Ok I love a good domestic thriller. But this one was just ridiculous. How did she not know that her husband wasn’t her husband? I always struggle with plot lines that are just too out of the box. Realistic thrillers are more my style and this one just went off the deep end.

Fran and Nathan Hall have moved their young family to a remote, dilapidated house. What should be a peaceful existence is quickly turn on its head when Fran discovers the dead body of her husband out in the field one early morning. What made Nathan go outside?

Immediately police officers are on the scene and Fran feels like they are looking at her as the main suspect. She won’t give them the satisfaction of intimidating her but it’s hard when the officers are so rude and practically aggressive in their treatment of her. If she tells them everything about her last moments with Nathan will they think she did it?

As the story progresses there are flashbacks to Fran and Nate’s earlier life and their brief courtship. What made them fall in love and why did Fran accept to move some place where she knew she wouldn’t be happy. Now she is struggling with two little children and what to do now with Nathan gone.

The author excels at creating a claustrophobic setting where you are waiting for the other shoe to drop. Fran is completely isolated and whether she had anything to do with Nathan’s death, he also isn’t wholly a victim. This isn’t a thriller that moves at a fast pace but the biggest issue I had with this book where the detectives. As they suspect that Fran may be involved I understand that they can’t be treating her with kid gloves but they were downright unlikeable at times.

Source: Advance review copy

While this thriller started strong, it slowly drifted off into obvious twists, unrealistic plotlines and flat characters. It was still somewhat interesting, but just not as strong as the novels it is invariably being compared to.

This psychological thriller had me guessing till the end.. Kent creates a creepy atmosphere and even creepier (yet believable) characters in this murder mystery. An excellent read, highly recommended.

I have to say that although I’m usually a fan of ‘domestic noir’, which this book fits into, this story fell flat for me. However I still thought it was an entertaining read.

The main protagonist Fran was irritating and unlikable. Now, it doesn’t automatically mean I’m going to dislike the book because of this, but the rest of the story wasn’t enough of a hook to make me care what happened, and I struggled to really care about any of the characters.

The writing style was a little confusing. I usually love storylines that flick back and forwards between past and present, but this book presented these different timescales in such a way that I got really confused about where on earth I was. Perhaps if they’d been a bit more clearly marked it would have helped me enjoy the novel more, but as it was it was a little bewildering and meant I had to keep re-reading sections to figure them out.

I did, however, enjoy the way the story kept releasing hints about what had happened. There was an air of mystery and suspense which I appreciated, and which kept me reading on as I wanted to know more, though sometimes it was a little obvious.

The ending was satisfying enough – not disappointing but didn’t blow me away. I would still read The Crooked House by Christobel Kent, though, to compare. This isn’t a bad book, it’s just not – in my opinion – anything exciting or hugely different.

The book opens with a scene that is shocking and strange. It grabbed me. I knew I’d learn more of the people involved and I wanted that; I needed to make sense of this bewildering event. I am not promising you that the story kept me engaged but its worth a read

This novel was compared to the likes of Gone Girl or Silent Wife which is one of the reasons I wanted to read it. The overall premise for the book was very similar, except I wasn't as impressed with the characters as I wanted to be. However, this novel does have the suspense I frequently look for when I am choosing a book to read. It is is one of those stories where you don't know who you would trust if you were in Fran's position. Everyone seems to be working for her...but are they really? If you need one of those waiting to pickup the kids from school novels, THIS IS NOT IT. This is a kids are at a sleepover so I have time for myself book! You will want to read it all the way through!

I'd give The Loving Husband 3.5 stars if possible. The beginning hooked me immediately - how could it not? A sleeping woman feels her husband get into their bed, and he makes love to her while they lay on their sides. A soft, welcome interlude until her baby's cries wake her later, and in her haste to get the baby before he wakes her husband and young daughter, she realizes that the other side of the bed is empty. Her husband is not there. When she begins to look for him, she discovers the doors aren't locked. Stepping outside, she soon makes a devastating discovery - her husband is dead in a ditch on their property, murdered. (No spoilers here, this all happens within the first chapter.)

I loved the pace of the book. There was enough menace, suspense, hints and glimpses to keep me wanting to know what had happened. Nathan (the husband) had moved Fran and his children to an isolated community outside London that he had ties to in his youth. He further isolates her by discouraging her from getting a job, taking the only car every day etc. He doesn't abuse her, he simply ignores her. We soon learn that Nathan is not who anyone thinks he is, but what is he up to, and who would want him dead?

The inspectors quickly settle on Fran as their primary suspect, because things she tells them just don't add up. She's confused, she's scared, she's hiding something. None of the characters are very likeable - Fran is so wishy-washy that I just wanted to smack her upside her head (who said that?!?), and the investigating detectives are pretty horrible caricatures, but the story moves along well and kept me interested until the very end. I have to admit after all the build up, the ending seemed a bit rushed, but I would still recommend this book. A good reminder that it can be very difficult to know anyone's true story.

Many thanks to NetGalley, and Farrar, Straus & Giroux Sarah Chrichton books for allowing me to read an e-ARC of this interesting book.

