3.5 rounded to 4.

A group of 6 friends (3 couples) head to a remote house in the mountains for a weekend getaway. One of the friends suggests swapping partners for the evening, in a way that would keep everyone's identities hidden. After some drinks, everyone is on board. When the lights turn on after the swap, the horror begins. One of the husbands is found dead. The friends all start suspecting one another. There is no cell reception and the keys to the car are missing. With a killer on the loose, no one is safe...

Pretty decent read. Some parts were a bit predictable and other parts were unbelievable. I think the entire concept of the story was pretty unbelievable - which group of close friends would agree to swinging for the weekend? The characters are kind of annoying, but bearable. I didn't guess the killer, though, so that is why I rounded this up to 4 instead of down to 3!

Thank you Embla Books and NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.

Amazing edge of your seat story you won't be able to put down this is a thriller which will keep you turning the pages long into the night

I have never read a thriller like this. The plot was so soooo interesting! I stayed up so late to finish it and didn’t regret it at all!

There was endless twists in this book and I didn’t know which way I was going, I throughly enjoyed this book and couldn’t put it down and ended up reading it in one sitting!

Jack Heath (https://jackheathwriter.com) is the author of more than half a dozen novels. The Wife Swap was published last August. It is the 75th book I completed reading in 2024.

Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own! Due to scenes of violence, I categorize this novel as R.

The story is set in a rural area of New South Wales, Australia. Three couples, most of whom have known one another since High School, plan a weekend away in a remote cabin. A casual remark evolves into a night with the lights off and the men taking to one of three bedrooms at random. After the lights come back on, one of the men is discovered dead.

The house phone is not working, nor are they in cell tower range. The survivors want to leave, but their car keys have gone missing. Some attempt to hike back to town, but they encounter the campsite of someone close to the cabin. Fearing they have found the killer’s hiding place, the group flees back to the cabin. Along the way, one is attacked by an axe-wielding masked stranger.

Detective Kiara Lai is called to the remote cabin to investigate. By the time she arrives, there are two men dead and a woman missing. The circumstances are strange, and questioning the survivors reveals little. They all claim that they saw nothing with the lights out. The women say that they are not even sure who visited their rooms.

A few days after the murders, after the cabin has been cleaned up, Kiara talks her girlfriend into staying at the cabin over the weekend. The weekend is not the romantic getaway she had hoped. They do discover a teenage boy breaking into the house, and he reveals a few secrets from the weekend of the murders.

Will Kiara unravel the mystery of the deaths? Clearly the three couples had secrets!

I enjoyed the 6 hours I spent reading this 309-page mystery. I found this novel slow and dull. Far more time was spent delving into the backgrounds of the six people than mystery solving. I give this novel a rating of 3.2 (rounded to 3) out of 5.

You can access more of my book reviews on my Blog ( https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/).

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

This story was very twisty, I thoroughly enjoyed it!!! I didn't realise he was an aussie author!!! Makes me like him even more!!!

A book filled with mystery, psychological torment, sex, lies and murder. What's not to love?

I thoroughly enjoyed the character build up. The descriptions were very good, although I think it was a little overdone in the mentioning of Isla's complexion.

The environment descriptions were brilliant... I clumsy really picture myself in the story.

One more critique that I honestly thought was a little ott, was when the author described the detective Kiara as a "respectable 160cm" and her sergeant as standing over 2 metres tall... Very unbelievable.

Other than that, I didn't work out the twist, which is a good thing!

Jack Heath's The Wife Swap is a gripping whodunit that throws readers headfirst into a suspenseful weekend gone wrong. Three seemingly happy couples embark on a remote cabin getaway, only to discover their seemingly perfect lives harbor dark secrets and hidden resentments. When a shocking proposition is made, a playful suggestion of "swapping partners" for the weekend sets the stage for a sinister turn of events.

What I Loved:

Fast-Paced Plot: The story unfolds quickly, keeping readers engaged with unexpected twists and turns. The mystery builds steadily, maintaining a sense of suspense throughout the narrative.
Multiple Perspectives: The novel explores the events of the weekend from the viewpoints of different characters, offering a well-rounded understanding of their motivations and anxieties.
Unveiling Hidden Truths: As the weekend progresses, the facade of perfect lives crumbles, revealing the characters' hidden flaws and past transgressions.
Atmospheric Setting: The secluded cabin and its surrounding wilderness create a sense of isolation and vulnerability, adding to the suspense.

The book started out slowly but from the offset I was intrigued. I loved the twists and the constant guessing and liked the POV switches, good read.

Excellent twisty storyline.
Keeps you guessing right to the end.
Thoroughly enjoyable.
Thanks for the opportunity to read and review

The Wife Swap bounces between the POV of a lead detective and her girlfriend, and the six individuals who found themselves in a horror story at a cabin in the woods. Three couples, all with so many secrets between them.

The beginning was a little bit of a slow burn but once we started getting more into the perspective of the three couples it was so enthralling. I kept trying to figure out who the murderer was, and I was SO wrong in the end. I never even suspected the actual killer.

This book was slightly twisted, and had a little bit of gore but nothing too unsightly. I enjoyed the authors writing style and the twists and turns.

The greatest thing in this book is the narration from the detective and her EMT partner. It gave this story an edge that it definitely needed.

This was a difficult read as I found it hard to like any character in the main story, it felt a little flat and seedy.

I love when a book is unpredictable. This one certainly was. Jack made me change my mind so many times. I also love a setting of an isolated cabin in the woods. There is so much going on in this book to hold your attention. Great book !

I love a good domestic thriller and this one was great! Couples trapped in a house together, and add in murder. I was hooked and flipping pages to see what would happen next. Who was responsible. and why? Highly recommend this one.

Dark and twisted storyline that left me ADDICTED from the jump. I really loved it! Read this immediately!

First of all thank you for approving my request!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The authors writing style had me hooked throughout this book.

I didn't want it to end, a book I really couldn't put down.

2 stars / This book got off to a slow start. I wanted to DNF but skimmed a little and stuck it out. There were a lot of POVs with unlikeable characters, and I thought the side storyline with the detective took away from the main plot rather than adding to it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Three couples go for a weekend away and decide to partake in a partner swap night. They will keep it a secret so they won’t even know who the end up with. But when one husband ends up dead after the deed, no one feels safe.

Told as present day as the cop trying to solve the case and her girlfriend, an EMT along for the ride, and the three couples leading up to and throughout the weekend, we slowly learn of what happened in the remote cabin. One fun part is we know the last names of the survivors, but we only know first names of the people in the home, so although you know some people make it out, you don’t yet know who those people are.

I found it to be kind of a wild ride. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Heath, but when it’s a loveable cannibal as the main character it goes well, when it’s every day people it was a little over the top. Also the forensic work was so incredibly bad it makes it unbelievable that someone can be that bad at their job that blood samples seemed to never be taken.

Overall fine, but my heart lives with the Hangman series.

Thank you for allowing me to read an advanced copy of The Wife Swap. Unfortunately I was unable to finish it. I just couldn't connect with the story or the characters.

Probably my least favorite thriller I've read this year. I understand everything that happened, but the story itself was so dense that I found myself getting lost from time to time. There's too many characters to keep track of, which makes it harder to enjoy the plot. The twists didn't surprise me as much as I expected, and the reasoning behind what happened fell flat. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.