Darby Kane

Debut author Darby Kane thrills with this twisty domestic suspense novel that asks one central question: shouldn't a dead husband stay dead? Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn't what she seems. A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila's husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it's discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection, if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth.... With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She's definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it's gone.

A Novel

Pretty Little Wife

"Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems. A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it’s discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection, if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth....With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She’s definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it’s gone." -- Goodreads.com.

Rebecca Hurd

Ok this book is fantastic!! It has an aggressive start that I was thrown off by at first it turns into a slow build and then BAM craziness and a ending that leaves you shook!! Highly Recommend!!

armoni mayes

4.5 stars so pretty good 

(this is for my future memory when i inevitably forget what this was about) 

Pretty Little Wife starts with a woman named Lydia and her husband Aaron. Except she killed Aaron…she thought. When the police are notified of his disappearance she expects them to find the car that she parked with his dead body inside. But the car is missing. So we follow Lydia as she has to play it cool with the police while also trying to figure out how the hell her supposedly dead husband is now maybe alive? 

It was pretty fast paced and i was not expecting the twist

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the concept was unique. The characters were well-developed but there were some inconsistencies when the author was describing their emotional reactions throughout the investigation. It just seemed like the author had this really well-established person but would forget a trait of theirs(?) which would make someone else’s observation feel unnatural/misplaced. Not really sure how to describe it but I caught myself stopping a few times because something just didn’t sound right. Didn’t see the twist at the end coming which was very nice since a lot of the times these types of books are predictable. 

Payten Bovat

celene

no but like this is the most insane thriller ive ever read,,,,,, it’s intense,,,, it’s chilling,,,,, have no words,,,,,,

tw // pedophilia & mention of rape

Nichole Bogard

This book was absolutely amazing. It grab me from the beginning and wouldn’t let go. Such a great debut novel!

Cheri McElroy

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lila was the perfect wife for Aaron, obeying him completely. That is, until the day she killed him. Or, she thought she did, because now his body is missing.

This story was a twisty thriller that kept me guessing. I really enjoyed it.

Lauryn Jackson

Lila Ridgefield is known to be a perfect little trophy wife, who minds her own business but suddenly the spotlight gets put on her when her husband, Aaron, turns up missing. The biggest problem for Lila is she knows exactly where her husband is supposed to be, since she was the last one to see his body. There’s also been some cases of girls going missing in town within the past few years, could they all be connected? What happened to Aaron’s body and what does Lila know?

I’ve had this book on my shelf for a few months and just haven’t had the motivation to read it. Well, I wish I could kick myself. This book was so freaking good and I finished it within a few hours. It keeps you wrapped up into the lives of these characters and unlocks lies and secrets. Seriously, this book is phenomenal. I will totally be looking into more Darby Kane books after this one!

Celeste Richardson

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

I wasn’t sure about this book when I first picked it up. While the synopsis sounded promising, domestic suspense tends to leave me unsatisfied, and the title alone made me wonder if it would be derivative of other popular novels in the genre. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Pretty Little Wife is well written, fast-paced, and just the right amount of twisty. There were no inclusions that were obviously there for shock factor alone, which was refreshing. I found it compelling enough that I read the last 200 pages in a single sitting. It was nice to have an unreliable narrator that I didn’t actively hate by the end of the novel. Overall, I found it surprisingly satisfying.

Juhi 

Brian Walborn

A breezy read with many twists and surprises. A great premise that ends up a bit far-fetched which ultimately brings down an otherwise terrific thriller.

Lauren Attaway

I really enjoyed this book, and it was a quick fun read for me! Even after I figured out what was happening, I was still able to be surprised by little details. This book felt very cinematic to me.

Caitlin Snyder

I read a lot of mystery/suspense novels and this one is in my top 5 favorites now! 

(+) Great characters and the switching between character voices didn't annoy me like some books

(-) The end was sort of predictable but not overly so

Tatyana

Story was amazing. The beginning caught me off guard a little but as you read the more you get into the story. The ending really shocked me.

Jordan Heustis

This was fine. I almost gave it four stars but overall I think it’s just average. Not in a good or bad way. The story had a good mystery that I was interested in but it didn’t really have that thrill aspect that made me want to read it in one sitting. I did really love the last two chapters though!

Moon of Pages

Lauren Lopez

This was solid and super fast paced thanks to the short chapters. I loved that the narrator was unreliable despite this not being a psychological thriller because it helped to keep you guessing at what part of the story you were missing. I really felt the suspense during the climax at the end, and I love how it all played out.

Debut author Darby Kane thrills with this twisty domestic suspense novel that asks one central question: shouldn’t a dead husband stay dead? Lila Ridgefield lives in an idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems. A student vanished months ago. Now, Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences until it’s discovered the student is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection, if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth…. With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of their beloved high school teacher. Everyone except Lila, his wife. She’s definitely confused about her missing husband but only because she was the last person to see his body, and now it’s gone.

Jordan Drumgold

Sooooo many twist and turns in this book and the massive shock at the end I never saw it coming 

NaTasna Jiggetts

This was my last book to read in 2020. I wanted it to be something good and suspensful and this book did not disappoint. My first impression of Lila was that she was quiet yet very independant and knew what she wanted out of life and how to get it. Now her husband Aaron was a complete douche and I did not like him from the beginning. He seemed to have a huge ego chip on his shoulder and no one could tell him that his shit stinks. Aaron in the book is known as the teacher that kids flock to and would neme him as the cool teacher and he was also the coach for some of the sports teams, so naturally all the parents loved him and he could not do anything wrong in their eyes. Oh but how wrong they were and secrets would start to come out. I cant go into great detail without giving up some spoilers but lets just say that you have a lead detecttive Ginny, who is also smart and doesnt let things go, a wise attorney Tobias who is also Lila's ex law partner and good friend, Jared who is Aaron's older brother and is complotely about to lose his shit, Brent the prinicpal of the school where Aaron disappeared. Each character will bring their own suspision to the story and you start to wonder what really happened and how will this end for Lila. Ugh I cant give away any spoilers, but Lila was not the last person to see her husband's dead body and you will be shocked at the secrets that come out at the cabin in the middle of nowhere :)

Samantha

Very well written, loved the strong female characters in this book. 

Kelsey Holtaway

Wendy M Holt

Katy B

Early on I wasn't sure if I would finish this book because the writing seemed weak. It started to pick up the pace and held my interest. For the longest time I couldn't figure out where this was going and no clue how this would tie up and why would any of these people leave notes? With about 100 pages left I figured out the ending, but some of the actions that person did still seemed off, even for a psychopath.

Victoria Hernandez 

I loved every second of this book. Darby Kane knows how to write a compelling story that not only weaves in unexpected twists but; addictive characters that keep the reader on their toes. 



Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

I didn't love this one quite as much as I had hoped to. It was good, fast-paced and interesting... it just lacked any sort of wow factor. I didn't care for any of the characters, and definitely wasn't floored by the ending. Overall, this one was good, but not great.

Pretty Little Wife A Novel

Reviews