This mystery/thriller starts with husband Michael and his wife Natalie, packing to go on a family vacation to New York with their two children. When they arrive at their hotel, Michael goes out to buy pizza for them, but when he gets back, his wife and children are missing. At first, Michael fears that they have been kidnapped but then notices that their suitcase and clothes are gone. Michael goes to the police, but they want to wait as Natalie is an adult and has every right to leave with her children. Michael wants their help, but something is holding him back - a secret past .
This is a fast read and does hold your attention, and I thank the publisher, author, and Netgalley for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and D.J. Palmer for the advanced copy of My Wife is Missing in exchange for my honest review.

I started doing the plot recap that I typically do with my book reviews when it occurred to me that I went into this book completely blind and immensely enjoyed it, and I really feel like everyone else should too!

*Ctrl + Shift + Home + Delete"

When this popped up as available to wish for on NetGalley I blindly requested it, knowing it was D.J. Palmer and I was likely to enjoy the book no matter what it was about.

I'm so happy to report I was VERY right about that. This book is fast-paced, thrilling, mysterious, and the ending (for me) was very satisfying. I straight up could not put this down until I knew everybody's dirty little secrets. There are a couple twists at the end that I legitimately never saw coming.

Thank you x2 to St. Martin's Press not only for the digital ARC but the hard copy of the ARC complete with the adorable teddy bear! (Read the book and it will make perfect sense).

My Wife is Missing will be on sale May 10, 2022!

What will Michael do when his wife and children go missing on vacation? It is everyone’s nightmare. This is a thriller with twists! Michael looks guilty, and it looks as if his wife is escaping him. The police are suspicious and Michael must not only find his family but find out why! Told from the pov of Michael and his missing wife- a page turner

This book is like an amusement park ride with its ups and downs and whips to the left then to the right. A couple of times I was so sure I knew who the villain was just to find myself not so sure. Action-packed and intense, hard to put down.

Natalie Hart and her two children disappear leaving husband and father Michael frantic to find them. Thinking her life and that of her children are at risk, Natalie is on the run. But can Natalie be trusted? Suffering from insomnia, she is experiencing hallucinations and paranoia.

The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Natalie and Michael. It also flashes back to “before her disappearance.” Natalie has good cause to distrust her husband as she uncovers details of his life of deceit.

Due to her insomnia, Michael believes that Natalie cannot differentiate between dreams and reality. A detective has joined Michael on his search, and Michael is sure the detective knows at least some of Michael’s secrets. The tension runs high as Michael closes in on Natalie.

So many twists you are kept guessing until the shocking nding.

I received an advance copy of this book. The opinions expressed here are my own.

As always the author kept me on my toes! I always go into the books blind so it never fails to amaze me how much he pulls you into the story. I was second guessing myself through the entire thing!

THank you Mr. Palmer, Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a great read

This was a twisty thriller full of suspense. I had a few theories but none panned out in any way, not even close. The reveal in the end was honestly more odd than surprising. I mean, I didn’t expect it at all but it was more like “huh?” All that being said, it was an enjoyable book and although I found the ending a bit odd, it didn’t ruin it for me.

Michael and Natalie are going through a rough time in their marriage. Natalie has been suffering from insomnia. The kind that goes on for months, that medication doesn’t help, the kind that can eventually make you paranoid, anxious and even cause a person to have hallucinations.

Natalie is trying to keep it together at work, and also for their two children, Addie and Bryce, but she’s physically and mentally unstable from lack of sleep. She feels like Michael is cold, distant and unwilling to have empathy for her. She also knows, by an anonymous note, that her husband is having an affair. She suggests a trip to New York City to refresh, so off the family goes for their first vacation in ages.

After the long drive, Natalie says she is too tired to go out for dinner, so she asks Michael to grab some pizza. When he returns to the room, pizza in hand, they are gone. Not only are his wife and kids gone, their clothes and suitcases are gone. After a panicked meeting with the hotel manager, the police are called and eventually they find security footage of Natalie and the kids walking out of the hotel with their luggage, getting into a car, and leaving without a trace.

