This is a captivating read that had me hooked right until the end. Such a creepy and compelling storyline with great characters. Just when I thought I had figured it all out there was a final twist which blew me away. Highly recommended.

The Trapped Wife by Samantha Hayes was an enjoyable read going between past and present. It’s been a couple of years since I read a book by this author and I wasn’t disappointed. It follows the story of Dr Jen Miller. She’s hiding a secret and has flashbacks throughout the novel featuring some great twists and turns that will keep you captivated to the end. Thank you to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for the chance to review.

Wow just wow, at first I wasn’t sure about this one but about 15% in it took a turn for the better! Soooo many twists and turns and I’d swear I knew where it was going but then it twists and turns again, making me think the story was going another direction! Again wow just wow that blew me away! So much for having it all figured out!
Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read this one early on exchange for a honest review and here is my honest review. Did I say wow?!! I started this one yesterday! Done and craving more!

This is the first book that I have read by this author and at times it seemed a little confusing. A doctor is threatened by a man she had a one night stand with at a conference and she becomes pregnant. Her marriage is already in trouble and her husband goes on a ski trip from which he never returns. The book goes back and forth from the present to the past and at times is hard to follow.

The Trapped Wife by Samantha Hayes is a thriller about recent widow Dr. Jen Miller. Her husband was killed in an avalanche while skiing just a few weeks ago, and she realizes that she is pregnant. Who is the father of the baby though? She has some vague memories of being with another man at a medical conference right before her husband died, but was it consensual? This story was very twisty, but the characters were unlikable and were constantly making poor decisions. This book also needs a content warning for sexual assault. Some of the content was quite disturbing at times. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

A master mind...

Jennifer is a doctor. She knows everything. Except how she has got pregnant. And then a man comes and he show her photos and those photos leads her to do something about. She just needs to find the way to complite that.

A story that was leading in a different direction and I could not understand how all was possible. At the end I finally did. It was a greeping read, ful of wrong hints but you always know that and waited for more. That makes it a great book.

Thanks to Netgalley.com and publishers Bookouture for the oportunity to read this book

Wow!!! First book I have read by this author and I never saw the end coming. Jen is a doctor and her husband died six weeks ago in Switzerland . She has a 16 year old son and prior to her husband’s death she was at a conference and knows that she was with someone but can’t remember what happed. She finds out later she is pregnant. The story is told from two POV’s. Jen and her good friend Rhonda. Plus the books goes back to the past about these boys playing but one is really brutal. At that point I had no clue what they had to do with the story. Also prior to his death who is Jeremy Jen suspect’s her husband is having an affair. I don’t want to give away any more because I hate spoilers. Everything starts to come together towards the end of the book but the ending blew me away.I did get some inkling to what was happening but there were so many twists and turns in this book. I received this book as an ARC from net galley for an honest review. Thank you net galley. If you are a fan of psychological books with suspense then I highly recommend this book.

A must read for fans of ‘Blood Orange’ and ‘The Girl on the Train’. More twists and turns than a roller coaster - and although I pride myself on my detective skills, I DID NOT SEE THAT ONE COMING!!!

Dr Jen Miller is barely hanging on since her husband was declared missing and presumed dead in an avalanche while on location for work. Now, thanks to a one-night-stand that she can't really remember, she is pregnant. Then a stranger shows up at her clinic and she begins having flashbacks of that night. As her memory slowly returns to her, she is able to piece together not only what happened that night, but also what was going on with her husband before he left, and who the mystery woman he was having an affair with was.
I love this author's books. They are so full of twists and turns, that just as soon as you think you have it all figured out you get blindsided again. If you love a good thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat, then this is your book.

Jen is reeling from the sudden death of her husband in an accident 6 weeks ago. She’s going back to work as a community doctor and losing touch with her 16 year old son. When a persistent stranger pushes his way into her life, what will she do? Will she call the authorities? Or is she trapped?

This story is told in two timelines, past and present, and from multiple points of view. It was very well written though and easy to keep straight. As the story progressed though, I found myself more and more annoyed by Jen, who allows herself to be coerced and gaslighted by a stranger who knows a secret about her. It seemed that she was held in the situation because she was too proud to drop her perfect facade. There was more revealed at the very end, explaining things a bit more.

Also trigger warnings abound for emotional abuse, rape, animal abuse, and child harm. Overall, well written with a twist at the end, but too many triggering subjects for my personal taste.

This book jumps between two timelines (which I loved), Jen in the present who also has flashbacks and two children in the past, Mac and Ethan. We also get the pov of her best friend Rhonda. Sounds confusing but it isn't! Jen's husband has just died and a new persistent man has entered her life but all is not as it seems.

I loved this book! This is the best thriller/mystery I have ever read. I'm usually left feeling annoyed with the ending and thinking it makes no sense, but not this one!

It does start off a bit slow and I did partially guess one of the twists at 40% (I think you are supposed to), but I did not see that ending coming.

This book is unbelievably clever and the twists make complete sense when you look back over what's happened. All the clues were leading you in the wrong direction but the actual truth was there all along, with even the main characters behaviour being explained at the end.

