The Third Wife: A psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Family Upstairs

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Here's where the book got complex for me, Adrian has two previous wives and children to both of those wives, all of them, both ex-wives plus Maya, plus all the kids do things together, they holiday together, they spend time with each other, Adrian keeps his ties pretty tight to the past, Maya is not only the third wife, but she's the third wife that can't escape the previous two. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.

As is the case with her other books the structure of the mystery element to the story is so well done, and that makes it very gripping to read because you do want to know what happened to Maya and who Jane is. One of the things that I like about Lisa Jewell's books is that each one is different and unpredictable--this is true of The Third Wife. She currently lives in Swiss Cottage, London with her husband Jascha, and daughters Amelie Mae (born 2003) and Evie Scarlett (born 2007). What I found most interesting about Adrian was that in addition to being so happy, he didn’t think he had any flaws.

The mystery surrounding his wife’s death exposes some hidden unsettledness within the family system, and casts suspicion on the true cause of her demise.

There are also moments in the book that I was uncomfortable with, like as a stepmother REALLY uncomfortable, I read a few sentences and paragraphs more than once to check I was still reading the same book.

which adds an additional unrelatable element to a story where the relationships between the two families are already hard to believe.

At your next book club, discuss what keeps people in the cycle of addiction and what are some possible first steps toward sobriety.Well they must be as the wives and children all get along, the children so friendly with the wives they’re often at any one of the homes, they celebrate birthdays together, and they always take vacations together, everyone having a grand ole’ time.

We get deeper into the mind of Adrian as time goes on, but more so too, how all the family seem to get on together even the ex wives. There are so many holes and implausible scenarios that to list them all would be a “spoiler” for the many readers who like this sort of light, fluffy fiction. Once again it is the characters that pop – all beautifully well drawn, absolutely realistic and with a sharp emotional edge that keeps you turning the pages to see what will happen to them. Like Liane Moriarty, she manages the perfect blend of women’s fiction and nail-biting suspense, throwing enough red herrings in the reader’s path to keep the pages turning. Stars – Still a gripping mystery but unrelatable characters with missing perspectives, and I really, really hated the ending!At the center of this puzzle is Adrian Wolfe, a successful architect and grief-stricken widower, who, a year after his third wife’s death, begins to investigate the cause. As Adrian looks back on their brief but seemingly happy marriage, disturbing secrets begin to surface. I really loved some of her more recent books, so I've been going back and reading some of her earlier work. It is an easy book to read and follow and I imagine would be a great holiday read sitting on a beach - you will probably either love or hate this book, so I would still recommend this to readers of chic lit rather than thrillers and at the end of the day it is only my opinion.