The Last Wife

This is an interesting one, because despite the not particularly likeable characters, the story was written in a way that still kept the pages turning and you wanting to know what happens next.

Marie was admittedly a complex character, but I honestly couldn't find myself liking her or feeling any sympathy for her! Might be because of how she was always manipulating and lying to everyone. Not that any of the other characters were any better. (Don't tell anyone, but I probably spent a lot of time shouting ‘What are you doing?!' at the characters and wanting to give them a good shake!).

But despite that it was a good read and I did enjoy it.

Thank you to Pigeonhole and Karen Hamilton for the chance to read this book.

Marie and Nina are best friends, they do everything together and are inseparable, until Nina dies through a terminal illness. In her final days she asks Marie to make sure her children are looked after and Marie is only too happy to step into Nina's shoes, after all, this is what she has always wanted.

This was a really twisted psychological thriller, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Marie was the perfect creepy character, I questioned her integrity from the opening chapters and her own mindset. It was heartbreaking that she was desperate for her own child and husband, and when her boyfriend left it seemed the natural choice for her to move in with her best friend's grieving family. Although initially to help support them and for a short period of time you just knew she had no intention of moving back out. As she crawled her way into Nina's life you got a real sense of how manipulating Marie could be.

However, as the novel evolved I began to wonder if Marie was the only unhinged character. There certainly seemed to be a lot of secrets coming to the surface and things didn't appear as they first seemed. It was at this point that I started to wonder who were the reliable characters and began to feel some sympathy towards Marie, was she truly as bad as I first perceived?

I loved the way the focus of story changed with the arrival of Camilla, a mutual friend to Nina and Marie. It was clear that Nina had been in contact with Camilla before she died and an air of mystery surrounding why added to the story line. This also allowed you to have a glimpse of Marie's past which helped to understand how certain events had influenced and shaped her.

Hamilton definitely knows how to keep you hooked as the tension builds with each chapter. This was a really interesting and chilling read. Many thanks to Anne Cater at Random Things Tours and Wildfire for inviting me to join The Last Wife blog tour.