While I liked the book's atmospheric setting, the author's style of writing and the fact you can't quite work out who to trust or what to believe, there's no doubt that this book is definitely a slow burn. Being perfectly honest, it wasn't until about 80% that it really picked up and actually held my interest but then from there, everything felt a bit too rushed for my liking and the ending just felt like one giant shrug which was both frustrating and disappointing. I can absolutely understand what the author intended with this book and I appreciated the little twists that shifted the plot but it just lacked oomph in general for me and was far too slow paced.

Siblings Jess and Finn receive a call to tell them their estranged father has recently passed away. This means they’re due to inherit the isolated Finca in Mallorca, where their father lived with his new wife Ruensa and her adult daughter Roze. Jess and Finn need to ensure that Ruensa and Roze move out so they can sell the Finca and get on with their lives. Initially reluctant to do so Finn, travels to the island to start the process. He is also keen to meet the woman, who claims to have changed his father from the abusive drunk to a man who had a plan to improve the Finca and start and Agurotourist setting.
What follows is a cleverly written story that leaves you wondering who to trust and who is untrustworthy and living a lie to save themselves.
Exactly what happened to Jimmy, was it an accident or was someone to blame? Is Finn safe?

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and have been left still doubting exactly what happened and who was the cat and who was the mouse. I love that it has left me with questions and doubts as I flit between different theories.

Highly recommend

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this title

The writer was new to me so i didn’t know what to expect. I am pleased to say that I’ll want to look up other JP Delaney books very soon. Finn isn’t Finn by birth, but you’ll have to wait to find out why. He travels to his late father’s finca in Mallorca, to take ownership from his father's widow and daughter, but falls in love with an illegal immigrant. His sister doesn’t agree with his decisions about how and when to sell the property. Once reading this you know it isn’t all going to finish as easily as Finn wants the story to unfold. The local setting is well described and you can almost feel you are there with Finn and trying to offer him advice he’ll clearly ignore. Despite all the advice given to him by his sister to close the deal, pay the inheritance tax and kick out the father’s wife and daughter, something sinister is lurking somewhere. You’ll just to wait to find out where. This is an excellent read. You’ll be turning pages quickly to find out what happens next.

I have read all the previous novels from JP Delaney so there was never any doubt that I would read this. He has a way of writing that draws you in and after a slow start I binged this one. The main character Finn was a bit of a challenge for me as some of his decisions really made no sense to me. I prefer when all the loose ends are tied up, even if it’s in an epilogue, so this one left me a bit out of sorts and I have found my mind wandering back to the ending from time to time since I finished reading. The author’s note cites Du Maurier’s My Cousin Rachel (that I haven’t ever read!) as an influence which may account for the ambiguous ending. I enjoyed reading this one even though I’d have preferred a different ending.

Enjoyed this one! This is the story of Finn who heads off to the island of Mallorca to settle the estate of his estranged father. Finn and his sister Jess do not seem to be sad about the death of their father but instead are eager to sell their inheritance and move on. Of course, things are not that easy. The new wife and step daughter are living in the house with nowhere else to go.
As with other books by this author, it is well written and a definite page turner with shocks throughout! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Once again JP Delaney did not disappoint with this book and the ending I’ve been thinking about ever since 👀

His writing style is very easy to read and every novel I have read from him is always enjoyable. What is so fascinating about book is your suspicion switches from one direction to another and you have no idea who is truthful, unreliable and who is a secretive liar.

This is a mind-gripping page turner that I would definitely recommend anyone to read, it’s so worth it!

