Book Title: Husband and Wife
Author: K.L. Slater
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Psychological Domestic Thriller
Pub Date: November 3, 2023
My Rating: 4.4 Stars
Pages: 409

Story is told by the main characters in several timelines!
Parker Vance and his wife Luna Burton-James are heading for an overnight event in the city. They drop their son Barney off at grandparents Nicola and Cal’s home. Nicola and Cal are delighted as they don’t get as much time as they would like with their grandson. .Parker and Luna are ready to dash off and Parker mentioned to his mother that he has something he wants to tell her but it can wait until they get back. However Parker and Luna were involved in an accident on the way back to home.
Parker isn’t doing well and Luna doesn’t want to see or talk to anyone!

Since Nicola and Cal are left to take care for Barney, Nicola stops to pick up some things he will need. She notices the neighbors have their bins out for trash pick-up. Since Parker hadn’t yet set out theirs, Nicola takes out the bins but notices one bag that is only ½ full –that has a tear. Her curiosity gets of the best of her and picks it up and it is a picture of her and Cal. She is so hurt that this is being thrown out. She does peak into the bag and sees clothing and decides to take it home to go through later to see if other family things are also being thrown out. Later as she go through the items she find mot clothes and since Luna is an ‘Influencer” It seems she gets items of no interest.so thrown them out. Nicola finds a scarf that is beautiful and wonders why it was discarded.
Later she reads in the paper about a young twenty-five year old mom found dead.
The Police Report mentions that a picture taken earlier than evening of Sarah shows she was wearing a scarf that she wasn’t wearing when she was found.
Yep!! Sure seems like it is the same scarf!!!
Aww as the saying goes … the plot just got thicker!

It appears not only Parker has a secret to tell his mother but everyone seems to have a secret! Actually secrets galore from ALL the characters, Parker, Luna, Parkers parents- Nicole and Cal and Luna’s parents Marie and Joe.

(What is funny to me about this story is that I am listening to the audiobook
"We All Keep Secrets] by Sheryl Browne which could be the title for this story and “Husband
and Wife” could be the title for the other story!)

The switching between characters and timelines had me both curious and a bit impatient.
Then WOW!
The Characters are ALL very interesting!
.
This is my seventh author, K.L. Slater story and I knew she would come through for me as she hasn’t disappointed me in the past! This just might her best!

Love “A Letter From K.L. Slater”
She tells us that Nicola is someone who loves her family. When she finds some evidence, her devotion to her son prevents her from thinking clearly.

Want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for this eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for November 3, 2023.

This is such a clever, twisty story that reels you in straightaway and keeps you hooked until the amazing twist at the end. Well-written, pacey, completely believable - if not likeable - characters told from multiple viewpoints but never giving anything away. Interesting that the viewpoint of the police officers doing the investigation was included too. I really enjoyed this.

While husband and wife are in hospital hoping and trying to recover from a serious car accident, the police are investigating the murder of missing young mum. Both or neither may be involved in the murder.

This psychological thriller with a bit of crime has a bit more to it than I can write in a brief summary without spoilers and it's quite juicy with a reasonably impressive twist. I enjoyed the book mostly but I also wasn't rushing back to keep reading each time that I had a spare minute.

A couple of issues for me reducing my rating to 3.5 stars were:

1. Just how repetitive this was. Too many times Nicola's (husband's mum) thought processes were drilled into us, over and over the same thing repeated to the point one time I was just hoping her POV (which had the best content) would end. If I had to read one more time how her son confided in her, trusted her, couldn't defend himself etc., then I'd lose it. My kindle notes suggest I was closer to losing it than I thought 😆.

2. This is multi POV, which I liked. It also changes timelines, which also was ok for the most part - you have present day or # of weeks or months before the murder. BUT then there's also random chapters that say the time is "Friday" or "Monday" and I was like ???? <i>'which Friday? Are we before? Are we after? How many weeks? How many months? Where are we?!'</i> The only redeeming point of that huge qualm is within a few paragraphs you eventually can figure out where you <i>think</i> the timeline is.

And oh so petty, but can you really make dough and cook homemade pizza with it immediately? Where's the resting time?

I'd recommend this for an easy read but only if you are in the mood for a forgiving some frustrating repetition.

Thank you to the author, Bookouture and NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest review.

This author always guarantees to keep you on the edge of your seat trying to figure out who did. This book highlights how far a son is willing to go to protect his mum, other everything else.
Great read and highly recommend

Okay I wanna start by saying I love this author, but this one just wasn’t for me. It was a bit weird, and predictable in most places.

You can always rely on KL Slater to tell a great story.
Husband and Wife by Slater is a real page turner read that keeps you enthralled making you feel totally appalled.
Slater is so good at steering this book a certain way so that you think you know the outcome then comes the twist.
I felt this was very well written because it did keep me engaged and wanting to find out the conclusion.
Another extremely well written and detailed book.
If you want a fast-paced, rapid page-turner and an itch to know more, then this is the psychological thriller for you.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this ahead of its publication date in return for my honest review.

This book had me hooked from start to finish. It was told from many different perspectives and timelines but still flowed together so well. Just when you thought you figured everything out, bam, another bombshell. Great domestic thriller! Thank you for the ARC.

