This one had a fairly quick pace, lots of twists and turns, and some truly diabolical characters. The narrator of the audio version did a great job of holding my attention. Unfortunately I had a few difficulties with this one. First--the main female character was completely unlikeable, and nothing revealed about her past along the way helped change that. I just couldn't identify with her at all. Second--the repetitive chapter headings of "Her" for had me wondering WHY???, but finally about half way through there was (finally!) a chapter from "his" perspective. Third--the alternating POVS followed no pattern whatsoever. Instead they jumped around in the past like a runaway pogo stick. One of the "past" chapters might talk about day 6 of the marriage, the next one might skip forward to day 54, and the next back to day 20 or whenever--interspersed with several present day narratives (of varying numbers)--and it felt like I was getting whiplash.

Loved the first part of this one. The reader is thrown right in the middle of all the drama. I was very invested into finding out what is behind this wife and her motives, even though none of the characters were likeable. It's all very fast paced, so it really held my attention.

And then about halfway through, things go off the rails and we veer over into too many shock value things being thrown into the mix. It slows down, but there are too many twists and after the first few, I was over it. Too far out there, unrelatable, unbelievable and honestly, I was just ready for it to be over.

Thanks to HarperAudio and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I may need to take a break from thrillers for awhile. I might not have been in the right headspace for this book. It had potential, but fell a little flat for me: it feels like every other book I have read lately, with the same kind of twists thrown in. I wasnt attached to any of the characters, therefore I didn’t really care what happened. 2 1/2 ⭐️ rounded up.

Darby Kane's previous release was a miss for me so I was a bit nervous about What The Wife Knew. I'm happy to say that this one was a hit! This is a fast paced domestic thriller full of morally gray characters and twists galore! I was hooked from start to finish! I paired the ebook and audio and the narration from Helen Laser and Andrew Elden was very well done.

initial thoughts: the premise of this was intriguing and it did start off strong. i really enjoyed Addison's POV and her revenge plot. then, another POV was added in (Richmond's) and things just fell off for me at that point. i didn't like any of the characters and the ending was unbelievable.

a big thanks to NetGalley & William Morrow for the ARC. while i was disappointed in the ending of this story, it did keep me entertained during my daily dog walks & chores around the house. the narrator was great!

Starting off in the thick of things, we realize the narrator, Addison, does not like her husband, who just turned up dead. It looks like Addison’s the killer, but she insists she isn’t and is being framed. We learn that this is an unconventional marriage, formed on the basis of blackmail. Their relationship is strange and strained. Plus there is a plethora of background drama that comes to light further down the line. Everyone loved Addison’s husband, Richmond, and even considered him a hero but is this the truth?

Truth and falsehoods are a theme within this novel, and I was never really sure if the narrator was reliable. There were lots of characters with full stories of their own, and people’s motivations matched their character and I could understand why they acted the way they chose to.

I listened to the audiobook, where there were two narrators, one for the “Her” chapters and one for the “Him” chapters. A lot of information was thrown at the listener, and I misunderstood a major plot point, so a huge reveal was already what I had in my head since I wasn’t doing a good job of clearly following the novel. There were enough other unpredictable and shocking scenes to keep me interested though. Overall, I enjoyed this audiobook!

This book was well done, the characters were well thought out and the narrators did a wonderful job. The story has some unexpected twists that make you think. This book was a fun and wild ride.

Things are not what they seem in this marriage and readers will be pulled in as they try to figure it out. The characters are keeping secrets and as the danger for the widow escalates it left me wondering who could be trusted. Readers that are fans of twisty thrillers should add this to their tbr.

The narrators do a good job giving the characters a voice and bringing the story to life.

A twisty domestic thriller about a wife whose world is turned upside down as she confronts a chilling reality: Someone killed her husband & it was supposed to be her to do it. 👀 The story had a strong start and kept me engaged throughout. While I enjoyed some of the twists, the ending fell flat. I was hoping for a truly shocking finale, but it was a bit too much.

I usually love this author's books, but this one wasn't for me. I found it slow and the characters were unlikeable.

Addison is mean, snarky, and seems totally unlikeable until you meet the other characters in this twisted story of narcissism and greed. What the Wife Knew sets the bar high for domestic thrillers and you will not want to stop reading until you know all of the dirty secrets that have been hidden for years.

What a wild ride and nothing that I was expected. Kane came in hot and did not stop the story. I loved the plot and the characters though not fully developed-- did they need to been?

Book Title: What the Wife Knew
Author: Darby Kane
Format: 🎧
Narrators: Helen Laser and Andrew Eide
Publisher: Harper Audio Adult/Harper Audio
Genre: Mystery Thriller
Pub Date: December 10, 2024
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Pages 368

Dr. Richmond Dougherty a famous and popular pediatric surgeon and his twenty-year old wife Addison were married for 97 days, when he died under suspicious circumstances.
Kathryn Dougherty first wife is well known in society circles as well as with and the police plays the ‘poor me’ role and throws suspicion on Addison.

Story starts
Her – Present day - Addison’s POV
Then half way in, we hear from
Him - Past - Richmond’s POV.
We learn that every horrible thought Addison has about Richmond is oh so true.
He confesses his sins aka murders and yes he is truly despicable.

We knew the marriage was not one of love but blackmail. We learn more details,

I love psychological thrillers but not a fan of excessive profanity. This story has more than an average amount of foul mouth, unlikeable characters for my reading pleasure. True I have no doubt their language is their normal way to talk.
I hung in there as there were great reviews from readers I trust so was hopeful the ending was going to save this for me.

Addison did get to the point of me caring about her. She could be sooo clever. She would utter a very intelligent sentence and then the next one full of profanity.

However~ Yes! The ending was great!!!

Plus the audiobook narrators were great. Helen Laser was fantastic in her performance of Addison!

Want to thank NetGalley and Harper Audio for granting me this early audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for December 10, 2024.

Enjoyed Darby Kane's previous books and was excited to get access to her latest novel! This was an interesting domestic thriller with so many surprises. The story was dark and twisty. However, the chapter titles were a little confusing when listening to it as an audiobook book.

Oh, but which wife knew what? I had most of it figured out (I try to do that) but it was a great story with layer after layer of deception. A great read!

So many family-related twists! Who is the father?? Are you sure?? Darby Kane's latest work is intriguing and keeps you reading. When I first started reading I thought it would be about two doctors who were vying for the same position, but I was very wrong. This is a fun read with supremely toxic families and scenes of near incest (none happens thank goodness). I would recommend this to fans of Tarryn Fisher and B.A. Paris.