Book Review: The Wife’s Revenge by Deirdre Palmer

Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned. No truer words in The Wife’s Revenge.

Goodreads Blurb

The Wife’s Revenge by Deirdre Palmer

Sometimes the lie is safer than the truth.

Fran made the biggest mistake of her life when she had an affair with Ben. Both families live in the village of Oakheart; their children are friends. Fran’s guilt shadows her days. But it’s no more than she deserves, or is it? At least she’s managed to protect her husband, Hector, from the harsh truth.

But for how long?

Tessa has left her troubles in the past and now has the perfect life. Ben might have his faults, but his life has not been easy. They need each other, and Tessa will do whatever it takes to eliminate any threats to her marriage.

Threats from women like Fran.

A cliff overlooks a disused chalk-pit. The locals call it High Heaven. It’s a place of secrets. And it’s where Oakheart newcomer Maria died. When Fran discovers a link between Maria and Ben, disturbing questions arise to which she has no way of knowing the answers.

Faced with an ultimatum from Tessa, time is running out for Fran. She’s scared, every minute of every day.

But where does the real danger lie?

Review

This is my kind of book. I read things like this all of the time. Does that mean that I found The Wife’s Revenge a bit repetitive? Absolutely not!

The Wife’s Revenge takes a bit of a different spin due to the fact that Fran and Ben’s affair is actually over. In fact, it is roughly about two years later that Tessa decides to take her revenge. So, instead of the usual “will the wife find out?” or “when will she catch them?”, we have an intriguing story as to why somebody would wait so long before challenging their cheating partner and his mistress.

When reading these types of books, you are supposed to hate the mistress, right? I couldn’t. There was something about Fran that endeared me to her. She made a mistake and she knew it and she has been living with the guilt ever since while trying to be a good wife and mother. I guess it was this guilt that made her real and it is hard to dislike a character who is real. Tessa, on the other hand, was extremely difficult to like, as you can very well gather from the blurb of this book. Saying that, as her background unravels, we do have a bit more empathy toward her but not enough to make her likeable, in my case anyway.

If this sounds like your kind of book, I 100% recommend picking up a copy. It is well written and well planned and reminds you to always look over your shoulder. Revenge is a dish best served cold, after all.

I was sent a copy of this book in return for an honest review.