This is a great psychological thriller that will certainly keep you guessing.
Finn and Jess receive the news that their father had passed away and Jess persuades Finn to go out to Spain and claim the property he left them.
His father’s new wife and her daughter are living there but Finn thinks the agreement in place will make it easy to take ownership of the house.
Ruensa and Roze welcome Finn and seem to accept that the house is not theirs to keep but the longer Finn stays, he realises the amount of work they have put into the property.
They tell Finn how they ended up in Spain and he wants to help them stay there, but at what cost?
I can’t say much more as there’s several twists and turns and I wouldn’t want to spoil it.
This is a great read that I really enjoyed.
Thanks to Quercus Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Finn and Jess inherit a Spanish property when their father dies in suspicious circumstances. When Jess talks Finn into flying out there to claim ownership of the rundown property they find not only his widow, but also her daughter and a much improved home that his widow has worked hard to improve and her daughter has made the land around it a viable farm.
Finn becomes infatuated with the daughter, Roze, and with the work she has done. Ruensa, their father's latest widow, welcomes Finn with open arms and the stories they tell draw Finn in despite alternative narratives from the locals. Who is telling the truth and who is the predator? What is the twist in the tail.
Lovely descriptions, interesting characters, time at the end to draw your own conclusions!
Many thanks to Netgalley/J P Delaney/Quercus Books for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

When Finn and Jess get the news that their estranged father has passed away, they are left to deal with what is going to happen to his Mallorcan property. They assume deciding to well is going to be the best option, but their Father's new wife has other ideas. When Finn heads out there to sort it out, he finds Ruensa and her daughter Roze already making plans for renovations, and with no plans to leave. And when the police turn up asking questions about his father's dead, Finn realises this is going to be anything but straightforward.

This was a bit of a domestic thriller with a beautiful setting. A great cast of characters who I changed opinion on regularly throughout as to whether they were trustworthy or not and, even by the end I am still not quite sure!

When Finn and Jess' father dies, they agree that Finn will travel to Majorca to finalise the settlement of the property which was left to them. While there, Finn meets his father's widow (his third wife!) and her daughter, who have renovated the farmhouse with hopes of opening a guesthouse for tourists. Seeing the potential for the business, Finn decides to stay on but then the Spanish police start asking questions. Was his father's death not as innocent as first thought? 

This was a quick read, at under 300 pages but boy, was I engaged throughout! I loved the short chapters and while I thought I knew what was happening, I was shocked at the twist at the end. This was another enjoyable novel by this cracker of an author. Reading about the Spanish hills has made me want to go visit now!

This was a suspense filled story set in an idyllic setting. I was genuinely baffled throughout regarding where the story was going and who was lying, which was the best part of the book. I knocked stars off as I felt the story took such a sudden turn; with the culprit being revealed and then the story being explained in what felt like a bit of a rush. I ended up feeling a little cheated as I felt the story also left some questions unanswered, which I found frustrating.

It’s been a while since I got through a book in one sitting but this short & sweet fast paced thriller was just the ticket!
I loved the descriptive language of the landscape in this book & that would make it a great holiday read.
The anticipation in the latter stages of the book were pretty intense and I raced through that!
I really enjoyed the authors note too & find these so insightful

Finn and Jess haven't seen their father for a number of years, after he divorced their mum and moved to Mallorca. He's since remarried and his new wife and step-daughter are living with him in his run down Spanish farmhouse. When he passes away, Finn and Jess assume that they can take control of thair inherited property and move on with their lives.

However, the ubiquitous new wife has other ideas. She's completely renovated the farmhouse and has made it into a home for her and her daughter....and they won't leave.

Finn goes to Mallorca to try and resolve the situation, including questions from the Spanish police about how his father died.

The New Wife is another great thriller from JP Delaney, it's full of all of the intrigue and mystery we have come to expect.

What a great read!
A fast paced mystery thriller full of suspicion, obsession and manipulation in this well written story about family dynamics and unexpected inheritances. It’s easy to read and very enjoyable. There are some very good twists especially towards the end. The setting on Mallorca and the location of the Finca is brilliantly written. It’s rich in atmosphere and described in way that you feel you are on the island. The characters are nicely ambiguous and well developed leaving you the feeling of who you can you trust.
An absolute page turner and well worth a read. I couldn’t put it down. Definitely recommend this one.
Thank you #NetGallery and @QuercusBooks for an arc of #TheNewWife in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Book publishes 20 July 2023.

Ooh wow! I’ve only read one of J.P Delaney’s books previously, and this was ‘The Girl Before’, which I enjoyed, and I was expecting something along a similar path. This was completely different, and one that I will really remember.

Things start off feeling fairly clear as to what is going on – Finn and his sister Jess have just lost their father. Neither of them is feeling upset about this, as their childhood was one of neglect and emotional abuse, thanks mainly to their father. However, there is the small matter of his derelict farm in Mallorca, which will now pass to Finn and Jess. The problem – their father fairly recently remarried and his new wife is living on the farm.

