My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing Review

 Title: My Lovely Wife

Author: Samantha Downing

Age Group: Adult

Genre: Thriller

Series: Standalone

Star Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

               I borrowed this book from my local library and reviewed it.

                I’ve had My Lovely Wife on my list since before it came out, and I was so excited to finally snag a copy through my interlibrary loan system. When I was finished with Kingsbane, I pushed this book to the top of my stack and finished it in a little under two days. This book was like Dexter meets Mr. and Mrs. Smith, only without the spy stuff. It was dark, chilling, weirdly funny, and more than a little bit terrifying. Granted, it didn’t help that I’ve been watching true crime shows on repeat since my summer began, but moving on… Samantha Downing has penned a deliciously smart and creepy debut worthy of Gillian Flynn. But to compare this book to one of the queens of crime is to do is Downing a disservice. What a way to break the mystery/thriller genre wide open! Definitely one of my favorite and terrifying books of 2019, and I can’t wait to see what’s coming next!

                The unnamed narrator and his wife, Millicent, seem to have it all. A passionate, loving marriage, two children, money, and prestige. But they have a dark, deadly secret that could ruin them. To keep the passion in their marriage alive, he and Millicent kill women. Yes, you read that right, they kill people! When they give in to their awful, unsettling urge, they start targeting young women, and in the process, resurrect a local bogeyman. The couple’s murderous hobby leads to their entire family’s lives being upended, and as the stakes get higher, they begin to wonder if they can indeed get away with murder…

                This book; I can’t even fully describe how it made me feel. It was chilling, more than a bit creepy, dark and weirdly funny. It really made me wonder how much we really know the people we interact with every day: our families, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. The pacing was breakneck, and I was absolutely spellbound by the unnamed narrator and his strange marriage to Millicent. It was truly terrifying. Even so, I couldn’t stop reading; the twists and turns had me gasping, screaming, and practically tearing my hair out as the book went on. It was so compelling; so much so, in fact, that I found myself thinking about it even while I was sleeping. I loved all of the characters, and they all complemented each other. Millicent and her husband are a match made in hell, and the ending had my jaw on the floor! I got so many feelings from this book, and it really got me thinking about the monsters that wear human faces and mask the ultimate evils. This creepy, visceral debut novel was incredibly dark and weirdly funny, and I loved every tense, crazy moment of it. I can’t wait to see what Samantha Downing has in store for us next! The bottom line: Scary, smart, horrendous and thrilling, I loved My Lovely Wife! An absolute knockout for the thriller genre! Next on deck: The Candle and the Flame by Nafiza Azad!