I am back with another book review, today it is The Twilight Wife by A.J. Banner. Thank you so much to Simon and Schuster for providing me with an ARC of this book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
Wow. This book was fantastic.
The book follows Kyra, a thirty-four-year-old who was in a diving accident a year ago and doesn't remember anything that has happened for the last 4 years. She lives with her dedicated husband on a secluded island, away from the stresses of city life. Everything is going fine until Kyra begins to remember bits and pieces of her past. Snippets of interactions with another man. Dreams of places she has apparently never been to, but sees so vividly. She starts to wonder if she can really trust her memories, or if everything she remembers is a lie?
I will leave the synopsis at that because with thrillers it is easy to give away too many details.
Throughout the story, I just had a bad feeling. I wasn't sure why, but things weren't adding up. Kyra doesn't remember a very specific chunk of time. And I was immediately suspicious of her husband, Jacob. You always hear these stories of someone waking up and a guy pretending to be their husband. So I was sure that was what was happening with Jacob. But there were people who remembered them on the island in previous years. Her best friend confirmed that she was at the wedding. And why would he lie? She wasn't rich and it was easy to see he really loved her. I found myself questioning everything, much like Kyra.
The suspense in this story was unreal. There was a building sense of foreboding, you know everyone is hiding something, but you don't know what. This adds to the story in ways that kept me glued to the page. I hung on every word, waiting for Kyra to remember some important detail from her past.
The setting of this story is perfect; an isolated island, eccentric locals, and a lack of technology make for a claustrophobic thriller. Whatever Kyra finds out, she can't do anything because she is stuck.
When you finally find out what happens, it is insane. I eventually figured out what might have happened, but I was still shocked by the magnitude of the event.
I also really love that in a world of Gone Girl's and The Girl on the Train's this was a surprisingly refreshing take on the thriller. This book is more suspenseful and tells a different story; a woman who doesn't know what is going on in her own life. This book just felt unique. It's hard to describe, but I wouldn' compare this book with those others.
I really loved the fact that Banner was able to keep the twist a secret for so long. There is some speculation, but there are so many red herrings, I didn't know what to believe.
I think I'll be keeping this review on the shorter side because there really is so much that can be so easily spoiled.
Overall, refreshingly suspenseful thriller that will have you hooked from the very beginning.