-examining what I knew and trying to figure out what I needed to know. There was one instance where I read something and I thought, 'This is important, I need to remember this.' I had absolutely no idea,at that point, why it was important. But I was right.

White's characters are very real, very human, faults, foibles and all...that doesn't mean that you are necessarily going to like them.

And the taxidermy.....a brilliant stroke. Weird, but brilliant. I would love to know where the inspiration for that came from.

One thing that I particularly admired about this novel, is the author's acknowledgement of the stress and danger of burnout in palliative care workers. They are very special and vastly underrated for the care, both emotional and physical, that they lavish upon the dying.

This is an incredibly original work, and one that I admire greatly. I have yet to read The Nowhere Child, but I am going to make sure that I do.

❤❤❤❤.5

#TheWifeAndTheWidow #NetGalley

I would like to share a couple of my favourite passages with you:

'We bring babies into this world, let them rip up our bodies, let them drink from us, bleed us dry, and we love them for it. We give and we give and we give. We sacrifice. And do you know why? Because we're mothers.'

'She took her own advice, locked all the dark thoughts in a room in her mind and tried not to visit it. For the most part, it got easier. But in the dead of night, when Milt Street was quiet, she could hear them growling behind the door and scratching at the walls. It reminded her that the dark things were still there and they weren't going away.'

THE AUTHOR: Christian White is an Australian author and screenwriter. His debut novel, The Nowhere Child, won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for an Unpublished Manuscript. He co-created the television series Carnivores, currently in development with Matchbox Pictures and Heyday TV, and co-wrote Relic, a psychological horror feature film to be produced by Carver Films (The Snowtown Murders, Partisan).

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to St Martin's Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Wife and the Widow by Christian White for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon and my webpage

The Wife and the Widow is a unique twist on the traditional domestic thriller. I loved the setting of a remote winter island. It was the perfect December read. I found the ending to be unpredictable and the best part of this story. It felt like a sister of Elin Hildebrand's "Paradise" trilogy.

I didn't like this one as much as The Nowhere Child but still an interesting enough read. I didn't find it to be anything new or too shocking but I would reccomend if you're looking for a good mystery and not so much a thriller.

This had such an interesting timeline. When I got to the meat of the matter, I was surprised that things were happening the way they did. Having it on an island, gave it a rather eerie, dark feel, which worked for the mystery. The characters surprised me, one in particular. It was a good read.

Abby and Kate are The Wife and the Widow, respectively, in an exhilarating new thriller by the author of The Nowhere Child.

What has happened to Kate’s husband, John? When he didn’t return from a business trip, Kate investigates. It appears John never went on the trip despite Skyping Kate from his hotel room. Worse, John quit his physician job three months earlier but continued to “go to work” each day. Where did he really go? Why is the alarm company reporting a break-in at their vacation house on Belport Island. Could John be there? If so, why?

Abby is married to working class Ray. They live on Belport Island year round. They struggle to make ends meet during the non-tourist season. Other than the Island, how are Kate’s and Abby’s stories related?

I absolutely adored The Wife and the Widow. It is the most twisty and surprising tale I have read since Mr. White’s last book, The Nowhere Child. If you want a fun, exhilarating ride through two families’ lives, pick up this book. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. It’s fantastic! 5 stars and one of my favorites this year!

Thanks to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

While this isn't the best thriller I've ever read (mostly because the timeline got confusing in spots), I'd definitely recommend it. The story opens with a husband's disappearance and the wife trying desperately to figure out the secrets her husband has been keeping from her. The split between the life we *think* we're living and reality is always a great set-up for a thriller, and there are many secrets in this marriage, as well as in the other relationships in the book. I have to say, I was completely caught off-guard by the twist! A satisfying read, and the author does a wonderful job of describing the settings, characters and relationships.

Meet the widow: Kate’s husband mysteriously went missing after telling her that he was heading to another country for a conference. Turns out he went to the remote island of Belport, where their Summer house is located. His body has just been found.

Meet the wife: Abby is an Belport local whose world has just shattered around her. A mountain of evidence has surfaced in her garage. All of it points to her husband’s guilt.

This is all you need to know about the plot of THE WIFE AND THE WIDOW. Anything past this gives way too much away about who these women are and how they are potentially connected.

At the heart this is a story of lies and deception that run deep enough to tear families apart. This book is told through dual narratives, alternating between Kate and Abby. I was instantly able to connect with each woman and find my interest peaked to the plot revolving around what was happening in their lives. Kate and Abby are similar in the respect that both of their husbands have been withholding the truth from them. What those truths are has led to murder and it is through these two narrators that the reader is able to learn the series of events behind this result. Kate and Abby are completely different in their reactions to their situations. Abby is a strong-willed, no-holds-barred, take charge woman, where as Kate is a much more subtle personality, but still equally determined to achieve her goals.

The atmospheric quality of this story plays almost it’s own character to drive the plot along. The island of Belport is a huge tourist attraction, bringing the extremely wealthy back to their Summer homes, which they leave unattended throughout the year. The location, as well as the disparity between the two groups of residents help to build an air of tension throughout the book. In a small town, everyone knows everyone and it’s impossible to avoid people in your business. The fact that these narratives are occurring in the off season shows the impact of this closeness on the locals of the island, as well as the effects and struggles of what it means to live in a tourist town.

My favorite aspect to Christian White’s writing has to be his subtle ability to drop a huge twist. White writes with such ease and laidback quality that the story feels completely natural. Everything is flowing so seamlessly and you’re growing comfortable with the characters, right up until White hits you in the chest with a twist and you’re left wondering how in the world you missed the hits for this! I love when writers master this! Nothing feels forced with White’s books. Everything is just so effortlessly entertaining and addictive to read.

Christian White truly solidified himself as an auto-buy author for me with this book. I adored his debut, THE NOWHERE CHILD and his sophomore effort has done nothing but live up to the high bar set with that debut. If you haven’t tried a book by White yet, clear yourself a spot on your TBR and prepare to binge read!

A huge thank you to Minotaur Books for sending me a free copy of this book!

Whatever you think is going on in this book forget it because you're wrong. Every time I thought I had it figured out it twisted and turned in a totally different direction. Engaging and engrossing this book will have you guessing until the very end. Happy reading!

An absolutely delicious psychological thriller...ripe twists and turns that keep you turning pages in a book you cant put down.

Told from 2 distinct voices in alternating chapters, this thriller is dark, edgy and alive.
We meet "Kate"; smart, strong, resilient - the widow.
We meet "Abby"; smart, strong, resourceful- the wife.

You will question what you thought you knew, as these two women come together to delve into the lives of the husbands they thought they knew.

5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley, St.Martin's Press and the author, Mr. Christian White, for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "The Wife and the Widow".
The opinions expressed in this review are mine alone.