You’re not who you say you are, neither is she: The Fake Wife by Sharon Bolton #TheFakeWife #NetGalley

Olive Anderson is dining alone at a hotel when a glamourous stranger joins her table, pretending to be her wife. What starts as a thrilling game quickly turns into something dangerous. But as much as the fake wife has her secrets, Olive just might have more . . . 
The Fake Wife is an unputdownable thriller that will shock and surprise you like the best television boxsets. If you enjoyed Netflix shows like Behind Her Eyes, The Stranger and Obsession you will love The Fake Wife.

💗💗💗💗.5

Hi and welcome to my review of The Fake Wife!

I’d been waiting for a new Sharon Bolton for what felt like ages so I started The Fake Wife with ridiculously high expectations. To be perfectly honest, for a minute there, I thought I’d end up a tad disappointed. I was intrigued from the start, don’t get me wrong, but I expect more than a solid thriller from Bolton, I expect to be blown away. 

While that didn’t happen right away, The Fake Wife did end up blowing my mind and most likely destroying a few brain cells in the process cos boy, was it hard to figure out how everything fit together! The Fake Wife sure kept me on my toes and at one point I must have had a dozen wild theories floating around in my head. 

The formatting of the NetGalley ARC on my e-reader was quite frankly rather awful, which I think is to blame for my getting caught up in the story a bit more slowly than I usually do with this author, but despite that, I was hooked before I knew it. If I could have, I would have blown off work to keep reading and polish off that last quarter of the book, as the suspense was killing me!

A shout-out to our police duo, Garry and Lexy, whose banter I gobbled up, with the latter giving me serious Lacey Flint vibes (if you haven’t read Bolton’s Flint series, this is your cue to do so, seriously, you’re missing out!), and the former, well, I may have developed a teeny tiny bookish crush on Gazza 🥰😳😂

Part psychological thriller, part police procedural, The Fake Wife is a meticulously and very cleverly plotted, multi-layered story that keeps its cards close to its chest and is slow to reveal its characters’ many MANY secrets. With its gradual build-up throughout and breakneck speed at the end, it had my head spinning and my heart racing. I had a fantastic time with The Fake Wife and I would definitely recommend it.

The Fake Wife is out now in hardcover, digital formats and audio.

Massive thanks to Orion and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.