So much suspense in one book,
Plenty of twists and turns. Expect the unexpected.
Well written and plot is excellent

What do you call a book which is like a siren? What do you call a book where the writing holds you prisoner? What do you call a book when the evil acts makes you turn the pages faster? What do you call a book which makes you cringe and yet makes you read it? I call it – The Man She Married.

And what can I say? I loved it all. I knew marriage was about compromises, but author Alison James put her different spin to it and changed the way I looked at marriages.

Alice married Dominic. Dominic died in a car crash. His brother too came to identify the body. Alice said he is Dominic, her husband. Brother said he is not Dominic, the brother. Proof showed he is not the real Dominic, then who was he?

Having read a few books by this author, I knew I was in for a ride. The story was told in sections with dual POV. I was shown contrary reasons of the couple. There were twists and evil acts. The characters displayed all the right emotions, though I have to admit I felt like hitting Alice when she saw the obvious then turned a blind eye.

The writing was fast paced and pulled me deeper. The story had the right amount of suspense to keep me engaged throughout. Shocks didn’t bowl me over. But the human psyche written by the author sure did. Alison James could make a simple story complex and entertaining.

I liked Dominic. There was something so different in the way his dialogues and thoughts were written. His justifications were said in a matter of fact tone. Everything just happened for him. I remembered thinking – Damn he had all the luck!! I would have loved to hear his voice on Audible.

Did I not say the book loved me back? It did, it did. I was its loving prisoner. A fun read!!

This was my first book of 2020 and it was a great start to the year. Not something I normally go for but I was very impressed. I enjoyed how it was split to give the wife and husband’s stories and the many plot twists along the way. It’s one of those books that’s hard to put down because you want to know what happens next. Great book and I can highly recommend. Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and Alison James for my ARC

An okay psychological thriller that sees Alice caught up in a whirlwind romance with handsome Dominic Gill, and soon finds herself married to him, even though she felt rushed. Things are going okay, though there's a few times his behaviour has been a concern, then suddenly he's gone, killed in an accident. Alice confirms that yes, it's her husband that has died, however when Dom's estranged brother turns up to view the body, he's adamant it's not Dom. So just who has Alice been married to for the last 3 years?

I found The Man She Married to be an enjoyable, quick read, and I finished it in a day. My main concern with this book is things are revealed quickly, too early in the book, and after that it's a case of waiting for everything to come together at the end, thus taking the suspense out of it. There were some revelations later in the book however, and it's definitely one to consider reading for a rainy day.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It's a pacy thriller from the start, filled with questions and twists. I read it quite quicky having become hooked, I love when a book can do that! Some real darkness in this book, perfect thriller!

I really enjoyed this book so much. It has a really great plot, superb main characters and I read it in one sitting. I would highly recommend this book.

The Man She Married by Alison James
I read this book in one day, nothing else got done in my house! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
The first half the book sets up the storyline, then the second half slots it all together. I enjoyed the narrative in both halves.
I liked the character of Alice, although at times I wanted to shake her!
I felt absolutely compelled to keep reading, and as this was my first book by this author I will now have a look for more of her books.

The term psychological thriller is really thrown around far too easily these days, most likely in an attempt to increase sales. But to me, all it really does is make it more likely that you’ll end up with unhappy readers, who pick up a book expecting one thing and are left with something entirely different. Now, that isn’t to say this book is bad. It’s not, at all. But to me it did not read as a psychological thriller, and since it was labelled as one, that did feel quite disappointing. To me, it read as more of a crime book, with a lot of focus on investigation, and at those times any of the tension just fell away and it became quite dull to me.

I think one of the other reason last it fell flat was partly to do with Alice’s naivety - she kept ignoring huge red flags, and then being surprised by what followed. I don’t mind a bit of naivety but she just read as someone who was either so desperate she would ignore anything, or so stupid she wouldn’t notice it. I did enjoy the second half of the book where we switched to an alternate POV, but by that time any real interest was lacking, and it was just a case of not wanting a DNF this early in the year.

The ending also lost its way a little - there was great tension and buildup in the rest of the book, but in the last 20-30% it just fizzled out into a rather dull domestic drama sort of book instead. All in all, one that was rather underwhelming for me, and as a result I can’t say it’s one I would recommend.

Wow! What a great domestic thriller. ! My first book of Alison James’ and definitely won’t be my last. Very well written and was so smooth. Beautifully developed characters that were easy to fall in love with and a few were quite disturbing.
Such a great tale of love, deception, secrets and our vulnerabilities as humans.
I can’t recommend this book and author enough.
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
4.5 stars

I have to be honest this book is exactly as described. It will grip your attention and make it impossible to put down. This is the type of psychological thriller that stirs your anger as you read.
I have not been able to put this one down, it is a highly addictive, gripping read which has left me wanting to know what happens next.
I have devoured this book in just one sitting, I literally haven’t moved from the very first page.
This is my second read by this author, I adore the writing style. Definitely grips your attention from the start and weaves the story and provokes thoughts and emotions.
I have really enjoyed reading this, it is easy to rate this one at ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5. I can’t wait to see what else the author has in store for us.

