An Unexpected Success: “My Husband’s Wife” was a twisty, non-traditional thriller

One house. One husband. Two women. Someone is lying.

One read of the tag line and I was immediately hooked.

“My Husband’s Wife” was written by Alice Feeney and released on Jan. 20. It follows the story of an artist, Eden Fox, who returns home from a run to find a woman claiming to be her husband’s wife — it’s a little confusing at first.

Set in a fictional small seaside village of Hope Falls, the novel alternates between the points of view of four different characters. It starts with Eden's perspective as she returns from her run, then shifts to Birdy's.

Birdy, who isn’t the woman claiming to be the wife of Eden’s husband, is introduced as a woman who lived in London, England, but moved to Hope Falls after being diagnosed with a fatal illness. Many of Birdy’s chapters took place in the past, and once she moved to Hope Falls, her chapters shifted to the present.

The story started extremely slowly, and I attempted to start the book twice before actually getting a good chunk into the plot. This was because the first 40 pages were mostly set up and background, but then, after I mentally trudged through copious amounts of unnecessary description, I truly couldn’t put it down.

I appreciated that the book wasn’t incredibly long, only around 300 pages. When books are as thick as the dictionary, I feel intimidated when starting them. “My Husband’s Wife,” though, was a perfect length where there weren’t any plot holes, but there also wasn’t too much fluff.

It’s not your typical thriller, thankfully, as it doesn’t begin with a murder and then lead into how it was committed; the majority of the book is about connecting all the characters and uncovering the secrets they're hiding. 

Birdy and Eden’s chapters take up the majority of the book, but there are shorter chapters featuring the police sergeant, Carter, and Eden’s husband, Harrison.

These connections took up most of the book, which, surprisingly, I really enjoyed. Feeney did an amazing job of setting up each character’s background and past, then smoothly jumping to the present, all without losing my engagement in the plotline.

The only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of was the relationship between Birdy and Carter. 

Normally, I love a subplot of romance, but in the middle of the book, there was too much time spent focusing on this relationship, and it distracted from the actual mystery.

Every chapter where Carter was again dwelling on feelings for one of the female characters, I found myself rolling my eyes and waiting for the “thrill” to continue.

“My Husband’s Wife” was a twisty and unexpected thriller read, and it 100% lives up to its 4.5-star Goodreads rating. If you’re hoping to read an untraditional and fast-paced mystery, this novel is a great pick.