Reviews

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb

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hrobison11's review against another edition

2.0

Unfortunately, this one was a bit too predictable.

I will say, the ending was a bit of a twist, but it was just a weird story as a whole. The title was misleading. I wouldn't necessarily recommend this one.

akacya's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

2024 reads: 182/250

2024 tbr: 73/120

sophie o’neill is settling down with her husband and son in a small texas town after moving from chicago. just when she begins to get restless, she meets margot banks, who draws her into the hunting wives club. only, this club doesn’t only go hunting with guns. sophie finds herself slipping deeper into this nest of vipers, and soon, in the middle of a murder investigation.

everything about this book, from the homoerotic and toxic friendship to the small texas town setting, drew me in. however, most of the book was just boring. we get too many descriptions of mundane things. also, these grown, married women were messing around with eighteen-year-old boys (one of whom was their friend’s son)…gross. the mystery itself was pretty interesting, though, and i liked seeing how sophie tried to solve it.

darbyf's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

bookishrealm's review against another edition

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4.0

Let me go ahead and put it out there and let ya'll know that this book isn't for everyone. If you don't like books where not a single character has redeemable personality traits then I highly doubt that you will like this book. HOWEVER, if you like a book with extremely messy characters and extremely messy plot lines then this book is for you.

The Hunting Wives was a book of the month selection that I did not anticipate picking up as quickly as I did. I wasn't sure what to expect considering that the cover is simplistic and the description doesn't even begin to cover the craziness that ensues in this book. It focuses on a character by the name of Sophie who packs up her family to move to a smaller town to better suit her interest in becoming a full time blogger. After moving to this small town in Texas Sophie meets and eventually becomes obsessed with another woman by the name of Margot. Margot and some other women in town call themselves the hunting wives as they occasionally practice shooting in a clearing. Once that relationship is solidified, readers are fully immersed in the messiness of the women. When I say that not a single one of them has redeemable qualities, I mean that. They are selfish, unkind, shallow, and most importantly often unbothered with the feelings of their immediate family members. Their friendship is defined by their loyalty to Margot, but all of that is tested when a young woman is found dead in the same clearing where they practice shooting.

The best part of this book is the way that Cobb develops the characters and utilizes them to reveal detail by detail that leads to an interesting finale. It shocked me to learn that while I didn't like any of the characters, I found myself completely absorbed in the writing and literally could not wait to know more and more about each of the women especially Margot. This is also one of the spiciest thrillers that I've read. While it doesn't hold a candle to the steam that I typically get in some of my romance books, it does push the boundaries of what I've typically seen in the genre. Sophie is a pathetic character and as a main character I was shocked by how much I disliked her; however, I couldn't tear myself away from reading about the continuous ways that she screwed over her husband and family. All because she (as a grown woman) was desperate to fit in. It was very Mean Girls, I want to be like the other girls and while that would have traditionally caused me to rate this book lower, it simply piqued my interest more.

The writing and pacing of this book were great. If anything, I think that it balances the despicable characters. Cobb plays a little bit with time where we get both past and present perspectives of Sophie's life which adds to the overall imagery of Sophie's greatest betrayals. While I'm typically pretty good about figuring out the twist and turns in a lot of thrillers and mysteries, I struggled to put any pieces of the puzzle together for this novel. I had quite a few suspects, some obvious and others not so much and I still was shocked by the ending of the book. It's one that I didn't see coming.

Overall, this was an interesting read. It's the first time that I've come across characters that I've disliked this much and still managed to enjoy the book. That definitely speaks to the writing skills of May Cobb. I'm looking forward to reading more by her in the future.