This is a great read that will definitely keep you guessing.
The story is told from different characters’ perspectives and the truth is slowly revealed.
The only thing we know at the beginning is that Parker and his wife Luna have been in a bad car accident and both end up in hospital.
Parker’s Mum, Nicola, is looking after their son but is very worried as Parker’s condition is critical. She goes to get some belongings from Parker’s house and finds something that changes everything.
A woman was murdered recently and with appeals on the news for a missing scarf, Nicola knows she needs to find out what really happened to her as she has found the scarf.
Several people are keen for the truth to remain hidden but it soon becomes clear that someone in this circle is the killer.
This is a gripping read that I really enjoyed.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you NetGalley for another awesome ARC. Husband and Wife was an emotional rollercoaster ride! It had all the gems for a wonderful thriller. There was murder, secrecy, family drama, jealousy, thrills, and chills! The chapters were written from a point of view of one of the characters. There was a lot of back and forth as well as past to present. I personally like this in a book. This one does it more than other books I’ve read, so I had to pay very close attention as I read. Since this is not due out until Nov. 3 (This week!!), I will not say anything else. K.L. Slater is becoming one of my favorite authors. Go preorder your copy of Husband and Wife. You will not regret it! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Happy reading, y’all! 📚❤️📚

#HusbandandWife
#KLSlater
#NetGalley

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publishers. I loved this book I enjoy books from this author I've read a couple so far and I would Definitely pick up another one from them. I gave it 4 stars because I felt like it took too long to get to the conclusion but everything else about the book I enjoyed.

This author has done it again with another great book. She never disappoints and this was a very enjoyable read with an interesting storyline. I certainly didn’t know what to believe or who to trust. Lots of twists and turns that kept me hooked.

This was a great book! It had me hooked from the beginning, and had great twists and turns throughout the storyline. It was written through a handful of different characters, and their versions of events, and it tied together very nicely. I would definitely recommend!

While interesting at first, unfortunately the story becomes pretty predictable and annoying. The characters are written well, but do not seem to come alive fully

Absolutely hooked! I love KL Slaters books and this one was no exception.

Parker and Luna have a car crash just as he is about to talk to his mother Nicola about something very important. We follow Nicola trying to make sense of what she found at Parkers house with lots of twists along the way.
Thanks to net galley and the publishers for this arc.
4 stars

This book was very engaging! It was difficult to put down, I had to find out what had happened! I would not have guessed the ending, it was definitely a surprise. It was a quick read, I was able to finish in two days. I did find several errors, page 31 says “Cals glances over and winks at me” should be Cal, page 143 says “Luna gives me a patronizing smile” but it should be Marie, page 215 Luna says “Perhaps that who it was” should be that’s, page 278 it says there’s a knock on Luna’s bedroom door - but it’s actually her hospital room door. In regard to areas for improvement, there wasn’t a lot of character development, I would’ve liked to have more background on Nicola and the other characters. Overall, an interesting and exciting read!

The main characters are Parker and Luna who are Cal and Nicola's son and daughter-in-law. Parker's marriage isn't that great and when he brings their son to Nicola's house to stay overnight, he tells her that he has something important to tell her the next morning. But that doesn't happen because Parker and Luna have a car accident which lands them in hospital. Nicola goes to their house to get some things for their grandson and there she finds something which is the start of questions, accusations and mystery.
I have read previous books by this author and have enjoyed them all as they always have a twist at the end.

Um…doesn't seem to be working for me. It's too slow for a thriller. The author has taken too much time to build up the intrigue. Sadly, I stopped caring about the ending or characters after 15-16 chapters. Even the writing seems flat. I am kind of surprised because her book 'The Girl She Wanted' was brilliant.

However, I must mention that I am an impatient reader.

It's an unpopular opinion. I'm sorry. And thank you Bookouture for giving me this opportunity to read her books.

I absolutely LOVED this thriller by K.L. Slater. Husband and Wife kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading it. This book is about a young woman who is murdered one evening, while walking home, after a night out and the family that is somehow involved in her murder. The twists and turns really had me guessing the entire time, and as an avid thriller/mystery reader, that is pretty impressive to say! Every couple of chapters I was guessing someone else or some other twisted theory and didn't get it until the end! Highly recommend giving this book a read (releasing 11/3/23) if you love a good thriller as I do.

Thank you to NetGalley for so generously providing me with an ARC copy.

A good storyline that kept me guessing throughout the book and I didn't see that ending coming 4 stars

I always enjoyed reading K.L. Slater's books as I believed she is one of the underrated psychological thriller authors out there. And her latest novel Husband and Wife rose to high expectations.

Nicola and her husband Cal are babysitting their grandson Barney when two police officers knock at the door and inform them that their son Parker and his wife Luna had met with a car accident. Parker is in a serious condition at the hospital. Nicola goes over to her son's house to collect Barney's stuff and among the garbage, she finds a scarf discarded in the garbage. Nicola realized that the scarf belong to a woman named Sarah who was found murdered in the alley nearly two months' ago. Was her son responsible for the murder?

This was actually a fast paced thriller and I simply couldn't put the book down. The book shifts back and forth between past and present--past that is mainly told in Parker, Luna's POV and present day mainly Nicola's POV. There were so many twists and turns along the way that nearly, everyone in the book was virtually a suspect in Sarah's murder. The writing was great that the author did a good job of drawing the reader into the story. The story itself becomes more intense as even Nicola's husband, Cal is also suspecting that Parker may have something to do with Sarah's disappearance. It was the ending was completely unexpected and shocking ending.

Overall if you are looking for a page turning thriller that will keep you up all night, then read this one--worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.