Summary :-
MY LOVELY WIFE is a novel written from the protagonist viewpoint of the anonymous husband of a woman named Millicent. When the story begins we come across this gentleman know as “Tobias,” thanks to an interesting but vaguely unsettling draft that opens the first page and becomes exclusively suspenseful as it unfolds. We learn that Tobias is not his name at all, nor is he a couple of other things he pretends to be as he introduces himself to a woman in a restaurant or bar. He’s not there in the hopes of a seductive respite— well, not entirely — but we learn his true purpose soon enough. Millicent and Tobias, the parents of two adolescent children, are spicing up their otherwise sedate lives by killing women and making them disappear.
As a general rule, Tobias selects the subjects, while Millicent kills and disposes. That is how it’s supposed to work, anyway, when Millicent is not busy at her day job as a high-end real estate agent while Tobias puts prospective tennis players through their paces as an instructor at the neighborhood country club. They cover their tracks with an intricate plan that puts the blame for the disappearances on someone else. It’s a good plan, well-executed by two intelligent and careful people who know each other intimately. Readers learn, right along with Tobias, that there is more going on than he knows about.
We also discover gradually that Millicent has more than a homicidal streak. In fact, she has a number of issues that gradually manifest themselves as the pages rapidly advance and readers become fully immersed in the goings-on of what appears to be a fairly typical, well-off family in suburban Atlanta. There are countless twists and turns here, especially in the final third of the book, with a major revelation as well as some subtle symmetry occurring in the last sentence. Don’t peek, or else you’ll spoil it for yourself.
Review :-
“My Lovely Wife” is a dark and irresistible debut of Samanth Downing. This story is disrupted and at the same time exceedingly well written, I could not put it down! Ms. Downing takes you on a roller coaster ride full of twists and turns, and thrills that you don’t see coming.
#UNPUTDOWNABLE
Where to buy :-
Amazon.com and Amazon.in
Reviewed by
Richa Mehndiratta
Readavorous (Dastan-e-Kitaab) 