Emma’s husband Tommy Driscoll is in prison, he has just been sentenced to 5 years.
They met 2 years ago after a whirlwind romance, Emma then realises her husband is not always the kind thoughtful romantic man she fell in love with. He is the head of a crime gang involved with drugs and will do anything to get what he wants. He is a controlling, manipulative bully.
Emma sees his prison sentence as a chance for her to get her independent back and perhaps escape her marriage, however Tommy is still controlling her life from his cell, his brother and right hand man are constantly checking up on her, threatening to hurt her family if she is disloyal to Tommy in any way.
It’s an easy read, told from Emma’s point of view between past and present, a bit predictable and beyond belief, Emma herself ends up with blood on her hands, there are a few twists to the story which then comes to a very tidy ending.
A good debut novel and I will look out for more from this author .
Many thanks to Avon Books UK and Net Galley for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

Based off of the premise of this book, I went into it with really high expectations. I love a well-written novel where the husband is incarcerated but still manages to wreak havoc on his wife's life, but this just wasn't it.

To begin with, the plot moved about as fast as a snail going in reverse. I felt like I would read chapter after chapter and never really feel that the story was going anywhere or feel the tension that I think the author wanted us to feel. This was made even more upsetting by the fact that this story is told in dual timelines (the past, where Emma met her husband, up to him getting arrested, and then the present time with her dealing with the fallout of his conviction).

I could have potentially overlooked that had all of the characters not been very flat and one-dimensional. Emma was a very "let me play the naive victim" type of character. Yes, she fell for the bad guy, but I felt like when she had options, she either did nothing at all, or made the worst possible choice ever. And then there was her husband, who, despite being every mobster trope thrown into one character, was ultimately laughable. Somehow he had access to a personal cell phone (sure, he had some officers supposedly on his payroll, but it certainly wasn't all of them), and he loved to throw his weight around and threaten her, but it was really just.... annoying.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

This was a really enjoyable read for a different perspective to the usual crime stories. Emma works as a waitress and meets Tommy a customer in the restaurant. He introduces himself as an influential business and Emma feels she has met the man of her dreams. After they marry her life begins to unravel as she discovers Tommy is not all he seems to be and is in fact a crime boss. He begins to control all aspects of her life through coercive behaviour. Until the point Emma can’t leave the house without his say so. When Tommy is sentenced to 5 years in prison she thinks this can be her chance for escape when in fact Tommy gives her a ridiculous list of rules she has to live by. This story broke my heart I felt so much empathy for Emma’s situation as well as frustration that she didn’t seem to be able to escape the family hold. I did find some of the descriptions of her emotions a little repetitive but a really enjoyable read.

MY RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3/5)

READ IF YOU LIKE:
👀 A single POV
🎥 LEGEND
🎭 Lots of drama
🔪 Mafia/gang trope
⏰ Books you can read in one sitting
👋🏼 Unlikeable characters

𝘌𝘮𝘮𝘢’𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘰𝘯. 𝘌𝘮𝘮𝘢’𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘌𝘮𝘮𝘢’𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘦𝘵.

☁️ THOUGHTS:
This was Blood’s debut novel and I preface this review almost with an apology.. I hate writing ‘negative’ reviews but we can’t like everything we read! *Types super quickly and just hits post*

Starting with the positives: I read this super quickly in two days, it was an easy read, there was lots of drama and I spent the whole book imagining Tommy abd Emma as Reggie Kray and Frances (it gave me major Legend vibes) which was fun.

But. This left NOTHING to the imagination. And I mean NOTH👏🏼ING. Everything from the plot, to the characters, to the twists was spelled out, leaving us with no shocks, no suspense, no having to work things out, no tension. Perhaps I do read too many in the thriller/mystery genre but I like to be SHOCKED or at least surprised and in my view, this was another slow-paced domestic drama labelled as a psychological thriller. The biggest and only (?) twist came right at the end, and the ending began and was wrapped up in about four pages.

