Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

Enjoyable mystery with good narration.

This was a fun thriller with some great twists. The main character Addison has her sights set on Dr Richmond Dougherty, we know revenge is her game from the start, but he dies before she is able to carry out her plan. This book is wild and I loved it all. The story is fast-paced, and I kept reading to see what would happen next. Addison was such a fun character to follow, and her POV was great for working through the book. I would highly recommend this dysfunctional family thriller to my thriller readers. I have not read Darby Kane before but would definitely look for more of her books.
Thanks to NetGalley for the audioarc to preview.

How dark and twisty can a person be?? Addison marries rich doctor so she can ruin him. But with a twist of fate he dies before her plan can be completed. Now she is on the hot seat because suspicion is on her for his death. She is now on a race against time to prove her innocence. With the influential ex-wife and the town folks nipping at her heel.
Interesting read with a dark plot and fast pace we get pulled into a family drama that will keep you guessing till the end.

What did I just read? WHAT THE WIFE KNEW is a brilliantly crafted thriller with twists, turns, and perfectly placed bombshell reveals. Kane nailed it with this book.

There wasn’t one minute while reading or listening to this book that I wasn’t hooked. The characters weren’t surface-level. There were layers and complexities to them, which allowed the story to propel forward. Addison and her husband are just the first in a full cast of characters to pull you in. Then you have the way the author unraveled the mystery through the dual perspective and the moving back and forth in time. This could have gotten muddled or caused the momentum to slow down, but it didn’t. Every chapter that flew by as I was reading informed the current day situation and kept me on the edge of my seat clamoring for more.

Darby Kane, you have a brand-new fan. I cannot wait to read your next book and some of your previous ones. Bring on the juicy domestic thrillers!

Audiobook Note: Narrators Helen Laser and Andrew Eiden brought to life this book. The inflections, pace, and dual perspectives were spot on. The time I spent listening to Kane’s novel was absolutely enjoyable.

I do not think I have met so many flawed characters in my entire life. The main female character, Addison, is in sort of a pickle. She has a debt to pay because of a mistake she made in the past. So what does she have to do to become debt-free? Blackmail the pompous jerk, Richmond Dougherty, convince him to marry her, and then murder him for a lucrative inheritance. But what happens when someone beats you to it? Chile- a whole clusterf*** begins.

When I tell you I was looking at everybody sideways!!! 95% of the characters were corrupt, and there wasn’t anyone that I particularly wanted to root for. Well, maybe Addison... I know! You are thinking, “But she was blackmailing a man. She was going to murder Richmond.” Yes, but Richmond was trash and Addison’s childhood was so traumatic that I gave her a few passes for her trifling behavior.

Darby Kane has a way of dropping clues and leaving holes in the plot that will leave the reader quessing until the very end of the story. I really enjoyed that aspect of the book. But there were times where I felt like the book was doing the MOST, and some of the twists were unrealistic and added just for shock value. The potential ramifications of the final twist are absolutely disgusting. Side Note: The mothers in this story are a TRIP, and you may want to hug your mother and confess your undying love for her after reading this book!

What the Wife Knew is an enjoyable audiobook with very good narration.
A bit more background on Addison is needed to improve rating. I would give this book 3.5 stars.

This is a good story. Lots of twists and turns. The amount of emotional trauma this book revealed. I loved the Addison and her attitude through out the entire book. I will recommend this book

Super fun! I always appreciate a good thriller narration and this narration was awesome. Very unreliable and bingable. I'd recommend this one.

This was a good thriller where you cannot trust anyone and probably won't like anyone. I liked the audio!

It captured my attention the entire time. It did start out slow, but it got so much better. Will read more by this author in the future!

This was a “meh” thriller in my opinion. The concept had me hooked. But the execution was lacking. The ending felt like too much of a stretch for me.

What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane is a dark psychological thriller packed with twists and turns that kept me hooked from start to finish. The story masterfully weaves an intricate web of suspense, with side plots that kept me guessing at every turn.

The pacing was fast, and the characters—many of whom you’ll love to hate—added layers to the gripping narrative. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, the final twist completely blindsided me. I truly didn’t see it coming!

