I don’t think it’s possible to be disappointed by any of KL Slater’s books! I have honestly loved them all!

This one immediately hooked me and kept my attention from beginning to end.

Just when I felt I that I figured out the twist, a new detail emerged causing me to rethink everything!

Thriller fans won’t want to miss this one! I highly recommend checking out the immense catalogue of works by the author.

Secrets, lies, twists, and turns make for a gripping, thrilling, well thought out, and shocking thriller from K.L. Slater. I was fully invested and engrossed in this twisted tale of a missing husband, a teenage son, a worried and suspicious wife, and a woman who has been waiting a long time. K. L. Slater kept me turning the pages, guessing, and wondering how things were going to come together.

This book is told through the POV's of the main characters. I found this to be a very nice touch as readers become privy to their thoughts, motivations, emotions, and concerns. If this book feels slow in the beginning, hang in there as K.L. Slater sets the stage for what will be a roller coaster ride through secrets and lies. Woohoo!

The Married Man has a very detailed and complex plot which kept me engaged and fully invested. What a great psychological thriller. I'm always excited to read what K.L. Slater writes and I was not disappointed! Talk about being kept on your toes and wanting more!

Gripping well thought out, and shocking!

I absolutely loved this book! I adore thrillers anyway and this one did not disappoint. I whizzed through this one and I couldn’t wait to pick it up each time.

In this gripping tale, we encounter a diverse cast of characters—some are truthful while many are not—each entwined in the enigma surrounding Livvy’s husband Rich, who vanished years ago. While some are privy to the truth, others are oblivious, but all are desperate to keep the secrets hidden.

Maddox, their son, has always accepted the narrative surrounding his father’s disappearance until he stumbles upon a revelation that shakes his world to its core. Unbeknownst to him, he is about to become a crucial figure in unravelling the mystery.

Brimming with unexpected twists, deceptions, and hidden truths, this psychological thriller is as close to perfection as it gets. I am now off to look at the other books this Author has wrote as I want to read them all!

Eleven years ago, Libby’s husband, Rich, disappeared, leaving their son, Maddox, behind.

Fast forward to the present, and Libby spends a lot of her time drunk, and confuses Maddox with talk of them having lots of money, and soon.

Libby has kept quiet all these years that she knew Rich was disappearing, and that he would be back after eleven years. She’s felt awful not being able to tell Maddox, but it needed to be kept secret.

Then Libby finds out that her husband has moved on, even starting a new family with his ‘wife’

What a fantastic idea for a story this was! A clever plot that kept twisting, leaving me wanting more.

The ending left me flabbergasted, not what I was expecting at all.

My heart went to Maddox throughout this story. As a mother, I couldn’t put my children through this awful pain.

This tale is storytelling at its best.

My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Convoluted family drama.

Told in time jumps and shifting points of view, this is melodrama at its core. The plot is unnecessarily complicated and ultimately makes absolutely no sense. The characters are unremarkable and unlikeable for the most part as they nearly drown in all their secrets and lies. I didn’t really care by the end what happened to any of them.

Ostensibly about a plot to hide stolen money, the narrative involves a missing husband and father, a duplicitous wife, a lost teenage boy, criminals, and other bad actors who are only looking for revenge or some answers to the puzzle. The detectives who are trying to follow the long, murky trail going back 12 years often seem lost as well.

I’ve read other books by this author that I’ve enjoyed more. I think sometimes authors try to see how many twists and red herrings they can pull off and I much prefer a straight forward narrative with believable characters, at least one of whom I can relate to.

Thank you to Bookouture for providing the ARC to read and review.

dramatically interesting thriller with some very interesting ideas and a strong set of characters. I was really pleased to read this work, although at times the charactre list got excessive. Tysm for the arc!

My thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Married Man’ written by K L Slater in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Eleven years ago Liv’s husband Rich persuaded her to help fake his death promising that after twelve years she’d come into money. Now that day has arrived and when there’s no sign of the money Liv was expecting to find in her private bank account, she believes Rich has cheated her. Then a woman who calls herself Kait contacts her saying that she believes her husband Daniel could be Rich.