Fran Hall lives in a farmhouse with her husband, Nathan and two children. One night, Fran wakes up to find her husband is not there. She finds him dead outside their home. As pieces of the story come together, Fran finds herself under increased suspicion from the police. In addition, she starts to realize there are many things about her husband she wasn’t aware of. We also become aware of some of the secrets she is hiding.

When I read the synopsis of this book, I was really looking forward to reading it and had high expectations. While this was a good read, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. This book is written in the fashion of Gone Girl. Basically, the reader gets fed bits and pieces of the story and doesn’t see the full picture until the end. However, in this case, I felt that it was all a bit disconnected. I still had questions about missing pieces at the end. Also, I didn’t really like how the book ended. That’s more of a personal, subjective opinion, though.

Overall, I did enjoy it and will look up more works by Christobel Kent. I would give this one a 3 out of 5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an

A tremendous page turner that kept me guessing. I really enjoyed the pacing and story of this one, highly recommended!

Sadly I just couldn't get into this book at all. It all seemed quite disjointed and I struggled past 35%

I tried to read this but only made it to chapter 3. It just felt way too disjointed to me!

THE LOVING HUSBAND BY CHRISTOBEL KENT

Fran and Nathan are married with two children and live in an isolated community that takes forty minutes to travel the train to get to London. Their three year old daughter is named Emme and they have a baby named Ben. Fran left working at a London Magazine because it is too far to commute for Fran since she has had the children. Nathan is the one who wanted to move there and he is increasingly gone from home more and more.

One night at approximately 2:00 AM Fran is half asleep and because she doesn't roll over and look at who initiates sex with her Fran thinks it is her husband Nathan. She remembers hearing him jingle the coins he has in his pockets. After Fran wakes up and discovers that she is in bed alone and she panics. Fran looks at the red digits on her alarm clock and runs downstairs, puts Nathan's boot's and coat on and runs outside and finds Nathan's cold body dead and cold in a ditch. Fran runs back inside hysterical and calls 999.

Two male detectives and an ambulance show up and they inform Fran that her husband is dead. Then Fran lies to the two detectives who are trying to help her untangle events. Fran starts to not know if she was dreaming about the sexual encounter. She doesn't tell them for weeks that she isn't sure if she had the sexual encounter. Then at the same time Fran isn't sure if she dreamed about the sexual encounter or if it didn't happen. For weeks she only tells them that she thinks their was somebody outside that threw a rock at her kitchen window. The story takes a dramatic turn for the worst. Fran is assigned to a Female Officer who really wants to help her and she continues to say She heard somebody standing over her bed jangling coins in their pocket and that is it.

The two male detectives search the house and find Nathan's hard drive missing from his computer. They do bring her in for formal questioning, but they don't arrest Fran. They try to convince Fran that if there is a murderer still out there then they can arrange safe housing for Fran and her two kids. It is obvious that Fran did not murder Nathan, but the two detectives know that she is not being honest with them. Why doesn't she just tell somebody the truth? Anybody? It is chapter after chapter of Fran refusing to cooperate with anybody.

Meanwhile you know that her husband Nathan has not been going where he said he was going while he was alive. Fran has secrets and Nathan has elaborate secrets as well. What was frustrating for me as a reader was the chapters after repeated chapters of Fran telling over and over the same events. Her daughter even says she saw a bad man and the preschool teacher calls Fran to pick up Emme from school because she keeps repeating she saw a bad man. To hear the same dialogue from Fran and watch her refuse to leave an unsafe home putting her and her children lives at risk by refusing to leave "Their family home."


When Fran does decide to tell her select chosen few scant details it is not the same story to various people. When Fran tells her estranged best friend bits and pieces she is told by this friend that that she thinks Nathan is gay. Fran still refuses to tell the truth she tells her estranged best friend that learning that Nathan is gay explains a lot. Fran is more concerned about rehashing what went wrong in the friendship. At this point Fran decides to leave her home with her children. At 75% into the book and Fran is trying to solve the crime I am too frustrated to care. This was so close to me not finishing the book, but I did because I had read 75%, I read that much so I might as well finish it.
I strongly would not recommend this book. It is too slow to reveal anything and it is too much repetitive dialogue. This book started out promising but I am highly disappointed about common sense issues.

Thank you to Net Galley, Christobel Kent and Sarah Crichton Books for providing me with my digital copy for a fair and honest review.

When I read the blurbs for this book, I was like, sign me up. When I started reading it, I was hooked. However, somewhere in there it just kind of slowed down for me. The momentum just kind of tanked. Characters were just coming out of the woodwork. It's like they were just being added to make the suspect list longer.

And personally, I think that Fran was an eejit to move out there like that in the first place. They had to jump on that deal right then or lose it? There were several places for sell and had been for sell. No, that all smelled like rotten fish from the beginning. I just couldn't really believe the moving part to way out in the sticks from London. I guess that was my biggest concern and didn't help me with the momentum.

As for being compared to "The Silent Wife" - absolutely no way. That book had me so emotional. I wanted to drop kick several of those characters. IMO, if a book can get me that riled up - it's a good book. Plus I LOVED that ending. This book, not so much.

Thanks to Farrar, Straus & Giroux for approving my request and to Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

I was drawn to this book for the title and cover. I was sometimes confused as to what was going on. I was struggling to get through the book. It was definitely not a page turner. The plot was good and I was glad for how the story ended, but as I said it was a struggle.