Domestic Noir lovers! My first encounter with the writing of Rebecca Fleet and this great example of the crime thriller sub genre of ‘domestic noir’. THE SECOND WIFE (Doubleday, 2020) is about relationships, passion, obsession, family, and deceit. All these and more are rolled into this twisting and turning thriller, sign-posted by the popular trend of using chapter headings of person and dates ( so necessary in keeping up with the twists), and culminating in the resolution of one relationship and reflecting on the start of another - just the same as the story opened! The gist of the thriller is: ‘Everyone brings baggage to a new relationship. When Alex met Natalie she changed his life. After the tragic death of his first wife, which left him a single parent to teenage daughter Jade, he’s determined to build a happy family.
But his new-found happiness is shattered when the family home is gutted by fire and his loyalties are unexpectedly tested. Jade insists she saw a man in the house on the night of the fire; Natalie denies any knowledge of such an intruder.
Alex is faced with an impossible choice: to believe his wife or his daughter? And as Natalie’s story unravels, Alex realises that his wife has a past he had no idea about, a past that might yet catch up with her.
But this time, the past could be deadly . “ I enjoyed my read, see what you think. Cheers!