Intriguing and unique mystery set during lockdown.

I read this as a standalone, but it can also be read as a sequel to Woman Last Seen. Adele Parks is a new author to me and based on the writing I am interested in exploring her backlist. The plot was intriguing, if far-fetched in many places, but I found the multiple page ruminations of different characters' inner thoughts to be tedious at times.

I just finished Two Dead Wives by Adele Parks and here are my thoughts.

When a wife is murdered, isn’t it nearly always the husband? What happens when there are two husbands?

Having two lives and two identities didn’t do Kylie any favors in the end when she is kidnapped and the police are now looking for a body. The case has gripped the nation and the whole affair won’t end for either man.

DCI Clements is on the case and she knows that the dark side of humanity can make you a person do some unspeakable things.

Stacie Jones is recovering from a serious illness, being nursed back to health by her retired GP father. Can their lives remain reclusive?

How are these families all linked and how much danger are all they all in?

I didn’t love this book. I don’t mean it was a bad read but it was really a slog in places. I don’t think it needed to be this long and some of the POVs were lengthy and there wasn’t much balance. It is a sequel to another book which answers the one question I had about why Kylie would lead a double life and I hated that I didn't know that before I started this one because they don’t answer that in this read.

I also felt the book was a little on the predictable side and all the excellence was in the last ⅓ of the book. The writing was good, it just felt like a lot of padding to a book that really didn’t need it. There was some real magic in here and some real waste of paper real estate.

It was hard to care about any of the characters except the Oli who I did invest my time in. I don’t know if it's because it is a sequel and you do need to read book 1 or whether it just wasn’t for me.

I would definitely try this author again though.

3.5 stars

Thank you to @htpbooks and @netgalley for my gifted copy

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Just as the first book, I definitely put a lot of the pieces together, but seeing how they all come together is the fun bit. It is still odd to me that bigamy is a punishable offense in the UK because I feel like that happens frequently in the US. If it could result in prison time, it would probably lessen here. Another well done book!

3.5 stars! I wish I had know about and read the first book in this series, Woman Last Seen, before jumping into this one, I think that would have made a more cohesive story for me. But overall it was a good story and the twists were good. The ending felt rushed for me and I was expecting more of a final twist.

I didn’t read the first book in this series, but I’m glad I didn’t! I loved this book as a standalone. The first one would have given me too much information to enjoy this one. Just when I thought I had figured it all out, everything changed. Had me guessing at every turn.

(3.5)
Rtc

This started a bit slower than I would have liked. However, once it got going, it was one heck of a thrill ride. A good read.