Since they aren’t separated or divorced, there is little the police can do. The kids didn’t look like they were under duress, their mother didn’t seem to be acting erratically, and it’s not a crime for her to leave with them. Michael is terrified - he knows his wife is not well. She’s not sleeping and it’s affecting her mental state. Where is she going? Will she be able to take care of the kids on her own? Did she leave because she knows about his indiscretions … and if so, which ones?
The book goes back and forth between Michael and Natalie’s points of view, both before and after the disappearance. As the book went on, it got deeper and deeper as more and more secrets are revealed. The ending was great and unexpected.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

https://onereadingnurse.com/2022/03/03/my-wife-is-missing-arc-review-by-dj-palmer/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cann0i3r-L9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Thank you so much to St. Martin’s Press for the free early copy of My Wife Is Missing by DJ Palmer! All opinions are my own.

Holy crap friends, do you ever find it hard to talk about books without giving anything away?? This is one of those books where the less you know going in, the better!

...

(The synopsis is way too long so I wrote my own)! My Wife is Missing is another super twisty thriller from DJ Palmer. Michael and Natalie are on a family a trip to NYC. Michael goes to get pizza then returns to their hotel room to find his family missing. According to some video footage, it appears they all left willingly.

Michael thinks he knows why she ran and is determined to find his family, without revealing any of his personal history to the cops or the detective who seems intent on following. Michael might have a dark past but Natalie has insomnia, and could be a danger to the kids….

My thoughts: I liked this one! I was never bored and DJ Palmer knows how to keep me guessing. I liked the alternating points of view between the husband and wife and having to guess which direction the book would go.

This was a fast paced read with plenty of surprising reveals, a dark history to unravel, and multiple characters to dislike. Palmer is also notorious for big old “wtf” endings.

I think if it wasn’t quite so much right at the end, I would have easily 5 starred this one. I had the same issue with The New Husband, although I want to stress that DJ Palmer is still an auto read author me at this point.

Definitely recommend this one for fans of twisty domestic thrillers that will keep you guessing til the end. The book is out 5/10!

What a ride this book was. From the very first page I was completely sucked in, needing to know how it ends. Natalie & Michael had me pulled back and forth. I loved how fast paced of a mystery this was, new plot twists coming almost very chapter. The ending was completely unexpected & I did not have any guesses close. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys mysteries & thrillers. This is a perfect book to binge read with a cozy cup of coffee or delicious glass of wine.

This book started off reminding me of Gone Girl (with kids) but as the book goes on there is much more to the story. There are a lot of twists and not everything is as it seems. It was entertaining and kept me guessing.

Natalie and Michael are a married couple going through a difficult time. Natalie is stressed at work and is also juggling her 2 kids and managing the household. Michael works a lot and has recently started working out at the gym a lot more. Natalie has her suspicions that he is probably having an affair. They decide to take a trip to NYC as a family. But when Michael comes back to the hotel room after picking up food, he finds Natalie and the kids gone.

The book jumps back and forth between Michael and Natalie's POV. Great characters with a lot of lies and secrets. Family/relationship drama in psychological thrillers is always a favorite of mine and this book did not disappoint in that!

Listen, I pride myself on being able to predict the endings of thrillers. Like, it really is one of my best talents. But not going to lie, this one had me guessing until the very last second. SO many twists and turns!!

Nothing is what you expect it to be. Natalie is a likable character, you empathize with her, you believe in her. Michael seems sketchy, but maybe it's just because of the relationship between Natalie and the reader. Audrey is questionable at best, because you never really get to see her perspective of things. Tina seems like the most supportive friend anyone could want.

But like I said, nothing is as it seems. No one is who you think they are. The story you hear from each character is just that--a story. A small piece of the puzzle.

It's suspenseful, it's violent, it's heartbreaking, it's funny. It's everything you could want in a thriller. At this point, you might be asking why I have only rated it 4 stars then, right? It's because the ending really did seem so far fetched from reality. I didn't pick up on any hints that the final twist would be coming. Though, it could very well be just my ego preventing that 5th star.