I seriously want to read it again now that I know what's going on and I NEVER want to reread thrillers.

My main negative is that there is a serious situation that isn't dealt with involving her husband and I would have liked to have seen the fallout for that play out.

Highly recommend this book, especially if you are someone like me who is usually disappointed by thrillers.

A wife struggling with her husband's sudden death.
Jennifer returns to work after taking weeks to help her 16 yo son adjust and grieve. Though Jennifer loved her husband, she had suspected he was having an affair for quite some time.
And of course the positive pregnancy test - a result of a drunken, hazy night while at conference.
Flashbacks add mystery to the plot - Evan a young boy from an abusive home, Mac also desperate for a friend.
Lots of great twists, well done ending. Great read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Samantha Hayes and Bookouture for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This novel wasn't at all what I expected and I was a bit disappointed. It was a slow burn novel that left you wondering about quite a bit while reading. It took a long time to get to the heart of the story, but when you find out all the twists it's interesting. The only problem I had was getting there to figure it out. The characters aren't all that interesting for me, but I think that was because it all seemed familiar to me for some reason.

Jen is reeling from her husband Jeremy's recent death when an unexpected visitor pushes his way into her life. Her best friend Rhonda suspects that something isn't quite right, but Jen is trying to handle things on her own.

The story is narrated by both Jen and her best friend Rhona, so you see things happening from two different perspectives. There are also chapters throughout devoted to two young boys, with a boy named Evan as the narrator. The switching between past and present help to plant the seeds for ways in which the characters from the past are intertwined with the characters from the present.

There are a lot of different plot lines happening in this novel, but they all weave themselves together in the end. I had figured out quite a bit of the book and who certain characters were, but there were some twists that I just did not see coming. This was a very well crafted story that sucked me in and I didn't want to put it down until it was finished. This was the first novel I've read by Samantha Hayes, but it won't be my last.

I was disappointed by the interactions between Jen and Rhonda later in the novel as I feel that there was a lot going on that wasn't really cleared up. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheTrappedWife by #SamanthaHayes in exchange for an honest review. 4 stars

Wow what a great thriller, so many twists and turns that will have you utterly gripped. I loved every minute of The Trapped Wife.

I LOVE Samantha Hayes’s books! She is the queen of twists, and The Trapped Wife was no different. One of the things I love most about her books is that while the twists seem to come of nowhere, once you look back, you see that there were clues all along and it always leaves me thinking “why didn’t I figure that out??” I loved the character of Jen, and Scott was such a creepy bad guy, but I loved whenever he was around. I know this is just being published, but I can’t wait for her next one!

With thanks to NetGalley for the much appreciated ARC in return for an honest review. This was a very exciting mystery/thriller about a doctor, her dead husband, her friend and a secondary plot of two children 30 years in the past with a horrible secret. I was caught up in the mystery of how the past is related to the present. There are so many plot twists and I thought I knew where the story was going, but I must say that I was surprised. There was a part that was reminiscent of the murder of James Bulger in 1993 but there is so much more going on than just a child murder. The only reason I gave it 3 stars is because I felt the characters' actions were a little unbelievable. I would still recommend though.

★★★★★ 4.5 stars (rounded up)

I am excited to be taking part in the #BooksOnTour #BlogTour for Samantha Hayes' twisted thriller THE TRAPPED WIFE.

Whenever I begin a book by Samantha Hayes I am then reminded that her thrillers are slow burns which are not generally my favourite. But from past experience, despite their slow beginnings I am often pleasantly surprised to find that the book then redeems itself by everything coming together in a deluge of twists that have been expertly and intricately woven together. However I was more than surprised with THE TRAPPED WIFE because, despite being a slow burn, I was completely absorbed in the story from the very beginning. It honestly has to be one of the best books Samantha Hayes has written complete with complexities, twists and misdirection.

When we first meet Jen, she's still in the midst of grieving the loss of her husband Jeremy, killed in an avalanche whilst skiing in Switzerland. But life hadn't been all that easy for her prior to this either...not when she suspected Jeremy of having an affair with his attractive much younger French assistant Madeleine. So when she travelled to a three-day conference in Oxford just before Christmas, Jen trailed behind her colleagues into a bar where she indulged in a few too many wines which lead to cocktails being bought for her by some random stranger. After that, things kind of got a little hazy but she remembered waking up in her hotel room...naked...and in bed with someone who was not her husband. Just a couple of weeks later, on 2nd January, Jeremy was killed.

Now almost two months have passed and Jen is staring at the two lines on the stick she holds in her hand. She's pregnant. And Jeremy cannot be the father. Which means only one thing. One drunken night with a random stranger in Oxford. Oh gosh...what has she done?

With no real recollection of that night, except through the odd flashback, Jen's world begins to crumble as she must deal with an unexpected pregnancy at 42, her teenage son's unrequited love for her best friend's daughter Caitlin on top of his grief for his dad as well as her own barrage of emotions. To top things off, she gains a new patient at the surgery where she works as a GP who soon ingratiates himself in her life and her home where he has other plans for her.

