The Next Wife

By: Liz Lawler

Narrated by: Zara Ramm

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

She watched the man help her out of the car. How could he bring this woman here and not change a thing? She wondered if his new wife was going to be safe in this house. 

Daniel is everything I ever dreamed of. A handsome, successful doctor who truly swept me off my feet. I can’t wait to get back from our honeymoon and begin our new lives together.

Except, rather than taking us back to our flat, Daniel announces we are moving to a new house in a different city. And when we arrive, the house is fully furnished, with plates in the cupboard, pictures on the walls and new clothes in my closet. It’s like someone already lives here. It seems a bit strange. But I know Daniel is just trying to make sure our new life is perfect, right from the start.

And it is perfect. He’s perfect.

Until one day, Daniel makes a mistake. One that has terrible consequences. And he blames me.

I suddenly don’t recognize the kind, selfless man I fell in love with.

And soon after, an elderly lady I’ve often seen on our street knocks on the door. She tells me that I need to be careful, that I can’t trust my husband.

That I should ask him what happened to his first wife.

Liz Lawler, the true master of psychological suspense, is back with a heart-stopping, dark, and twisted story of what really goes on behind closed doors. Fans of Samantha Downing, B A Paris, and JP Delaney will be totally enthralled. 

©2020 Liz Lawler (P)2020 Bookouture, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.

Masochistic idiot woman...

If you like reading about women who live with psychopath torturer rapist and actually want to bring an innocent life into that nightmare you will love this. Spoiler!!!________
**** He goes missing and she is WORRIED. Why isn’t she RUNNING? I’ve never disliked a protagonist so much. I understand not being able to leave because finances and fear.... but I don’t understand still CARING. This woman was a professional... ugh . Another weak, soft hearted woman willing to be tortured by her poor “sad” man. I’m literally nauseated. The little twisty turns at the end did not save this book. They made little sense and were silly. I feel silly myself for having read this. I like domestic thrillers...I don’t like silly, weak women who are capable and educated. Stop the madness!

Pathetic Main Character

This book made me mental! The women in the story was such a weak woman. She has so many chances to change her circumstances and ignores them. I know this happens sometimes with domestic violence but it would have been nice to see her grow a backbone. If you like strong female leads don’t recommend this book. If you like domestic thrillers and don’t mind weak characters then you might enjoy it. I will say the book held my attention but it had me gritting my teeth in frustration.

So boring

The story finally got interesting with about an hour left in the book. The rest of it was barely worth my time. I found myself skipping ahead continuously. I’m so tired of these books being advertised as having breathless twists and twists you wont see coming. That is definitely not the case with this title. Not only are there not really any twists to speak of, I ceased to care about these people after listening for about 30 minutes.

Sooo Much Promise In First Half!

The Next Wife starts off brilliantly. I was sucked in to the story of a young woman who's married her dream husband- a handsome, wealthy, successful surgeon. They've moved to small town England from London to start their new life together.

Immediately things start to spiral out of control when ' Tess' (our heroine), gets to know her husband at their new home which is an old mansion with outdated furniture and allure. When Tess' husband starts to become a completely different person, she is stunned and shocked. The first half of the story is fantastic and I was really excited to see what would happen. The second half started to get out of control.

There are too many sub stories going on, and I found myself wanting to smack some sense in the main character. It's too bad that the story got to be too winded, because it had a lot of potential. Alas, I would still recommend the book (if you can get it on a daily or free), but I was disappointed.

-Wendi

lots of twists

Great story! Kept me coming back for more, loved the characters and the dialogue. Narrator was excellent!

Wasn't prepared for this

This was a decent listen for the most part. The domestic violence was unsettling when you don't expect it. It was a little too graphic for my taste. I have a little problem with the ending. Just barreled through it faster than it should have been. Plus, it..it would give it away if I finished that.

The end was better than the middle

I nearly gave up on this book, as it was so stupid in the middle with how she didn’t stop what was happening or tell anyone about it and her reasons for staying weren’t convincing.
The violence in this book is also graphic and unpleasant and potentially triggering.

Un acierto para los thrillers domésticos

La narradora haciendo voces de hombre era odiosa, eso hizo que casi dejara el libro más de una vez.
Esta historia fue un thriller doméstico clásico y me pareció muy bien llevado. El ritmo era bueno y me mantuvo entretenida.
El giro puede verse a kilómetros de distancia para los lectores más experimentados, y el final es satisfactorio. Incluso demasiado "bien acomodado", al grado de pasarse de lo creíble. Sin embargo, no por eso es menos disfrutable.
Lo recomendaría a mis amigos que se inician apenas en el género o que prefieren misterios ligeros.

Now that was good

Finally a good thriller. The narrators are all different for the characters and they all are great!

Wow!

This book was so well written! Possibly one of my favorites of all time! Worth the credit or cash!

Frustrating & unbelievable

I understand women can get stuck in relationships that are toxic, staying with abusive partners because they have their self-esteem stripped, or have no access to finances. This story was just so far from realistic, the abuse starts after just a few months and its extreme. She wouldn't be brainwashed that quickly to not just grab her bag and go. He takes her bank card...order another one! There is absolutely no reason why this woman would consider killing herself before considering leaving!!
This could have been a good book if the build up was slower; but because of the speed and extreme abuse so quickly, it just made me annoyed at the woman and disbelieving.

Good listen

Story enjoyable, and bought because I so enjoyed Zara ramm’s narration of Jodi fosters books .

I wouldn’t bother

This book started off well enough and I was enjoying it. I excused some of the unlikely reactions towards her husbands increasingly awful behaviour and went with it BUT from the moment she didn’t leave when she planned to despite her husband leaving the house it just got ridiculous.
Completely unbelievable with so many holes in it

Enjoyable listen

I found this book to be an enjoyable, easy listen. The story has a twist at the end but a coherent one. I enjoy Liz Lawler books and this was no exception.

Passed my day okay

Intriguing start, but Ended rushed and head-mushing. The 'twist' doesn't quite work for me. And the "Just one more night then I'll go" hmmm. I just think most people would have been gone in a shot.

same old, same old

dramatic vice to describe everyday actions to try to make the story drag out and sound more interesting 'she took the cup and placed a tea bag on and poured in the boiled water from the kettle'....thats the gist of it.

Well......

No wonder it was in the sale: Mills and Boon crossed with Hello!!
Full of inconsistencies: for example: A Vascular Consultant DOES NOT deal with Alzheimers!!
and please tell me.. who gets raped twice by her husband then the next day makes him a cuppa!!
and do not get me started on the flowery, utopian language when she finds out she's pregnant... AFTER being raped.
Garbage.

wasted a credit

I was hoping it would improve, after a slow start.First few chapters focus to much on hospital situation,was like and episode of ER.
Final chapters were far to drawn out with no real addition to the already un interesting story.

Loved loved I've listened to it twice now thsnks

Just fantastic, you think you're worked out the plot so many times to be wrong what a great book you should be extremely proud of yourself love love everyone needs to here this book can't wait for more please would make a brilliant film omg someone needs to be on this all the best kerry

Great

Loved this Audio book, listened in a day, excellent narrator great I loved this book