Tag: Blog Tour

Nicole Trope has become one of my favorite psych thriller authors. I know that I’m going to get a solid story that will probably keep me guessing. His Other Wife is a great example of what she does so well.

I like it when a psych thriller starts out with a scene that actually occurs somewhere later in the story. It makes me actively read, looking for that scene, or for clues that might lead up to that scene.

It is an effective storytelling device because it builds tension, and this author uses it perfectly.

I could tell from the very beginning that there was more to Charlotte than meets the eye. She was too perfect. And anyone that “understanding” usually isn’t.

Sarah, on the other hand, is instantly a sympathetic character. Any mom will be able to relate to her instincts to protect her child at any cost. Coupled with grief, it is easy to see how that could wreak havoc on one’s mental health.

Frankly, I found Gideon to be an idiot and a catalyst for all that happens in the book. If he loved Sarah as much as he said he did (and this is not a spoiler) he wouldn’t have moved on so quickly or easily. Just sayin’.

And then there is Charlotte’s mother, Carol. I have mentioned before how I sometimes get flashed of other characters that I am reminded of, especially when they are vivid.

For me, every time Carol appeared in the book, I pictured the grandmother from Kindergarten Cop. You know, the bad guy’s mom who was constantly telling him what to do? Perfectly dressed, perfect hair, very proper…but a sociopath.

Yeah, got that vibe from Carol.

As for the plot, I did guess part of “psych” part of the psych thriller. I just “had a feeling.” But the author went deeper with it than I expected, so there were aspects that surprised me, which isn’t easy to do.

I particularly liked the endings. And yes, that’s plural, because even though it wraps up in a single epilogue, there are a few different endings to be found. It was actually one of the most satisfying epilogues in recent memory.

If you’re looking for a solid psych thriller for a beach read, pick up His Other Wife. Or, actually, any other Nicole Trope book, like The Stepchild.

About the author

Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- ‘It’s not meant to be a story.’ She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature.

The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story.

She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.

The Boyfriend by Kerry Wilkinson feels like a bit of a departure from past psych thriller stories.

There is a lot of character-building and introspection from Jodie. The story is solely hers. As such, the reader only experiences things from her perspective. Period.

This is good and bad.

It is good because the reader gets to really deep dive into Jodie’s frame of mind and how she deals with everything. But it’s bad because it makes a lot of things one-dimensional. At times it also slows down the action.

You can read the plot points in the blurb and other reviews. Suffice to say that after Jodie’s dad dies, she is left with the responsibility of cleaning out his house. In the process, she finds something that brings past events in her life into question.

It’s a great premise, and it does deliver in many ways. There are plenty of suspects for each of the events, and as Jodie looks at people with a side-eye, so does the reader. The author definitely keeps the reader guessing.

However, there are also characters and events that have promise but lack follow through. Jodie’s mom is kind of a non-entity, conflict with the sister-in-law starts strong but fizzles, and her supposed best friend is just kind of…meh.

And then there is Jodie’s son, Owen. I don’t even know where to start with him. He plays a major part in the story. But it is all odd, really.

Because however you think the story is going to end, you are absolutely wrong. I guarantee it. Not only is the culprit of the main event not who you think, but the author saves one last gigantic “What the heck” moment that will probably drop your jaw to the floor.

Honestly, I am not quite sure of the purpose of it. It doesn’t exactly fit with the rest of the story, and almost seems like it’s gratuitous.

In fact, overall, it feels like this is an early attempt at writing because more recent books have been much more evenly plotted.

Regardless, I still enjoy Kerry Wilkinson’s writing, and The Boyfriend is a good psych thriller if solely for the shock factor.

Check out my review of The Perfect Daughter for a link to other books by Kerry, or type “Kerry Wilkinson” into the search bar! 🙂

Author Bio:

Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.