The First Wife
A Novel of Suspense
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5.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
For readers of Olivia Goldsmith and Mary Jane Clark comes a dramatic - and sensational - new thriller with twists and turns at every corner and a chilling shock-surprise of an ending.
Jane Warren swore she'd never marry again. Sure, age isn't a problem. Neither are her looks. Heaven knows that plenty of perfectly respectable men would consider themselves lucky to end up with someone like her. Then again, the last perfectly respectable man to end up with her - her ex-husband - ended their marriage, not to mention Jane's belief in happy endings...
But she just can't muster the cynicism to resist William Andrews - a dashing, debonair widower with two children of his own. Soon, Jane's doing what she swore she'd never do: Marching down the aisle, promising to have, hold, serve, and protect, 'til death do them part. But why does Andrew seem so obsessed with his dead wife? And why do the children seem to hate Jane so passionately?
As Jane struggles to understand the nature of the powerful hold Andrews's first wife still exerts over the husband and children she left behind, her day-to-day life grows increasingly more dangerous. During a family outing, she is suddenly thrown violently from her horse. Had someone deliberately spooked the horse? As she takes a midnight swim, the mechanical dome over the pool closes on her. Did it short circuit, or was it sabotage? Are these just coincidences, or are the stakes and risks getting higher the closer Jane gets to the truth? Someone would clearly like to see her follow the first Mrs. Andrews to the grave. Why?
In a thriller that moves from New York to Paris to the Caribbean, a plot filled with relentless suspense, and a witty and intelligent heroine worth cheering for, this latest from Diana Diamond is her best yet, an unputdownable romance of deadly proportions.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Pseudonymous Diamond's (The Good Sister, etc.) updated version of Daphne du Maurier's classic Rebecca offers a savvy heroine (divorced business reporter Jane Warren), a widowed media mogul (globe-trotting power broker William Andrews) and a famous socialite first wife brutally murdered eight years before in her posh Adirondack lodge. Like the original, this romantic thriller begins with the whirlwind courtship of a down-to-earth younger woman by a wealthy older man, as Andrews whisks Jane off to Paris while she tries to interview him for a profile she's writing. Diamond enlivens the familiar story line with modern touches: instead of a loafing cousin, she introduces Jane's hapless playwright ex; instead of an English country estate, she features a New Jersey horse farm, a Manhattan penthouse apartment and, of course, the Adirondack lodge. She also adds two children from Andrews's previous marriage. Such twists on the 1938 original add to the reader's delight: how will the modern heroine handle the old-fashioned mystery? How will the old-fashioned hero handle the modern heroine? And who is the villainous Mrs. Danvers, and what will she do next? Even when presenting details about sex, business and a catered wedding that would make du Maurier blush, Diamond never forgets that the story's appeal lies in the heroine's frequently failed attempts to understand the hold the first wife keeps over a husband who otherwise looks too good to be true. Without pretense and with energy to spare, Diamond builds excitement through a series of inevitable yet still somehow surprising scenes, making her fresh take on an old classic not great literature but very good entertainment.
