The Book:
The Wife by Alafair Burke
Published January 23rd 2018 by Harper
Date read: October 7, 2021
The Characters:
Angela and Jason
Angela’s son Spencer
Buy it on Bookshop.org | Amazon
The Plot (from Goodreads):
When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.
Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look at the man she married. And when she is asked to defend Jason in court, she realizes that her loyalty to her husband could unearth old secrets.
The Twist:
Angela wasn’t Spencer’s biological mother; the other kidnapped girl had given birth to him. The other kidnapped girl turned out to be her childhood friend Trish.
Angela had killed Kerry. She went to her house to find out the truth, Kerry threatened to tell everyone about her past, and Angela killed her. Angela’s mother helped her hide the body, and then she, Angela, and Spencer changed their names and disappeared.
The Ending:
Corinne (the detective) was on to Angela at the end of the book, but couldn’t locate her.
The Review:
What would you do if your spouse was accused of the unthinkable? I just received an ARC of Find Me, Alafair Burke’s latest book, but I’ve had this one on my shelf forever so I wanted to read it first. I started Find Me last night and am enjoying it so far!
Burke is (was?) a lawyer in her day job, and the expertise she brings to the table in The Wife truly elevates this story above other legal thrillers. The story doesn’t get bogged down with too much procedure, but for what there was you could certainly tell that Burke wrote what she knew.
I really enjoyed the way the story unfolded. The author is sort of telling two stories simultaneously, with the allegations against Jason as the main plot and Angela’s past as a little sub-plot. The ending wasn’t what I was expecting, and you know I love to be stumped!
QOTD: We all have mile-long TBRs, but what is a book you feel guilty you haven’t gotten to yet? For me it’s The Last Summer at the Golden Hotel–I was gifted a copy by the author that I can’t wait to read, but ARCs and book tours keep getting in the way!
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