The Last Wife by Karen Hamilton
Two women. A dying wish. And a web of lies that will bring their world crashing down.
Nina and Marie were best friends-until Nina was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Before she died, Nina asked Marie to fulfill her final wishes.
But her mistake was in thinking Marie was someone she could trust.
What Nina didn't know was that Marie always wanted her beautiful life, and that Marie has an agenda of her own. She'll do anything to get what she wants.
Marie thinks she can keep her promise to her friend's family on her own terms. But what she doesn't know is that Nina was hiding explosive secrets of her own...
Praise for THE LAST WIFE:
'Taut and tense from the first page to the closing paragraphs - a touching tale that really hit home'
Sun
'Fast-moving and fun, with an obsessive, Machiavellian, yet enjoyably self-aware narrator'
Observer
'If you enjoyed The Perfect Girlfriend you'll love The Last Wife - another fabulously dark central character with a great twisty plot' Harriet Tyce, bestselling author of Blood Orange
Author Bio:
Karen Hamilton spent her childhood in Angola, Zimbabwe, Belgium and Italy and worked as a flight attendant for many years. Karen is a recent graduate of the Faber Academy and, having now put down roots in Hampshire to raise her young family with her husband, she satisfies her wanderlust by exploring the world through her writing. Karen's first novel, The Perfect Girlfriend, was a Sunday Times bestseller. The Last Wife is her latest novel.
Review
‘The Last Wife’ is a tense thriller which entrapped me from the first page to the last. It was gripping, surprising, shocking and was definitely a page turner as I stayed up waaaay to late one night to finish it.
At first I was all set to hate the main character Marie and thought the plot might be the usual thing best friend dies, she moves in. But there is so much more to this book and it surprised me. The nuances in the plot regarding Marie and her relationship with Nina. How the past affects the present, how secrets have remained buried for years but Marie is just finding them out now. My feelings towards Marie oscillated from hating her, feeling confused, liking her, then I don’t quite know how I feel towards her now I have finished the book. I would definitely like to see book groups tackle this and see how they see her in the end.
Especially, about the subject of self-projection of her imagine onto the therapists.
Sometimes I find myself ambivalent when it comes to stories that have that nuclear family idea as that’s so far from my life and wishes. But this one gripped me and I felt the emotions of the plot and understood the motivations behind the protagonist of the story. This one was just excellent in my mind. The narrative developed at a great pace and the alternation between the present and the past set it up for a great show down at the end. Basically, I loved it but I don’t want to say too much about the actual storyline as I don’t want to ruin it for people. It’s so good once the side plots start to come into play! Just read it people.
Apologises to Karen and the publisher as I was meant to be on the blogtour for this book last week but I had a bit of an admin error and thought it was booked in for January! Idiot Lynsey 🤦.