‘The Married Man’ is a thriller of deception and lies that’s kept me turning pages until I finally discovered the truth. The characters are all telling lies to ensure their secrets are kept safe and the further I got into the story the more the tension increased. This thriller has all the drama, suspense and twists and turns I’ve come to expect from an author as talented as K L Slater and although I had to give the final chapters my total concentration to understand the parts the characters were playing, by the time I reached the end it all made sense and the loose ends neatly tied up. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading this addictive thriller that had me gripped from the first page to the last and I have no hesitation in recommending it.

While I typically enjoy a well-crafted mystery thriller, The Married Man unfortunately fell short for me. The plot, though initially promising, became increasingly convoluted and lacked the necessary tension to keep me engaged. The characters, unfortunately, were one-dimensional and difficult to connect with. Their motivations felt superficial, and their interactions lacked the depth and nuance that would have made them truly compelling.

The excessive length and slow pacing hindered my enjoyment. The book could have been significantly shorter without sacrificing the essential elements of the story. The twists, while unexpected, felt forced rather than organic, as if they were included solely for the sake of surprise.The ending, while unexpected, left me feeling unsatisfied and uninvested in the characters' fates.

If you enjoy complex mysteries with well-developed characters and a tightly paced plot, The Married Man may not be the best choice. However, if you're willing to overlook these shortcomings, you might find something to appreciate in its many twists and turns.

And just like that she is back! A cracker of a story which has so many characters all interwoven I really don't know how she keeps up with all of them. I love psychological thrillers with a whodunnit and this one gave you plenty of food for thought. Cant wait to read the next book.

Liv and Rich, who works as an estate agent, live an idyllic life in a cottage which they have spent a lot of time and money refurbishing. When their son Maddox turns three, one of his birthday presents is a kite, and he is eager to try it out. Rich takes him to Frog Hill, a popular place to fly kites. With a storm predicted for later that day he tells Liv they will be back long before the bad weather hits. But neither Rich nor Maddox return and driving to Frog Hill to look for him, she discovers his parked car with no one inside. . Despite her efforts, Liv is unable to contact her husband by phone, and she calls the police. A search eventually finds Maddox sheltering on the hill, but of Rich there is no trace.

Told from multi-character viewpoints, the story picks up again eleven years later and moves from past to present, gradually revealing what has really happened that day. There is a big twist at the end which I didn't expect. With sixty three chapters there is a lot to read. However, not once did the pace flag. There is something new to discover at every turn of the page that will keep you reading.

One thing I did pick up on, was that when Liv mentioned the death of one of the characters, I backtracked on my Kindle, thinking I had missed it. However, the scene turned up later and I felt that was a little confusing. Overall though, I enjoyed the read.

My thanks to Bookouture, the author and Netgalley for an ARC of The Married Man in exchange for an honest review.

I usually enjoy K.L Slater's psychological thrillers but I just couldn't get into this one at all. I didn't even finish it. Sorry

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book

Oh my goodness what a story! My husband disappeared just like we planned but we definitely didn't plan for him to get married to someone else. Filled with page turning twists!

Omg, this book is absolutely fantastic. I read it in one sitting there's lots of twists and turns, it's one of K. L. Slaters best books ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book started off good. I was somewhat baffled by the fact that chapters from each character's POV were told in the third person apart from one, Kait.
When Liv (FMC) tells her son Maddox they'll soon come into money, I can't help but think hmm, how so?

At the same time, Maddox who is 14 years old, gets involved with a guy who used to attend his school (but was kicked out) and I honestly thought this isn't going to go down well.

We soon meet Kait (who is married to Daniel) is pregnant with her first child (or is she) and begins to suspect she's being cheated on. She eventually calls for reinforcements to get to the bottom of things.

Now....  the story had me wondering if/when certain revelations would be made.
By the time I reached 80% of the book, I was ready to call it a day but I pushed on. The remainder of the book to me felt confusing and rushed.
Yes, the author had some twists (and you find out how some characters are linked) but it felt like it was pieced together quickly in order to wrap the book up.
I was quite intrigued initially with this book, however, the ending left me feeling underwhelmed.
I gave it 2.5 stars

Many thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for this free eARC.

A slow read with LOTS of characters and time jumps and poor execution

The premise pulled me in. As did the author, as K. L. Slater is one of my faves. So it devastates me to say I did not enjoy anything about this book. I’d expected to love it, and I feel so let down. Although I see lots of five stars for this read, I find myself in the minority of people who didn’t like it either, and firmly so.

