My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney review: A thriller that keeps you guessing

My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney: The review

Alice Feeney is the queen of twists, of keeping you in suspense. I’ve only read two of her books so far, but it’s safe to say both of them have had me completely addicted (see my review of His & Hers from December). I daresay that the twists and intrigue of My Husband’s Wife are even greater than His & Hers, however. A more intelligent person than I may have figured out what was happening at some point, but I was completely in the dark until the last several pages, until Alice wanted me to know.

That’s the way Alice writes her books, you see: captivating, beautiful, flowing prose. The words themselves make perfect sense, and you’ll be hooked from the beginning. But the plot? Intangible and elusive, it will play with you, keep you guessing, keep you hanging on its every word. It takes a very clever writer to do that, and that’s Alice Feeney to a T. I feel like I’m her ideal reader; someone who hangs onto every word, but is never very good at figuring things out for themselves. Alice keeps me in the dark until she’s ready to turn on the light.

My Husband’s Wife starts with a very intriguing inciting incident: a wife, after her run, returns home to find her key for her front door doesn’t fit in the lock. A woman answers the door – a woman who looks strangely like her – and tells her she must he mistaken; that isn’t her home. Her husband doesn’t recognise her either. He threatens to call the police if she doesn’t go away.

That woman is Eden, and while the story begins with her, with what on earth is happening to her, My Husband’s Wife also becomes Birdy’s story. Birdy has just found out she’s terminally ill, and she’s compelled to return to the town where her grandmother lived – the town where Eden lives now.

Birdy is an intriguing character, and while she doesn’t pose as many questions initially as Eden, she will still leave you scratching your head. Both women’s stories are infatuating and genuinely intriguing, but both will keep you guessing to the very end. I loved how different they initially were, how I had no idea how they would possibly fit together.

I’ll be honest and confess I was convinced My Husband’s Wife must be sci-fi. “Alice Feeney must now write sci-fi. It’s the only way any of this can make sense,” I had said to myself. “Eden must be a clone, surely, because there’s no other explanation.” Reader, there was. When it comes to Feeney, there always is. It’s good, it makes sense, and it’s pure thriller. Well, almost. I’ll leave you to discover Thanatos, the company that can apparently predict the day you’re going to die, for yourself.

While I felt some plot points were unnecessary, and a few more clues throughout to shed a tiny bit of light on the real nature of events might not have gone amiss, there’s no denying that I loved every minute of My Husband’s Wife. I’m two books in to my Alice Feeney discovery tour, and I cannot wait to see what else I have to enjoy.