The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen is what I call a popcorn novel – a psychological thriller that keeps you reading but doesn’t necessarily leave much behind when you finish. It’s about a woman named Vanessa who has recently divorced her husband Richard and is now stalking his fiancee (her “replacement”). It appears that Vanessa – short on money, living with her aunt in Manhattan – is the typical cast-off first wife who wants her rich husband and her old life in Westchester back, while her husband heads toward the aisle with a younger version of herself.
But, as you discover as you read The Wife Between Us, little is as it seems.
It is very difficult to review this book without giving too much away, so I will keep this short. There are a lot of twists and turns that kept me reading. At first Vanessa seems sad and pathetic, but then you start to realize that there is more to her than a spurned woman. And then things get interesting.
The Wife Between Us is a tense thriller that keeps the pages turning and the reader interested. I put it a notch above the typical popcorn novel because of the twists and surprises, and also because it ends up being a pretty sympathetic portrayal of a woman who has faced challenges in her life. But in the end, it’s a thriller. If you’re in the mood for that kind of book, I recommend picking it up.
This isn’t typically the genre that I read but I really enjoyed it too! I think the popcorn description is perfect. I looked forward to reading it but I don’t have much to show for it. This had better character development than the few thrillers I’ve read.
Agree on all counts.
Great review. I thought it was a tad more impressive, perhaps, than you did. It is quite confusing for a period. I felt like it was a classier read before the major twist takes place. I became a bit less engaged post-bizarre discovery.
I read this, too. You are right, it is more than a simple popcorn read. Although it does describe a love triangle, it doesn’t exactly. It seems the ex-wife is stalking and terrorizing the girlfriend, but then it doesn’t.
No one in this book is as they first seem. It feels like you are constantly having to revise your understanding of people and events. As a matter of fact, halfway through the book I wanted a to stop and reread everything I had read so far.
It would be fun to re-read it!