One in Three

By: Tess Stimson

Narrated by: Bea Holland, Victoria Fox, Julie Maisey, Joan Walker, Kris Dyer

Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

A brilliantly twisty new thriller - perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell.

Both of them loved him. One of them killed him....

Louise has had to watch her husband, Andrew, start a new family in the four years since he left her. The ‘other woman’ is now his wife - but Louise isn’t ready to let Caz enjoy the life that was once hers or to let go of the man she still loves.

As Louise starts to dig into Caz’s past, the two women’s pretence of civility starts to slip. But in trying to undermine each other, they discover more about the man they both married. And when Andrew is murdered at a family party, both women are found standing over the body.

It’s always the wife. But which one?

©2020 Tess Stimson (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"I devoured One in Three, with its well-drawn characters, believably complex relationships and relentlessly twisting plot that keeps the [listener] guessing. Plus, Tess Stimson writes beautifully." (Debbie Howells)

"One in Three is just fantastic - complex, intriguing, fast-paced, with a brilliant, compelling cast. I loved it!" (Alex Lake)

"I raced through this tale of a murderous love triangle. Tense, twisty, and that ending - wow!" (Jackie Kabler)

"Love and hate. All of nothing."

Strangely, I enjoyed every moment of this book. And I say 'strangely' because to me the plot was fairly idiotic, the main characters (in particular the current and ex wives of the soon-to-be murdered husband) were well developed but unbelievable, and the final resolution, the identification of the killer, was, indeed, the one I had expected for at least half of the book. But still, I loved it.

Andrew Page is murdered, stabbed, at the remotely located gathering of guests attending the golden wedding anniversary party of Loise's parents. Louise had been married to Andrew for fourteen plus years before he had divorced her to marry the elegant Caroline. The two women, understandably, violently disliked each other, played for his attention and frequently felt hurt or resentful over his reactions. Stating a few weeks prior to the fatal day of the party, characters are revealed and the story is told out mostly in alternating first person accounts from the points of view of the two wives, current and ex, with intermittent cuts to police interviews or an alternate third party. By this clever technique, the reader's sympathies are kept in an indecision over who might be responsible for the ultimate denouement, and why.

The Audiobook has several narrators, although the similarity of the female reader's voices rather negated this otherwise clever idea. The introduction of a male voice for the police investigator was a clear marker of the change to present day,,however. All of the performances were good.

As previously stated, I really enjoyed listening to this book despite the near absence of plot and a dependence on the personalities of the protagonists. It was absorbing, engrossing and, at times, repulsive and it commanded my interest throughout - not to determine the perpetrator (I had already, correctly as it happened, settled on that from quite early in the story), but from sheer pleasure at the interpretations each wife presented, and batty though both could be, the emotional joys and hurting of both clearly emerged.
But enough of that: get the book and read it for yourself.