Your Neighbour's Wife
Author: Tony Parsons
Published by: Century
Pages: 425
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
Published by: Century
Pages: 425
Format: Hardback
My Rating ★★★★
One mistake can ruin your life.
Tara Carver seems to have the perfect life.
A loving wife and mother, she’s the short of person you’d want to live next door to, who might even become your best friend.
But who is she really?
In one act of madness, Tara puts all she loves at risk. The married man she spent one night with now wants a serious relationship.
And he will not leave her or her family alone until she agrees.
But then he is brutally murdered.
And that’s when Tara’s troubles really begin.
Tara Carver seems to have the perfect life.
A loving wife and mother, she’s the short of person you’d want to live next door to, who might even become your best friend.
But who is she really?
In one act of madness, Tara puts all she loves at risk. The married man she spent one night with now wants a serious relationship.
And he will not leave her or her family alone until she agrees.
But then he is brutally murdered.
And that’s when Tara’s troubles really begin.
My thoughts:
Your Neighbour’s Wife is a cautionary tale about Tara and Christian – she is a successful entrepreneur with a dating app, he is the stay-at-home Dad taking care their adorable son. They appear to have it all: in love with one another with a beautiful home, a comfortable life, and financial stability. Then Tara has to go to Japan and everything changes.
Tara Carver had it all when she heads to Tokyo for a conference, but a one-night stand there has consequences way beyond any that could have been reasonably predicted. These consequences affect increasing numbers of people as the book progresses and there are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader wanting more. There are so many twists and turns that it feels like you are on a rollercoaster ride.
The characters are mostly well illustrated, and the plot is addictive. As a keen reader of crime fiction and murder mysteries, I thought I could figure out who the murderer was. But the end is not easy to guess, and I found myself changing my own theory many times during the plot.
The first half of the book is excellent, and really an addictive read. Fast paced, exciting, I thought I had an idea where the story was going...and then things all seemed to become a bit manic in the middle.
The second half of the story quickly becomes more confusing, with a lot of characters and many unexpected dramatic plot points ...the original plot is almost pushed to the side and sometimes I felt like I was reading several different books at once. Some characters feel like they've acted out of character, some seem almost pointless and the threads of all the different stories don't really ever tie up together.
Your Neighbour’s Wife is a compelling read. It feels like a thrilling depiction of both marriage and infidelity. Personally, I can’t help but wish the plot had focused much more on the murder itself, been darker and more realistic in certain areas of the story – specifically in the Police investigation and the Court case. The Police in charge of solving the murder seem to overlook countless important details and I was frustrated by this. For instance, Caine’s daughter Amy was with him in London right before he is found dead, yet she is not even mentioned again for the bulk of the book and I find it hard to believe that she wouldn’t at least be called in for questioning at some point or asked to testify in Court. When she does finally pop up towards the end, it feels all a bit hurried and unlikely.
Despite a few issues with the plot, this book is hard to put down. I tore through it in a couple of sittings and enjoyed reading. This is ultimately a gripping psychological thriller that combines emotional warmth with page-turning excitement. I liked it, but didn’t love it.
*A big thank you to Century and Penguin Random House for sending me out a copy of the book to review.*
Overall reaction: