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3.28 AVERAGE
3.28 AVERAGE
That didn't play out as I thought it would.
I love a good thriller and The Starter Wife does not disappoint. In fact, it delivers a bigger punch than I expected. What starts as marital bliss ends up as... well, I don't want to give it away.
Claire Westcott has it all; the beautiful house, a writing career, and a doting husband. But something seems to be a bit off. Nothing too obvious, but little by little you begin to realize that there's more to the picture than first meets the eye. This is the set-up for many a successful thriller, but what sets this one apart is its duplicitous nature. As readers, we depend on red flags to help us discern what is going on that the narrator fails to tell us outright. Nina Laurin is a magician with red flags, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor and wonder how did she do that?
The novel is told from two points of view. The main voice belongs to Claire Westcott, who is always striving to live up to her husband's high standards. The other more sinister italicized voice belongs to an unnamed person who seems to know the whole story—a story involving a mysterious suicide. The alternating perspectives make for a heck of a read, and has you questioning everything you think is fact.
As far as characters go, I can safely say that I didn't like any of them. Claire Westcott, her literature professor husband Byron, even Colleen May, the deceased first wife—everyone seems to bring out the worst in each other. Laurin explores the limits of jealousy, obsession, and deceit in a way that seems like reasonable behavior. Byron Westcott may not be fully healed from the loss of his first wife, Colleen, and Claire maybe unfairly held to impossible standards by her husband. Does that mean the sneaking around and attempts to catch each other in a lie is warranted behavior? Sometimes, sacrifices are made for the good of a relationship. The question in The Starter Wife is how far is too far?
The Starter Wife is not a book you can put down and be done with. As I sat digesting the story, unresolved details would suddenly slip into place. It is satisfying to read something so deceptive as The Starter Wife and I recommend it to anyone who thinks they can't be fooled.
I love a good thriller and The Starter Wife does not disappoint. In fact, it delivers a bigger punch than I expected. What starts as marital bliss ends up as... well, I don't want to give it away.
Claire Westcott has it all; the beautiful house, a writing career, and a doting husband. But something seems to be a bit off. Nothing too obvious, but little by little you begin to realize that there's more to the picture than first meets the eye. This is the set-up for many a successful thriller, but what sets this one apart is its duplicitous nature. As readers, we depend on red flags to help us discern what is going on that the narrator fails to tell us outright. Nina Laurin is a magician with red flags, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor and wonder how did she do that?
The novel is told from two points of view. The main voice belongs to Claire Westcott, who is always striving to live up to her husband's high standards. The other more sinister italicized voice belongs to an unnamed person who seems to know the whole story—a story involving a mysterious suicide. The alternating perspectives make for a heck of a read, and has you questioning everything you think is fact.
As far as characters go, I can safely say that I didn't like any of them. Claire Westcott, her literature professor husband Byron, even Colleen May, the deceased first wife—everyone seems to bring out the worst in each other. Laurin explores the limits of jealousy, obsession, and deceit in a way that seems like reasonable behavior. Byron Westcott may not be fully healed from the loss of his first wife, Colleen, and Claire maybe unfairly held to impossible standards by her husband. Does that mean the sneaking around and attempts to catch each other in a lie is warranted behavior? Sometimes, sacrifices are made for the good of a relationship. The question in The Starter Wife is how far is too far?
The Starter Wife is not a book you can put down and be done with. As I sat digesting the story, unresolved details would suddenly slip into place. It is satisfying to read something so deceptive as The Starter Wife and I recommend it to anyone who thinks they can't be fooled.
I love all Nina’s book, very twisty and wild, and sorta hard to stomach. Great ending and twist but also alittle sad because someone (no spoilers) is innocent and definitely gets the brunt of the hate. Very easy read!
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
4.5 stars.
The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin is a gripping domestic mystery.
Claire and Byron Westcott have been married for two years. She is an aspiring novelist and he is a college professor. Twenty years younger than Byron, Claire lives in the shadow of his first wife, Colleen, who committed suicide years earlier. At first blissfully happy, Claire is troubled by a recent distance between herself and Byron. But exactly how far is Claire willing to go to save her marriage?
Claire initially comes across as an even-keeled woman who is naturally upset by the changes in her husband's attention to her. But she figures she is partially to blame for the growing rift. The past few months have gone by in a bit of haze due to drinking and strange bouts of not feeling quite herself. Claire thinks she knows exactly what she needs to do to hang on to her man, but she has a few obstacles to overcome to achieve her goal. She also becomes obsessed with finding out more details about Colleen so she turns to an acquaintance who reveals some very enlightening information. As Claire begins snooping around in Byron's past, she begins to slowly unravel.
Byron is a bit of an enigmatic figure since he is spends most of his time away from home. He is quite solicitous of Claire, but she cannot help but wonder if he has an ulterior motive. Byron takes steps to rekindle their waning romance, but will Claire be receptive to his overtures?
Passages written from an unknown person's perspective add a high degree of suspense to the unfolding story. This person is clearly a bit unhinged and willing to do anything to get close to the object of their obsession. But is this person involved with some of the troubling events occurring in Claire's life?
The Starter Wife is a very entertaining and engrossing mystery. Claire is an intriguing character who slowly devolves over the course of the novel. The storyline is quite clever and fast-paced. With a few well placed red herrings and a series of misdirects, Nina Laurin brings this brilliant mystery to a twist-filled, jaw-dropping conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this suspenseful mystery to readers of the genre.
The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin is a gripping domestic mystery.
Claire and Byron Westcott have been married for two years. She is an aspiring novelist and he is a college professor. Twenty years younger than Byron, Claire lives in the shadow of his first wife, Colleen, who committed suicide years earlier. At first blissfully happy, Claire is troubled by a recent distance between herself and Byron. But exactly how far is Claire willing to go to save her marriage?
Claire initially comes across as an even-keeled woman who is naturally upset by the changes in her husband's attention to her. But she figures she is partially to blame for the growing rift. The past few months have gone by in a bit of haze due to drinking and strange bouts of not feeling quite herself. Claire thinks she knows exactly what she needs to do to hang on to her man, but she has a few obstacles to overcome to achieve her goal. She also becomes obsessed with finding out more details about Colleen so she turns to an acquaintance who reveals some very enlightening information. As Claire begins snooping around in Byron's past, she begins to slowly unravel.
Byron is a bit of an enigmatic figure since he is spends most of his time away from home. He is quite solicitous of Claire, but she cannot help but wonder if he has an ulterior motive. Byron takes steps to rekindle their waning romance, but will Claire be receptive to his overtures?
Passages written from an unknown person's perspective add a high degree of suspense to the unfolding story. This person is clearly a bit unhinged and willing to do anything to get close to the object of their obsession. But is this person involved with some of the troubling events occurring in Claire's life?
The Starter Wife is a very entertaining and engrossing mystery. Claire is an intriguing character who slowly devolves over the course of the novel. The storyline is quite clever and fast-paced. With a few well placed red herrings and a series of misdirects, Nina Laurin brings this brilliant mystery to a twist-filled, jaw-dropping conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this suspenseful mystery to readers of the genre.
The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin checked all the boxes a thriller does. There was romance with an air of mystery, ambiguous narration to build suspense, a jawdropping twist, and a big reveal of what was really going down. So, there's that. This book is about a husband's current wife being strangely haunted by her husband's first wife who was deceased. There is lingering suspicious that said husband may have murdered his wife even though it had originally been ruled death by suicide. Claire now finds herself increasingly swept up in this concern, particularly because it seems this first wife is now haunting her. Y'all, there was a twist in this one that I did not see coming. I knew there was going to be something, of course, but I did not figure it out until it was explicitly revealed. That was the peak of the read for sure, and it's worth reading for that moment and the subsequent unraveling. That said, I didn't enjoy the book as much once the big reveal happened. It was just so much build-up to that, and the last bit wasn't as captivating. It wasn't bad per se, but it just wasn't the same build, and I want to be real with y'all about how I felt. Overall, this is definitely an ideal page-turning beach read, and it's coming your way in June. Thanks to NetGalley for a sneak peek of another great read.
I don't think the events at the beginning fit with the plot twist at all.
However, this was fun and fast-paced so I did enjoy it.
Spoiler
If Claire killer Colleen, why is she spending half the book looking for her killer?However, this was fun and fast-paced so I did enjoy it.
⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2 this was a pretty standard thriller. The twist was what I expected from the start, but I still found it entertaining. The writing felt kinda sloppy to me - random things just didn’t fit or weren’t really explained…nothing that impacted the story, but I don’t know - it bugged me. I recommend it if you’re looking for a quick thriller.
If I had to describe this book in one word I would say "frustrating".
The main character, Claire, was incredibly annoying and unlikeable. She's constantly drunk. She constantly makes misogynistic comments about all the other female characters. I didn't care what happens to her at all, I just wanted to know if my theory about what happened was correct. It was. Which wasn't surprising since it became fairly obvious before the middle of the book.
The main character, Claire, was incredibly annoying and unlikeable. She's constantly drunk. She constantly makes misogynistic comments about all the other female characters. I didn't care what happens to her at all, I just wanted to know if my theory about what happened was correct. It was. Which wasn't surprising since it became fairly obvious before the middle of the book.
for some reasons i flew through this book but i think it was waiting for something exciting to happen. it was written to where it was an easy read just nothing that made me think it was better than 3 stars.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Toxic relationship