The Liar’s Wife by Samantha Hayes @samhayes @Bookouture #BlogBlitz #MustRead

Today I’m thrilled to be on the #BlogBlitz for The Liar’s Wife by Samantha Hayes. I have to say “blog blitz or no blog blitz” I would still be raving about this book I absolutely loved this twisted tale. You can read on for my thoughts but first the book description……..

Loving husband? Or total stranger?

When Ella wakes up in a hospital following a hit-and-run incident, she is scared and confused. Close to tears, her eyes fall on a get-well-soon card on the window sill and the nurse reassures her that her loving husband will be back soon…

But Ella has never been married.

In fact, she has lived alone her whole adult life; working hard, rarely socialising, quietly harbouring a terrible secret from her past.

Fear sweeps through Ella when she instantly recognises the man who enters the ward. He is not her husband, but she knows that she must do as he says and play the part of dutiful wife. What choice does she have? He was there the night of the fire, he knows her secret too…

Oh my freaking god! What a fabulous and compelling read The Liar’s Wife by Samantha Hayes turned out to be. I must be honest when I read the book description I wasn’t convinced it would be an original read, as I’ve read numerous psychological thrillers where the protagonist wakes up from a coma with no memory, but what makes this one so different is in the telling of a very twisted and disturbing tale. I must mention the author has surpassed herself and this is definitely the best book I’ve read by the author YET! As to Hayes imagination it’s twisted and very, very devious, but I absolutely loved this shocker of a book.

When Ella wakes up in hospital following a hit-and-run incident, her loving and caring husband Jacob is there, eager for her to get well and move into their new home, there’s only one problem Ella has no recollection of marrying Jacob! Who is the man who claims to be married to Ella? And what hold does he have over Ella? You immediately sense the tension between the the couple, there’s something off about their relationship that raises alarm bells, and I couldn’t wait to read on and find out what secrets this strange couple were hiding.

Ella is a character I found mystifying, a woman whose mantra is “home,work, sleep” keeps work colleagues at a arms length and appears to have no friends or family, but Hayes deftly pulls back the layers of this complex character and you realise there maybe a very good reason for her odd behaviour. There are sporadic chapters that delve into Ella’s past and these were the ones I found the most disturbing, Hayes manages to inject a sense of foreboding into each chapter which made this read all the more compelling. As for Jacob, oh how I loathed him, this is a man with not one redeeming feature, he’s cruel, manipulative, he literally made my skin crawl, as for his backstory it’s a shocker and one that left me stunned, as to the why, well you are just going to have to read the book and find out for yourself.

If I had one small niggle it would be the fact that I thought Ella could have done more to save herself from a very dangerous situation (vague I know but I would hate to give away spoilers) although the author does give a plausible reason for her behaviour so I was happy to push the boundaries of my own imagination. The Liar’s Wife has to be one of the most exciting psychological thrillers I’ve read this year, it incorporates all the elements I love in a read, mystery, suspense horror, and drama. Would I recommend this book? Definitely even if it means you have to beg, steal or borrow it (on second thoughts just buy it you won’t disappointed I promise).

This is going to come as no surprise but I’m giving The Liar’s Wife the very prestigious Gold Star Award Rating. It’s given to a book I feel is particularly outstanding, a book that covers every aspect of what I look for in a read, an original plot, great characters and a storyline that draws me in from the first page and kept me in its grips until I reached the very last page.

Print Length: 361 pages
Publisher: Bookouture (22 Nov. 2018)

Buying links: Amazon UK 🇬🇧 Amazon US🇺🇸

Samantha Hayes grew up in Warwickshire, left school at sixteen, avoided university and took jobs ranging from private detective to barmaid to fruit picker and factory worker. She lived on a kibbutz, and spent time living in Australia and the USA, before finally becoming a crime-writer.

Her writing career began when she won a short story competition in 2003 and her ninth novel, THE REUNION, was published February 2018. Her novels are family-based psychological thrillers, with the emphasis being on ‘real life fiction’. She focuses on current issues and sets out to make her readers ask, ‘What if this happened to me or my family?’

GOOD HOUSEKEEPING says “We’re big fans of Samantha Hayes. Her believable psychological thrillers are completely gripping…”

To find out more, visit her website www.samanthahayes.co.uk

Or connect with Samantha on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaHayesAuthor

And she’s on Twitter @samhayes