Wow! What a ride! This mystery thriller had me reading late into the night. The plot is fast paced, twisty with many cliffhangers along the way. This book asks the question, how well do you really know the person you hold near and dear? Who can you trust? Trusting the wrong person may be deadly. The conclusion was unexpected and did not disappoint. Kate White is a master of a well crafted suspenseful thriller. Thank you NetGalley and Harper Paperbacks for my copy. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I just love Kate White books! Although this wasn't my favorite book by her, it was an exciting, fun read, nonetheless. I think she is an author who continues to find her strengths, and caters to them, and there is nothing wrong with that. No point in fixing something that is not broken. I look forward to seeing what she will write next, and will continue to recommend her books to our customers!

No matter how well we may think we know someone, people often have a way of surprising us. In The Second Husband, the latest thriller by Kate White, one woman races to uncover the truth about the man she loves—and the man who came before him...

Full review published on NightsAndWeekends.com - and aired on Shelf Discovery

Suspenseful and addictive. Another page turner from Kate White. A woman’s idyllic second marriage is challenged by the discovery of the death oh her first husband. This one should not be missed.

Kate White has long been one of my favorite mystery writers because her books always have an excellent plot with no gore! This book was no different, thanks to a great female protagonist and an interesting backdrop of characters. A must read!

What was amazing about this book was the fact that I was sure going into it that I knew how it was going to turn out. I was pleasantly surprised that I was completely wrong. Apparently Kate Wyatt is great at taking a story and twisting it just so so that you think you know but you don’t. it was really good so it didn’t go too slow. This was my first Kate White book and I can’t wait to read more from her!

An entertaining and engaging read that was a bit of a slow burn {a bit too slow for my liking}. Filled with twists and turns that had me guessing the whole time, I really couldn't trust anyone! This was my first book by Kate White and I'm definitely interested in checking out her back list.

We meet out protagonists- both rather freshly widowed. Her husband dies in a horrific murder and his wife dies tragically, and now they’ve found each other. Both are quite successful in their own realms, and together they are quite the power couple…. Until things begin not adding up. It’s a bit of a family psychological thriller and quite engaging. Bravo all the way around. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read.

This was one of the most average books I’ve ever read. Plot? Average. Characters? Totally boring. Ending? Only the most (well, maybe second most) predictable thing ever. I really wanted to like this book, and while it started off decently, by the end, I just wanted to finish it.

I feel like I’ve read variations of this book hundreds of times. Emma married Tom not long after her first husband, Derrick, was killed. She didn’t love Derrick, she’s happy with Tom and doesn’t dwell on the death … until the police reopen the investigation. Why was Derrick in a weird area when he died? Why did Emma not know she’d run into Tom many times when she was married? Why is Tom’s stepdaughter staying with them? (It had no meaningful relevance to the book, so … why write it?)

You won’t get answers to any of these questions, not good ones at least. You get the same tired tropes that are in any book with this loose plot, and about halfway through, you’ll get annoyed that the book isn’t really going anywhere. It’s a wash - I’m giving it 2.5 stars, rounded up because two stars means I really didn’t like it at all. This was fine, but definitely forgettable.

(Thank you to Harper Perennial and Paperbacks, Kate White, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review.)

I enjoyed the plot twists throughout the story, but I had a difficult time connecting with the characters. I just didn’t like them enough to empathize with their situation. Emma’s secretly glad her first husband is out of the picture, but what’s going on with her second husband? So many long-winded dialogs with what-if’s and who-knew-what-when, it’s enough to make your head spin. Though I love this author, this one fell a bit flat for me.

I'm a fan of Kate White. She always writes an interesting and spellbinding story.
This book had exactly what I wanted in a good mystery.

Emma is on her finally on her way to happiness......maybe. She is married to her second husband Tom and he's the love of her life. But Emma has lasting shadows, one being her first husband Derrick was murdered a yet still unsolved murder. The guilt Emma lives with everyday is she didn't love her first husband and was relieved that he would be out of her life. Yet after two years a police detective comes knocking with new questions and accusations.

This book was dark in places and twisty in others. It kept me guessing and that's what I love the most, that I couldn't figure out the murderer. It's why I always come back to Kate White.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper books for the chance to read this book

It’s definitely no secret that Kate White has been one of my favorite authors since I stumbled across a copy of The Sixes randomly at Powell’s in Portland. Now I’ve read (and even re-read!) everything she has published and every summer I get so excited for her latest thriller to drop. This summer that thriller was a standalone (and while I am partial to Bailey Weggins, I like that Kate White always mixes it up between another Bailey mystery and a standalone thriller) titles The Second Husband and I was hooked before I even received my copy!

A tangled, twisted mystery with enough clues you can follow and a few that you’ll miss along the way. The Second Husband is one of the best thrillers I read this summer!

I always like to start my reviews for Kate White with some level-setting that her books are much more on the mystery end of the psychological thriller spectrum typically. Readers looking for books full of unreliable narrators and twists that come out of left field may not find that here. I like to think of Kate White’s books as what Nancy Drew lovers will enjoy when they grow up to be women who a glass of wine or a cocktail and an HBO Max series.

One thing I love about Kate White is her attention to detail, both in how she crafts her mysteries and plots and in how she writes. I rarely crave a great salad or pasta dish more than when I’m reading a Kate White mystery. She puts in a level of detail that I can picture every setting, character, and scene in vivid color in my mind. I also like the way the clues tie together at the end. She rarely leaves any major questions unanswered.

