The Last Wife
The Thriller You've Been Waiting For
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3.5 • 53 Ratings
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- £4.49
Publisher Description
Who would YOU trust to carry out your final wish?
'Such a twisty ride! You are going to love this' Lesley Kara, bestselling author of THE RUMOUR
Two women. A dying wish. And a web of lies that will bring their world crashing down...
Nina and Marie were best friends-until Nina was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Before she died, Nina asked Marie to fulfill her final wishes.
But her mistake was in thinking Marie was someone she could trust.
What Nina didn't know was that Marie always wanted her beautiful life, and that Marie has an agenda of her own. She'll do anything to get what she wants.
Marie thinks she can keep her promise to her friend's family on her own terms. But what she doesn't know is that Nina was hiding explosive secrets of her own...
Praise for THE LAST WIFE:
'Taut and tense from the first page to the closing paragraphs - a touching tale that really hit home'
Sun
'Fast-moving and fun, with an obsessive, Machiavellian, yet enjoyably self-aware narrator'
Observer
'If you enjoyed The Perfect Girlfriend you'll love The Last Wife - another fabulously dark central character with a great twisty plot' Harriet Tyce, bestselling author of Blood Orange
Praise for THE PERFECT GIRLFRIEND:
'Let this supremely enjoyable thriller whisk you up, up and away. Buckle your seatbelts, you're in for a very bumpy ride... ' Sunday Mirror
'This debut novel is written with a gleeful zeal . . . Juliette is such a memorable, grippingly unpredictable character' Daily Express
'Be prepared to put your life on hold for The Perfect Girlfriend' Good Housekeeping
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Marie Langham, the unreliable narrator of this gripping thriller from Hamilton (The Perfect Girlfriend) set somewhere in England, wants to honor the last request of her best and possibly only friend, Nina Thompson, who has recently died of melanoma: to protect Nina's family. Marie immediately offers to help Nina's husband with the children. From there it's a short hop to moving into the Thompson family home and making herself indispensable. After years of regarding Nina's life with envy, Maria at last can play the role she has always dreamed of, though not everyone is pleased with this new reality. "The speed at which you gleefully took over has left a few of us a bit shell-shocked," a good friend of Nina remarks. As unwelcome people from Marie's past pop up on her doorstep, and as she realizes that her view of Nina was colored by her own longing, she comes to a terrifying decision that leads to murder. Everybody has a nasty side, but that's just one of the pleasures of this cunning whodunit. A devious plot is another. Hamilton knows how to keep the pages turning.
Customer Reviews
An ok read but not what I expected
I’m very torn on my thoughts for his book. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it either. Initially, I was quite gripped, the main character Marie seemed like she might be a bit of a likeable psycho and after absolutely loving Karen’s first book ‘The Perfect Girlfriend’, I was excited by this books potential. Unfortunately, it veered off course a bit for me and wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I’d say about halfway through my interest started to wane, which isn’t really what you want to happen when reading a thriller. I was happy to continue reading though as you never know when a book may take a turn and throw in a big twist that allows you to forgive the disappointing mid-point. For me though everything that happened towards the end didn’t enthral me and some of it didn’t make sense.
Marie’s best friend Nina passes away after suffering from a terminal illness. Her promise to her dying friend was that she would take care of her husband and two children. Marie had always envied Nina and her perfect life, so although she misses her friend, she sees her death as the perfect opportunity to take her place!
With some suspicious characters and secrets and lies from the past resurfacing this story becomes quite twisty, but sadly for me not in a good way. I liked Marie she had real potential, but I didn’t really like any of the other characters. I also felt at times there were high hopes for what some of the revelations maybe, but once revealed they were a bit lacklustre.
I have gone for 3 stars in my rating, as to be fair, I didn’t feel like I wanted to leave the book unfinished. I was keen to see the story through and it didn’t take me overly long to read it. The first half of the book I feel was much better than the second half and the story definitely had potential.
As I said above, I loved this author’s first book, in fact, it is one of my favourite reads, so I am still really keen to read her latest book ‘The Ex-Husband’. I guess we can’t all rave about every book we read, just because this wasn’t a thriller I loved it doesn’t mean others won’t enjoy it, so please see this as my view only and don’t let it put you off reading it.