Pretty Little Wife

From the outside, Lila Ridgefield appears to have a perfect life. She's beautiful, intelligent, and is married to her husband, Aaron Payne, a high school teacher and girls' field hockey coach who is seen as a pillar of the community in the lovely college town in which they reside. But looks can be deceiving and as three female college students have gone missing without a trace, Lila finds evidence that Aaron is hiding a very big secret. She decides to take matters into her own hands and kill him. She thinks she has a foolproof plan to bring Aaron's crimes to light... until his body goes missing. Are the disappearances connected? With Lila as the main suspect into Aaron's disappearance and no trace of the missing girls, the police are desperate to solve the crimes and figure out if there is a connection.

This book was “cuckoo bananas”! It was a non-stop wild ride from beginning to end and kept me guessing all the way through. There is no slow build-up because you are thrown right into the mystery from the very start. Told from the perspective of both Lila and Ginny, the lead investigator into Aaron's disappearance, this is a rollercoaster of a whodunnit. The evidence is constantly shifting, putting almost everyone in Aaron's orbit directly into the crosshairs of the police, until the very jaw-dropping end.

Lila is not a perfect protagonist, but over time you begin to understand her mindset and how the betrayal of everyone in her life has affected her. You don't necessarily root for her but you definitely feel for her. Ginny's character is written as a strong, whipsmart investigator that knows exactly how the game is played, but still shows empathy towards Lila and her predicament.

I absolutely loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a fast-paced thriller with an engaging lead character and a genuinely interesting mystery.

Trigger warning: this book does depict domestic violence and sexual violence against women.

**I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for a review. Opinions are my own. This book is scheduled to be released 12/29/20.