This book was a slow burner but once it got going I was hooked.

The twist, turns and cliff hangers kept you guessing right to the very last page.

I really enjoyed it and will look out for more books from the author.

This was a great domestic thriller. A man to good to be true. A quick marriage and everything should be happy ever after. Alice misses or chooses to ignore a lot of clues that Dominic is not completely telling the truth and seems to have a shady, secret background. Her naivety was a little frustrating but only added to the story. A lot of twists and great turns. A really good suspenseful read.

This book drew me in from the very first page. I am a big fan of domestic thrillers so the description made me want to read this right away. We follow the story of a woman who meets a man, too good to be true, and ends up marrying him after knowing him for a short amount of time. As the story unfolds she starts to see the red flags. Since this is a thriller, I do not want to say much more but this is definetly a page turner. I would like to say that I felt that the narrative from "Ben" was unnecessary, it felt as thought I was basically reading the first 25% of the book twice. Some reworking if both perspectives could be used to improve the reading experience.

This is a great read that had me hooked throughout the book.
Alice owns a lovely house, has a successful business but can’t seem to find a man to share it all with.
Then she meets Dominic and her life seems complete.
They marry very quickly but Alice couldn’t be happier.
Cracks start to appear when Alice isn’t able to meet his family and she spots him out with another woman. She’s also frightened when he suddenly rapes her one night.
This is only half the story as after Dominic is involved in an accident and she goes to identify the body, his brother states that this is not Dominic.
We then find out who he really is and what led him to make Alice part of his life, and why.
This is a gripping read that has lots of twists and turns you’ll not be expecting.
A great read that I highly recommend.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

This one started out with an amazing prologue, but once the story got going I just didn't care about the characters at all. This one lacked the depth to make me feel for them. The title was pretty fast paced but the shockingness of the start just fizzled out. The last 20% of the book slowed way down and the pacing just died.

Overall, if you like other titles like this one you might enjoy it. But for me it just lacked what I was looking for.


Go Into This One Knowing: Pacing Fizzled Out, Didn't Care About the Characters

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this exciting first read of 2020 in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and could not stop turning the pages as I wanted to know what was going to happen next. Ms. James wrote the book in a Now/Then format between two characters, Alice and Ben.

The story explores the concept of 'what if the man you married, was not the man you married'. Alice Palmer is faced with this dilemma when she learns that the charming man she is married to is not Dominic Gill. They met and married in a whirlwind romance, mainly at the insistence of Dom. A very slick con man, he had answers for everything like why his mother and brother could not attend the wedding or why he had no friends in attendance and the best man barely knew him.

As several dead bodies are found and several alias' come to light Alice has a hard time accepting that she has no clue who she was married to. With the help of Jim a cranky PI who ends up being a trusted friend, they piece together the lies and help Alice move forward with her life and new baby daughter.

A wonderful read and I highly recommend Alison James. Definitely will be looking for more books from her in the future.

I love reading a good thriller! It just makes me appreciate this genre even more.

The Man She Married is a captivating psychological thriller which follows the story of Alice and....the man she married - surprise, surprise! 😜 I will say no more other than the man she marries isn't who he seems to be. So who is he?

I received this book to review through Netgalley and I read it in an afternoon. Brilliant psychological thriller and it kept me guessing from start to finish. I have never read this author before but will now be looking for other titles. Loved it.

Meh. It wasn’t that much of a gripping thriller. I would call it more suspenseful than thriller. Alice’s marriage to Dominic had so many red flags that could be spotted from a mile away. Dominic was a pretty good manipulator to get Alice, a financially sound and sound of mind person, to fall into his trap. I do wish there was more to Dominic’s personality and backstory instead of all of these deaths and having to cover his tracks with more deaths.

All in all, not a bad novel, it was interesting enough to keep my attention the entire time and wonder who Dominic really was.

Should you have known? Alice can't believe that this man wants to be with her, he is everything that she has ever wanted but she doesn't know that Dominic hides a very dark side. Alice knows that she should have taken more time to get to know the stranger that she met in the lift but Dominic rushed everything from their engagement to their wedding and she went along with it as she already had one failed engagement behind her. She should be happy but now she has noticed little things about his behaviour he is hiding things but she ignores them as they are happy. Aren't they? Dominic knows that he needs to do something about Alice eventually she has started to ask too many questions, he had to get rid of all of the others that got in his way. Dominic has many dark secrets and he won't allow Alice to uncover them. The day that Alice has been waiting for has arrived she is pregnant and she is so happy but where is Dominic he should be home by now. So when she opens the door to the police so knows but she doesn't believe that it is him. Now things get even stranger as Dominic isn't who he said he was and Alice needs to find out the truth. And the person she turns to isn't too impressed by Dominic but Jim knows that he has to try to at least find some answers for her so that she can carry on. Their journey will take them through many dark paths and she will realize that she never knew the man that she married. How will she come to terms with everything that they uncover? A good thrilling read. I was lucky enough to receive a copy via Netgalley & the publishing house in exchange for my honest review.