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this ARC.

A dark psychological thriller, with morally gray characters, fast-paced, suspenseful and addictive. The plot was brilliant and I loved that it kept me guessing.
It was bingeable, compelling and impossible to put down. This is my second book from this author and I will definitely need to read more from her.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio for this complimentary audiobook!

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗞𝗻𝗲𝘄 released December 10, 2024.

What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane is a twisty domestic thriller with plenty of drama and a compelling premise. The audiobook’s narration is engaging and brings the characters to life, making it an easy listen. As the enigmatic and resourceful second wife, Addison is intriguing, and her calculated plan to expose Dr. Richmond Dougherty’s dark side adds suspense.

The story thrives on tension, especially given the small-town hostility, law enforcement pressure, and increasingly menacing threats against Addison. Kane does a good job of keeping the reader guessing, and Richmond’s legacy unraveling is peppered with enough twists to maintain interest.

However, the book falters in character development. Addison’s motives and backstory could have been explored more deeply to make her actions feel justified and her character more relatable. Similarly, the other key players, like Kathryn and Richmond’s children, often feel like stock characters, which lessens the emotional stakes. The plot, while entertaining, occasionally stretches believability, and the ending feels rushed, leaving some threads unresolved.

Overall, What the Wife Knew is an entertaining thriller with enough suspense to keep listeners engaged. However, it doesn’t quite deliver the depth or originality needed to stand out in the genre. It is a solid choice for fans of fast-paced domestic dramas, but not a must-listen.

I was able to get an early read thanks to Netgally. I enjoyed Pretty Little Wife, so I was excited to get this. I liked all the character involvement and the revenge thriller part. That is not to say that I liked many of the characters other than Addison. It is your classic who-dunnit but had you guessing to the end.

There were quite a bit of random parts that didn’t feel necessary to the story line. And while I enjoy twists in my thriller and this one has many that are good, I could have done without the last twist completely. 😒

This was a weird and interesting story. The intersections of the various story lines made this a twisty thriller. I was not able to guess the ending and the reveal was shocking. Looking forward to reading more of Darby Kane's work in the future.

Helen Laser and Andrew Eiden did a great job narrating this novel. I loved being able to easily distinguish who was speaking.

This was my first novel by Darby Kane, and will not be the last! "What the Wife Knew" is a domestic thriller about a middle-aged woman whose husband mysteriously dies only months after their marriage, sparking accusations from both the new and old wife as to who killed him.

Addison, the new Mrs. Richmond Dougherty, hated her new husband, but she married him on a mission for revenge and she knew how to play the game...until Dr. Dougherty, renowned pediatric surgeon, falls down the stairs and dies. Someone beat her to his death, but who? Kathryn, Richmond's ex-wife and longtime love, goes out of her way to make sure everyone knows Addison is the number one suspect, but Addison has her own reasons to suspect Kathryn...and maybe even his two teenage children? Or his lawyer? Or his medical partner? Addison is determined to finish her mission of destroying Dr. Richmond Dougherty's carefully built reputation and bring him down, dead or alive, but she starts receiving threats, Addison begins to think there is more at play than even SHE knew, and her carefully orchestrated plan may be blown out of the water.

The audiobook was so well done, the narrators further enhanced the characters and their snarky tones with one another, and listening to Addison's inner dialogue was so much fun. As for the story itself, my only critique is that I wish the characters backstories had been built up a little more as the story progressed. There were a lot of twists and suspense, but sometimes I felt like I was a step behind, especially with the past and present chapters going back and forth to various places. I won't spoil the ending, but it was a little out there to me.

Thank you to HarperAdult Audio and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this audiobook!

This domestic suspense thriller was twisty and full of terrible characters who each have dark secrets. No one is innocent in this book and while I thought it was good on audio, this rich people behaving badly and fighting over money story just wasn't for me. A little too dark with not enough redeeming parts for my personal tastes. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review.

The narrators were fantastic and stayed in character the entire book. I never was taken out of the story because of a mispronounced word or something feeling off. I enjoyed this book and couldn’t wait to listen to it every time I got the chance. I will definitely be recommending it and adding it to our library for patrons.

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.