If you’re a fan of over-the-top domestic thrillers in the vein of Freida McFadden, The Housewife is exactly the kind of book you pick up when you want to be wildly entertained rather than intellectually challenged. Think soap opera twists, deliciously messy secrets, suspicious spouses, and enough melodrama to crank the ridiculous meter up to an 11. I had a great time with it.
The novel opens with a housewife covered in blood before rewinding to tell us how everything unraveled. She adores cooking, cleaning, and creating the perfect home, but it’s immediately obvious that she’s hiding plenty of secrets. She’s newly married to a famous psychologist nearly twenty years her senior—a bestselling author and television personality—and their whirlwind romance moved from meeting to marriage in just three months. Now, only a month into married life, she’s consumed by curiosity about his ex-wife, Deborah, while trying to navigate a household that somehow includes both a full-time housekeeper and a housewife with no children. That irony made me smile more than once.
I intentionally recommend going into this one as blind as possible. The official blurb keeps some of the biggest surprises under wraps, and the story begins shifting in unexpected directions very early on. The less you know, the more fun it is.
This isn’t a thriller that’s striving for realism, and that’s part of its charm. It’s suspenseful, addictive, campy, and wonderfully dramatic. Yes, there are repetitive moments, but I found them easy to overlook because I was having so much fun watching the chaos unfold. It’s also an excellent audiobook or reading companion while you’re folding laundry, cleaning the kitchen, or tackling chores—you won’t have any trouble following along, and it’s incredibly easy to get hooked.
If you enjoy popcorn thrillers packed with outrageous twists, unreliable characters, and nonstop domestic drama, this one is well worth adding to your summer reading list.
Publishes June 30.
Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for the electronic ARC.
Leave a Reply