The Dream Wife by Louisa de Lange @paperclipgirl @orion_crime

Source: Netgalley

Publication: 4^th October 2018 from Orion

Pp: 368

ISBN-13: 978-1409180197

 

Annie is the dream wife.

Mother to two-year-old Johnny and wife to David, she is everything her husband expects her to be – supportive, respectful and mild – but what he expects isn’t who she truly is.

Annie is a prisoner in her home.

Her finances, her routine, her social life are all controlled by him. It’s the love for her boy that she lives for, and at night she dreams of a world where she is free.

But Annie is going to fight back.

And you won’t believe how she is going to do it . .

 

The Dream Wife is a psychological thriller with a difference. In some ways, it can be compared to Sarah Pinborough’s Behind Her Eyes, certainly in as far as both books are extremely well written, compelling and with an unusual premise.

The Dream Wife is about Annie, a woman in the grip of a relationship that is all about coercive control. A stay at home mother of 2 year old son, Johnny, she is sandwiched between an offensive, vicious husband and his even more controlling mother. The poor woman hardly has any life of her own, but she lives for her son, Johnny and she dreams of a different life.

All Annie’s hopes and dreams are vested in Johnny. Her life growing up was no barrel of laughs and she wants more for her son than she ever had, which is mainly what stops running off with him to a woman’s shelter her but at the same time she knows that she won’t be able to protect him if she stays in her controlling and violent relationship.

Caught in a noose that she can’t escape from, Annie finds a way to relieve her nerves and tension, and in doing so, begins to think that there may, after all, be a way to resolve her situation. What happens thereafter is of nightmare proportions and will certainly cause the reader to question everything they have known to date.

Unpredictable, certainly different and yet quite logical, this is an unusual high concept psychological thriller from a debut writer of promise.

The Dream Wife certainly kept me on the hook and once I had started, I didn’t stop reading until I was finished.

Verdict: Well written, surprising and really very gripping.

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About Louisa de Lange

Louisa lives in Hampshire with her son and husband. When  not writing she can be found pounding the streets in running shoes, or hiding behind a camera lens. She has too many book cases, too many books she hasn’t read, and too much of an addiction to American TV.

Follow Louisa on Twitter @paperclipgirl