The Trapped Wife - Samantha Hayes

Reading Challenge Category: Free ARC from NetGalley

Official Blurb:

The rain hammers the glass outside. My husband has stoked the wood burner with a fresh supply of logs, and I’ve just put a joint of beef in the oven. It’s the most clichéd Sunday afternoon ever, and it’s the most heavenly one, too. Little do I know that days later, the ash in the fire will be all that remains of us…
My perfect life…
I thought I had it all – a dream job as a doctor in small town, a stunning home and a family I adore – but that illusion shattered the moment my husband Jeremy left on a work trip and vanished without a trace. Now my son and I are all alone in the world.
My missing husband…
My best friend thinks Jeremy had an accident up in the mountains, that I’ll never see him again and need to move on. I know he loves us too much to ever abandon us, but my head is still spinning with the texts I found on his phone before he left. Did I ever really know the man I married?
The night I can’t remember…
Everything changed the night of the medical conference weeks before Jeremy disappeared. I wrack my brains for answers, but my memory goes blank after my first drink. Ever since, I’ve felt like I’m being followed and can’t explain why panic thunders in my chest every time I see my newest patient. If he’s not local to the village, then why does he seem so familiar? And so dangerous?
As I piece together the shards of what really happened that fateful evening, only one thing can possibly be true: everyone is lying, even me…

My Thoughts:

We are thrown straight into Jennifer’s misery at the beginning of this book. She has lost her husband and is trying to rebuild her life and move on for the sake of her son.
She is a well-respected doctor in a small community where everyone knows each other’s business. This small fact is definitely her downfall in trying to keep everything together when someone from her past turns up, and consequently, she is trying to keep the biggest secret hidden from everyone around.
The story is told from differing viewpoints but mainly from Jennifer and her best friend Rhonda’s points of views. There are interspersing chapters where we see two young children becoming friends and forming a very sinister club. It becomes clear where this part of the story is going but not who the children are and their relevance to Jennifer.
There are lots of elements in this book to keep track of. It is not just about Jennifer, her blank memory and the loss of her husband. So much else is going on. It’s not over-complicated, though and keeps you gripped throughout.
The twists and turns at the end just keep on coming. I was expecting them based on previous books by this author, but they still side-swipe you. I had to sit for a moment a few times just to digest what I had just read. It was all cleverly written, and all the storylines come together and make sense at the end.
A fantastic five-star read and another one that has helped me get out of the reading rut I was finding myself in.

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