Not one line lent itself to a pull quote to show readers how much I loved the narrative. All of my highlights showed filler words, split infinitives, tense changes—all over the place!—and extreme passive writing, which when written in the present tense always seems worse to me.

None of the characters made me care about them or connect, and the plot went all over the place. Usually, I don’t mind POV and time shifts, but this time none of it gelled at all for me.

I loved the premise and have enjoyed books from this author previously; however, The Married Man gets a soft 2 stars from me.

***

NOTE ON RATINGS: I consider a 3-star rating a positive review. Picky about which books I give 5 stars to, I reserve this highest rating for the stories I find stunning and which moved me.


5 STARS: IT WAS AMAZING! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! — Highly Recommended.

4 STARS: I WOULD PULL AN ALL-NIGHTER — Go read this book.

3 STARS: IT WAS GOOD! — An okay read. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it.

2 STARS: I MAY HAVE LIKED A FEW THINGS —Lacking in some areas: writing, characterisation, and/or problematic plot lines.

1 STAR: NOT MY CUP OF TEA —Lots of issues with this book.

I’ve never read a book by the author I haven’t enjoyed so I knew I was in for a treat when I started this one. I loved the premise here, it was unique and there were so many questions raised right from the start and I was desperate to hear the answers to them. It starts off on the slower side, the groundwork is being laid for what’s coming up but by about a quarter of the way in things start to get faster and by the end things were even faster and my head was spinning at times. There are several points of view here and I was hooked by each one, many chapters ended on a mini cliffhanger which is a great tactic to keep me furiously turning the pages. Twisty doesn’t even begin to cover the turns this took, and they were smart twists too, definitely not the kind I could predict. Another super solid read from a trusted author, if you like well developed domestic suspense this was really good.

This was my first book by K.L. Slater, and I went in with great expectations since the premise of the book seemed so interesting. Unfortunately I struggled with this and I think perhaps it just was not for me. It took me some time to get through it, but I did manage to finish it after a while so here are some of the thoughts I had.

The start of the book was good and caught my interest with the plot that they had, as well as the mystery around the disappearance. However from that point onwards it tapers off and the plot seems to drag on without a clear progression. The different character POVs jumping back and forth in time also makes it hard to keep track of the events, and I ended up being more confused than i would have liked. Unfortunately it was hard to connect with any of the characters when the POV keeps switching and we don't really get much time with them.
The ending of the book was not really satisfying BUT the bonus is that it was rather quick and painless.

Another great book from K. L. Slater. Liv lives alone with her son Maddox, her husband previously disappeared and was declared dead. But is he? And why does Kait's husband acting cagey with information relating to the Leighs? Full of twists

Choices in life have consequences.

Eleven years ago, Liv’s husband Rich and their son Maddox left the house to fly a kite at a park and she began to worry they had not returned home. A storm was brewing, and it was not like her husband to not respond to her calls or texts. She began to search for them and soon after, her son was discovered but her husband was nowhere to be found. Soon after, Liv changed her name and she and her son moved to start a new life.

As the years go by the authorities declared Liv’s husband dead despite never finding his body. As Maddox got older his attitude and behavior became troubling to Liv and the school he attends. While her concerns for her son grow, a woman named Kait appears and claims that she is Rich’s wife, and she believes her husband-whose name is Daniel- is the son of Maddox.

Detectives, Helena and Brewster are investigating a case that leads them to Maddox and the detectives find themselves trying to connect the dots of what on the surface seems to be two different situations.

Liv has been hiding secrets as to why her husband disappeared all those years ago and her troubles are about to explode, and her life is spiraling out of control.

At first, I couldn’t stop asking myself if there was one redeemable or likeable character in this story. Nothing is as it should be, and everyone has something to hide. When secrets and lies start to reveal themselves, I felt like I just experienced whiplash. There are so many turns of events going in many different directions but oddly enough, they are all connected. When I began to think I had figured it out, another detail came to light, and I was shocked all over again.

What an extraordinary psychological thriller. K.L. Slater certainly knows how to weave a thrilling story.

Stephanie

The married man had my jaw on the floor several times with twists I didn't see coming. It was a fantastic read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.