The potential was definitely there and I will still read more by this author! Don’t let this put you off: if you don’t read much of this genre, you may enjoy it a lot more + as always these are just my thoughts. This one just wasn’t for me! 🙌🏼

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 + 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝘼𝙍𝘾, 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 @𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 (𝙄𝙂).

Sad to say this book was not for me. I felt no empathy for the main character, Emma, who I found a somewhat unbelievable character. The repetition did not help.
Having started near the end, the story unravelled too slowly for me and the conclusion was rounded off to quickly, leaving loose ends for me.
Nevertheless, many thanks to Netgalley/Ali Blood/Avon Books for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Kept me hooked all the way through wondering which way it will go.
Emma married Tommy a gang leader unbeknown to her, she thinks she has the perfect life then he turns abusive and controlling, then he's sent to prison for 5yrs and Emma thinks she's escaped him but Tommy leaves a list with his brother, of things she has to do while he's in prison or else something will happen to her family and she has no one to turn to.
Kept me in suspense all the way through, very well written.

Thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC
Posted to Goodreads

Emma our chief protagonist and narrator finds herself trapped in the boot of a car convinced she is about to be murdered. The story then goes back to the trial of her husband and the chain of events from a loving relationship and marriage to life with an abusive controlling monster. Early chapters in the retelling of her story project Emma as an insecure weak personality complicit in allowing dependency on her husband. This escalates to the point where his insidious controlling nature gradually isolates her from job, friends and family. The pace then ratchets up and as events ricochet out of control the worm turns. The plot line requires a suspension of belief that allows us to accept she is capable of lying, using violence, covering her tracks when convincing police that she is not involved in a tenuous series of criminal activities with a gang of hardened criminals. High octane rollercoaster conclusion that ties up numerous loose ends albeit to perhaps an improbable outcome. Many thanks to author, publisher and NetGalley for ARC.

I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the pages!
I certainly couldn’t predict the twist at the end.
An excellent debut novel and I can’t wait to read more from this author.

Through most of this story I wanted things to go right for the gangland boss’s wife, but in each chapter, things go from worse to terrible. When he’s sent to prison, she thinks life will get easier for her, but he sets out draconian rules for her, that are managed by the boss’s family. There is no room for manoeuvre.
He claim’s he’s innocent and that she may have framed him, but it’s clear that he’s probably guilty of more than the offences he’s inside for.
Turning the pages quickly was the only way I could find out how life would turn out for her, but the bully has many twists and turns to manage her life. The hostility builds consistently and whenever she sees a way out, the door is quickly closed. From inside prison, he builds a threat against his wife's family and they don't know. This controls his wife even more. Did I mention she is pregnant by another man? What will happen when her thug husband finds out?
Reading more by this author is a simple yes, so I hope more follows soon. The writer should be congratulated on this novel. Although it went very dark and made me squirm at times, I couldn’t stop reading.

I was excited to read this, expecting some thrilling and jaw-dropping suspense. Unfortunately, this failed to deliver somewhat for my preferences.

This wasn't a complete write-off, no pun intended. There are some good elements, such as lots of drama, a bullying husband I loved to hate and some overpowering in-laws.

However, there is also a lot of duplication halfway through. The ending is a little dull, and a lot more could be done with Emma’s character within this story.

Overall I give this three stars as it could become a marmite read. You will have to read this to decide which side you're on!

Well written but it pains me to say it failed to get me to care.

The premise is pretty clear from the title and it delivers on that, I just found it a tad slow and it didn’t grab my attention like I would’ve expected.

Ending is satisfying so worth sticking with.

The Prisoner's Wife tells the story of Emma whose gangster husband, Tommy Driscoll, has just been sentenced to 5 years in prison. Despite being imprisoned, Tommy is still exercising control over his wife with the help of his brother and mother. Emma finds herself in a hopeless situation and is desperate to find a way out, but she has secrets of her own and she needs to keep her husband and his family from finding out what she's done.