This thriller quickly captured my interest. I liked that it was a quick read and it was full of twists. I found that the story dragged a bit towards the end, and I also didn’t buy into the final reveals and ending of the story. However, I overall enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more by this author.

Who is telling the truth? Plenty of lies, deceptions, truths and when you start believing one character then you think, no, that can't be right, the other one is lying! It will keep you guessing right up to the end. Read the cover for details, their synopsis is much better than mine. After the first couple.chapters the story moves quickly and will keep your attention. Read and enjoy!
I was provided an advanced reader copy of this book and was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions expressed are my own. Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book.

Really enjoyed this one! Draws you in from the beginning.
A family vacation turns into a nightmare for Michael Hart when he discovers his wife and two children have disappeared from their New York City hotel room. Horrified, he fears they’ve been kidnapped. Michael’s frantic search to find them takes a shocking turn when he discovers that his wife, Natalie, appears to have left quite willingly, taking their children with her. The police want to know why, and so does Michael. But there may be a reason why Natalie ran, something Michael can’t tell the police―the truth about his past
This book is a wild ride with so many twists along the way. I didn’t guess the ending but I also wasn’t surprised. Definitely recommended for those suspense, twisty surprise lovers! Thank you NetGalley for my advance copy!

Missing wife and kids … a husband with secrets … a detective with ulterior motives … unreliable narrators …

✔️ I really enjoyed the unreliable narrators , alternating before and after stories . Totally kept me guessing and although I figured out parts of the ending, definitely not the full picture
✔️I liked the ending
🔘at times it felt a little slow, although the overall pace of the story worked well

My Wife is Missing
DJ Palmer
Publication date 5/10/22

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

DJ Palmer does it again with his latest twisty book My Wife is Missing. This is a 5 star read with so many jaw dropping moments. Natalie and Michael are married…. They may not have the strongest marriage but deep in the pages their life is not what it seems…. Fast paced and filled with roller coaster ups and downs this story will keep you up late at night to finish. If you like a good thriller put this one on your list you will not be disappointed!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and DJ Palmer for an early edition for my honest review!!

This review will be on my goodreads and Instagram
@donnasnotsosecretbookbookdiary

Wow! DJ Palmer, this was an excellent book! If I could give it ten stars, I would! This book kept me on my toes. I was constantly reconsidering my views and kept trying to figure out who the most reliable character was. I was guessing until the very end. This was a fantastic, suspenseful read that kept me turning pages and staying up past my bedtime. I need to read more DJ Palmer!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I'm a bit breathless after reading this one. There's a lot coming at you, non-stop as reveals are made, secrets are uncovered, and things you thought you knew turn out not to be as they appear. I have been reading a lot of thrillers lately, and one tends to become a bit jaded and hard to surprise, but this one had everything I look for in my thrillers.

D.J. Palmer returns with another twisty, fast-paced thriller that will leave readers questioning everything they are reading. Michael Hart lives a seemingly idyllic life in New England with his wife Natalie and their two children. During a family trip to NYC Michael heads out for pizza only to return to an empty hotel room. Natalie and the children are missing. Frantic, thinking they were kidnapped, hotel security and the police are quickly brought in-only to shockingly discover Natalie disappeared on her own accord with their children. Fearing past revelations will come to light, including why Natalie may have done this, While Natalie thinks there aren't any other options and has planned this detailed escape-something she can't control is starting to slowly unravel her carefully thought-out plan-her insomnia. Increasingly worsening since discovering what she thinks is the truth about Michael, her insomnia has led to delusions and is putting both her and the kids in danger. Is she simply imagining these things about her husband or are they valid? Palmer is the master of manipulating characters and plot lines.

Told at a break-neck pace, with Palmer's trademark twists, readers will not be disappointed with this latest release! I have been a fan since Saving Meghan and am pleased to see that Palmer's writing remains true to form, in his own style and the thrills just keep coming.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest feedback.