Her leading lady Emma Hawke is new to me, while also feeling familiar in the way Kate White heroines do. White writes about women who are career-oriented, successful, appreciate a good meal or glass of wine, and pursue relationships but not at the expense of their own mental health. I’d describe her heroines as pragmatists who tend towards a light touch of healthy anxiety. They think through the events in their lives and tend to play their own devil’s advocate as things become more and more tense around them. These aren’t impulsive or overly emotional women. They are women that feel familiar—like women I’d actually know in real life. And since they feel so close to real life, sometimes that can make the mysteries feel even more tense. They feel like real stories, and that brings its own sort of terror.

Emma Hawke’s first husband was murdered in a random shooting. Within weeks, Emma sold their house and did her best to move on, getting an apartment in Manhattan. It isn’t long before Emma meets the man who becomes her second husband, Tom Halliday in her work as a trend forecaster consultant. Emma and Tom have a beautiful home in Connecticut with Emma’s own office in a guest cottage out back. Things should be bliss as Emma finally finds herself in a happy, healthy marriage, but everything isn’t settled just yet. Tom’s stepdaughter Brittany from his previous marriage is staying with them for the summer and she is not a fan of Emma’s.

When a detective shows up on their doorstep saying they are re-opening the investigating into the murder of Emma’s first husband, Emma dreads going back to the headspace she was in during her first marriage. Emma didn’t share this with anyone, but her first marriage wasn’t as happy as other thought. In fact, Emma was relieved when it ended, though of course she didn’t want her first husband to die… did she?

And if not Emma behind it all, then who? Her ex-brother-in-law who always hated Emma? A business associate? A random stranger? Or could it be possible that her own second husband was somehow involved? There are too many suspects to keep straight, and yet all of them seem to tie back to Emma herself. Desperate to clear up the case and close that chapter of her life permanently, Emma does everything she can to do her own investigation into any leads the police might be pursuing. But what happens if she doesn’t like the answers once she finds them?

I loved how this mystery was laid out. I had a lot of different theories and suspects and I liked how clues were resolved, new clues were introduced, and the suspect list shuffled throughout the book. It kept the pace of the mystery moving forward, as some leads got closed out while new information opened. By the end it was like putting together a puzzle of what I knew, what I thought I knew, and what I had overlooked. I definitely didn’t guess exactly how the mystery would resolve! I enjoyed getting Emma’s thoughts along the way.

Fresh, easy, and light—Kate White’s The Second Husband is the perfect summer mystery!

Kate White is a fabulous mystery/thriller author and I like her books a lot. I liked this one but it is not my favorite. Emma is married to her first husband but he is murdered and the killer is still out there. The spouse is always the first suspect until they are ruled out and she was "kind of" ruled out but the case seems to pop back up two years later. By that time, Emma is all settled into her second marriage to Tom.

The questions start coming right off the bat in this book. How did she and Tom really meet? Why does Tom's ex-stepdaughter (her mom Diana passed away leaving Tom a widower) live with them when she has her own father that is still living and is she really a nice person or is she a troublemaker for Emma and Tom? All of Tom's associates at work seem to be troubled people as well. Emma has a business that she runs on her property at home but her two assistants aren't really developed characters so its hard to connect with them.

The story truly begins quickly like we are on a highway and it never stops speeding along the entire time. There is something always happening and my head was spinning all the while. There are winding roads throughout and everyone is a suspect at one point or another. I did figure it out about halfway through the book but because of Kate's ability to make us rethink our decisions on whodunnit, I wasn't totally sure until the end.

Quick and fun read. Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC of this book.

I don't believe I have read a book by Kate White since her very first one, so I jumped at the chance to get an early copy to review. I was not disappointed! I found The Second Husband to be a compelling, character driven read literally bursting with twists and turns that kept me guessing!

When we meet Emma Hawke her husband has just been randomly shot and killed in a New York City back alley. Derrick had turned out to not be the husband Emma expected, so her grief is mixed with relief. Jump forward two years and she is happily married to Tom. Life couldn't be more perfect. Then the police show up at her door unexpectedly one day. They are reopening the case and suddenly her happiness is turned upside down. Strange coincidences make doubts about Tom creep in. Could he be responsible for Derrick's death?

There are many plot twists, red herrings, and dangling clues in this novel. I loved trying to figure out what was happening.' I give this novel a very strong four stars. I raced through this book!

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book for an honest review. This was a great book full of twists and turns.
This was a well executed psychological thriller. There are many different suspects and just when you think you have it figured out something else changes and you head down a different path. If you love thrillers, this is the book for you!!

A thank you to Netgalley for sharing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Not much to say, so this will be brief. White's latest is pretty typical of her usual trope and expected per usual (although it was a bit tamer than usual. Pretty much a paint-by-numbers domestic thriller. Fairly forgettable, but an easy and entertaining enough read.

White has penned another psychological drama that will keep you engaged until the very end. A must read for fans of domestic suspense.

I have read Kate White's books on and off for years. i hadn't picked one up in a long time so I decided to request this one when I saw it available.

I found this book enjoyable and it kept my attention. Her writing style keeps my attention and makes me want to finish the book and find out the conclusion.

I had a hard time getting into The Second Husband. The plot was very intriguing but there was too much overly detailed inner dialog about things that didn’t seem to make any difference to the story. It really made me lose interest. I was disappointed as I was excited to get this book. Maybe it was just that I read it at a time that I needed something more exciting? I may try to read it again at a later day to see if I have a different outcome

I enjoyed this book. I can not wait for more by this author! Thanks to publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read this book!