From the first moment Scott Shaw enters Jen's surgery with his piercing gaze that never leaves her, it's apparent that he has a hidden agenda. What that is, we've yet to find out. If Jen thought him a bit intense on his first visit, imagine her surprise when he turns up at her house complete with hold-all containing several of his belongings and an excuse ready for his intrusion. I knew then that he wasn't going anywhere. He had something on Jen and he was going to milk it for all it was worth. As his intentions become clearer, Jen realises she has made a huge mistake and must now live with the consequences...because Scott is going nowhere.

Best friend Rhonda tries to support Jen as best she can but with Scott's sudden appearance comes the troubling sense of foreboding as well as her friend's unusual behaviour. She is concerned that there is something off about her friend's new house guest despite Jen assuring her that all is well and that he is an old friend of Jeremy's. She tries confiding in her copper husband Chris and as good a sounding board he is he isn't convinced that there is anything to worry about. If something is worrying Jen, why hasn't she confided in her, her best friend? And then she comes across some old photos and news clippings from the mid-90s before the school in which she now teaches became private. Photos that showed a very younger Jen, Jeremy and the face of a child killer. The news clippings relate to that tragedy in which 3 year old Lenny Taylor was lured from his grandmother's yard and later found beaten and drowned in the nearby reservoir. But it's what she sees in these photos that spurs her to delve further and find out the truth.

Alongside the present day story is one from the past. Evan Locke is a lonely 12 year old boy who has an appalling home-life in the nearby council estate. With no friends he soon becomes target to the mean girl who humiliates him in a way he could never forget. Just when life seems at its bleakest, Mac enters his life and they become firm friends. Best friends. They hang out, pilfer snacks from the nearby store and create a den in the woods where they could just be. Evan thought his luck had changed when he met Mac. At last he had a friend...someone he could count on to have his back. And he just knew that they would be friends forever.

But how does the past tie in with the present? Who is Evan to Jen, if he even is at all? And what has Rhonda uncovered in her quest for answers to Jeremy's alleged affair? When Rhonda notices Jeremy's ski equipment buried in the garage, she begins to wonder what really happened to him? Is Jeremy still alive and living in secret with his girlfriend? Who the hell is Scott and what does he really want with Jen? And why oh why can't she get rid of him? And what really happened on that drunken night in Oxford?

So many questions with so few answers...or are there? As the reader we have been tasked with trying to unravel the complexities and tie them together seamlessly before it's too late.

The story unfolds over the past and the present, expertly told by Jen and Rhonda in the present with Evan's narrative detailing the past which becomes disturbing as it unravels. At first I empathised with Jen and her situation but it isn't long before I became frustrated by her actions and decisions. Rhonda truly cares for her friend and wants to help her but for some reason Jen is keeping her at arm's length. Does this have anything to do with Scott? And as for his nibs, he is super creepy. He made my skin crawl from the first moment and I became even more uncomfortable by his unwanted presence and the story unfolded.

Intricately and expertly woven, THE TRAPPED WIFE is an addictive read from beginning to end. The undercurrent of malevolence, the sense of foreboding, the claustrophobic feeling in which you feel as powerless as Jen, who is trapped in a quagmire of her own making. You'd think as a doctor, an educated woman no less, she could find her way out of this situation with as little trouble as possible...but no. She just continues to make bad decision after bad decision. To be fair, she didn't want to disrupt her son Keiran's life any more than it already was. But she was also thinking of her own reputation as a doctor, a respected GP, if her secret was to get out. A secret of which she has little recollection...until the flashbacks become clearer and reveals every shocking moment.

THE TRAPPED WIFE is as intriguing as it is deceptive. As Jen's life unravels as the story progresses, every nuance, every secret is about to be revealed with an ending that will shock you. I wasn't completely hoodwinked though, having pieced together most of the puzzle of secrets but there was one final piece that I didn't see coming...and that DID shock me! Seriously...WOWsers! Could this tale get any more twisted?

I thoroughly enjoyed THE TRAPPED WIFE which literally blew me away. Certainly one of Ms Hayes' best thrillers to date. I have no doubt fans of domestic thrillers will devour this addictive read. Highly recommended.

I would like to thank #SamanthaHayes, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheTrappedWife in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

WOAH. I don’t even know where to begin honestly. 😂 It was… quite a ride. The author offers two perspectives in this book, Jen and Rhonda. Each woman trying to figure out answers to their own questions, while navigating their friendships and lives. It was fast-paced and mind boggling. The twists and turns were abundant in this one. Each twist got even crazier than the one before. And the last twist? Didn’t see it coming in a million years. You’ll think you have it figured out, only to be smacked in the face with something your mind could have never dreamt up. If you’re a thriller fan, I can’t recommend this one enough.

I loved this one! Samantha Hayes did a fantastic job keeping you guessing basically the entire time, but also tying everything together so perfectly in the end!

This is a story about Dr Jennifer Miller, who recently lost her husband & is trying to piece her life back together. But things are not as perfect as they might appear on the outside, especially considering her behavior about six weeks ago at a work conference. Jen suspected her husband was also leading a separate life, but did not have proof.

Together with her close friend Rhonda, they discover secrets they expected along with secrets they never ever even considered a possibility. I enjoyed every minute of this book!

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!