The whole story is told from Emma's point of view and, whilst you really feel the extent of her hopelessness, it is all just a bit much. Many of her thoughts and feelings are repeated over and over again. Maybe this is meant to reflect how it feels to be inside her head, but I just found it to be annoying after a while.

Whilst I enjoyed the premise of the book, and found it chilling at times, I felt as though I just had a suspend reality a little too much here. I also felt as though the ending was wrapped up a bit too perfectly. A real shame as there was a lot of potential here.

My thanks to NetGalley and the Publishers for sending me this ARC in return for an honest review.

Wow this is quite a sadistic story of a poor woman who married a man who appeared perfect then turned into a monster. As he is sent down for five years she finally thinks she has escaped him but her terror and torture at the hands of him and his family have only just begun. Will she make it our alive. This would make a great ITV drama I just loved it.

Emma is the victim of a coercive abuse. The story follows the standard abusers pattern of shower their victim with love, give them everything they want and more, then slowly take away anything that gives them autonomy and outside friendships. It’s slow, so slow that you don’t know it’s happening until you’ve dug a hole, gradually making excuses for the change (let’s not look ungrateful) and isolated yourself. To the outside world, life is perfect so who would believe you anyway. But then your abuser gets sent down for 5 years after the law finally catches up with what transpires is London’s most dangerous crime family leader. You’d think that gave you a break and a way out. No this is when it all implodes…

However, it is nice when the trash takes itself out.

📖BOOK REVIEW📖

#ThePrisonersWife by #AliBlood

Right so, this is a decent enough read. It does what it says on the tin. Runs linearly and ends satisfactorily. The characters you expect are here, and it’s the story you expect. No surprises. A bish bash bosh of a novel. And for a quick light that’s ok I guess.

But for me I found it all very surface level - there was no depths to the characters or story. I found it very repetitive and really you knew everything you needed to know by page 150 so I got a little bored, impatient and skip happy. Perhaps a symptom of someone who reads a lot of books like this?

I’d still encourage you to make your own judgement on this one.

With thanks to @avonbooksuk for sending us a copy of this one to read

RELEASING: Feb 2nd

-EMILY

@the_book_girls_1

A great story keeping you hooked in, real focus on abusive relationships and the impact they have. Ems may not be perfect but does she deserve that level of treatment?!

Tommy Driscoll is a lier. Tommy is controlling and possessive. Tommy is not the type of man you want to be married to.

The Prisoner’s Wife is the debut novel by former crime reporter, Ali Blood. The novel is an easy read with a quick pace, it is entertaining and held my attention but essentially a little flat.

The story is told by Emma Driscoll, wife of Tommy Driscoll, who has been sentenced to 5 years in prison. Emma tells the story as events take place at present time as well as with flashbacks to a happier time. While I did feel there were a few plot holes left unexplained that made the story feel abit far fetched, over all I was cheering for Emma and wanted only the best for her. Emma is the girl you wish to never be. She’s scared of her husband, anxious every minute of the day and defeated by the life she is stuck in.

I would have liked to get to know the characters a little better but I did enjoy the unexpected plot twist and would look for more by Ali.

Thank you to Net Galley, Avon Books UK and Ali Blood for the free review copy of The Prisoners Wife

The blurb if this book fave nothing away. It started off packing a pinch but then started to lag and repeat in the middle picking up at the ends.

This seems to be normal for the is author who writes under other names too.

A great debut novel that i read it in one day, ending up finishing it at 3am! I can’t wait to read more by this superbly talented author.
The story of Emma meeting, marrying and then later discovering that he was a top gangster was just gripping. He gets sent to prison but he issues her with rules that means that she is also in a prison.
I cannot find enough words to keep on saying that this is one amazing book that everyone should read.

I wanted to finish The Prisoner’s Wife and I wanted to know what happened, but I didn’t particularly like any of the characters and it felt very far fetched. Having said that, it was an ok read.