So, Finn heads out to Mallorca, assuming that he will find himself head to head with a stranger who won’t want to give up her home. And that quite possibly only married for the prospect of the inheritance.

What he finds instead, is that the farm has been beautifully renovated, and that his stepmother Ruensa and her daughter, Roze, had been planning to make a business out of the lovely home and farmland.

Now the story really begins. We hear a version of the story from Roze, with other echoes around the town suggesting that her and Ruensa are not what they seem. Stories that don’t tally with what Roze has said about her history, why the two ended up in Mallorca. Was Finn’s dad’s death just an accident? Is Roze a victim or a clever schemer? There are so many questions. What we do know is that Finn is falling obsessively in love with Roze.

Early on in the book, Finn’s lawyer and friend, Tomas, talks about ‘una zona d’ombres’ – a place of shadows. This is certainly a theme in the book – there is so much uncertainty, and wondering – which never fully gets resolved even at the end. Is anybody really 100% good or 100% bad? But instead of finding that frustrating, I think it was perfectly done – and just made me keep thinking and pondering about the characters and their motives after I had finished reading.

I just loved the feel of this book, from beginning to end. Even when things seemed to be going well, there was an unsettling air of uncertainty, a foreboding that SOMETHING was not going to go to plan. But I had no idea what it would be – and WOW did I have no idea what was coming!

A wonderfully told story. Actually it really reminded me of Lie With Me by Sabine Durrant – not to say that it was a similar story in what happens, but I remember having that same unsettled feeling throughout, and the twist at the end reminded me a bit of Sabine’s ending. Completely different stories but a similar feeling and surprise.

Having enjoyed all the JP Delaney books I have read so far I was very keen to read his latest offering.

The New Wife is a slow burn in the beginning, and it really had me intrigued as to where the story was going to take me, so I always looked forward to picking it up again later. When it did ramp up, however, I could hardly put it down. I had to find out what was going on and who did what, so I was up way past my bed time finishing it off. I have to say that the ending fell a bit flat for me, although I enjoyed the book in its entirety.

Thank you, NetGalley and Quercus Books for an ARC of this book to read and review.

Read this when I'd just come back from Majorca, so it was nice to go back to the island, just glad my holiday didn't have this much drama in.

It's very much a book that changes your opinion on the characters at first brother and sister Finn and Jess mane you feel sympathy given their bad history with their now deceased dad, but then the narrative flips...

Would recommend this thriller.

Thanks to netgalley for the opportunity to review this book this is my honest opinion.

A solid physiological thriller, keeps you guessing. I felt it was abit rushed towards the end with areas that I didn’t feel got completely explained, but I enjoyed it never the less.

In "The New Wife" by JP Delaney, readers are plunged into a fast-paced and suspenseful journey that keeps them on the edge of their seats. The story begins when Finn Hensen receives the news of his father's passing, and together with his sister, they inherit their father's beautiful but rundown farmhouse in Mallorca. However, they soon discover that their father's recent wife, Ruensa, and her daughter, Roze, are still living there.
Delaney's masterful storytelling skillfully weaves a web of suspicion, obsession, and manipulation, captivating readers from the very first page. The characters, although not necessarily likeable, are brilliantly developed, adding depth to the story's intrigue. With every twist and turn, the plot takes unexpected directions, subverting the reader's expectations and leaving them guessing until the thrilling climax.
"The New Wife" is a riveting psychological thriller that will leave readers engrossed and thoroughly entertained. JP Delaney's writing style is impeccable, offering a gripping narrative that compels readers to keep turning the pages. Prepare to be enthralled by this suspenseful tale of family secrets, hidden motives, and the lengths some will go to secure their desires.
“The New Wife" by JP Delaney can be summed up as an addictive and well-crafted thriller that will leave readers breathless until the very end.

I’m a big fan of JP Delaney and particularly his last book “Darling daughter”. “The new wife” is a quick read but has a slow burn. The Mallorcan setting gives a holiday feel to the tangled web inspired by Daphne Du Maurier.