The Wife Before Me

How it reads

The Wife Before Me is thriller (domestic thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is tense. The suspense is the kind you feel in your shoulders. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a big city setting, in the recent past, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are secrets, love and family. In weight it's light and escapist — easy to fall into.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 374 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's moderately known: read by plenty of people, but not a household name.