The Twilight Wife by A.J. Banner

Kyra suffered a head injury in a diving accident, and has lost the last four years of her life as a result. She relies on husband Jacob—a man she doesn’t remember falling in love with and marrying—to help her remember their lives together. Jacob is the image of a devoted husband, but he often seems impatient with Kyra’s questions. When Kyra begins to have flashes of what seems to be memories, and pursues answers from him about the diving accident, she begins to feel that Jacob is keeping something important from her, and even lying to her outright. Kyra’s suspicions grow when a strange old man seems to know her, and asks an unsettling question. Determined to find out what really happened in the diving accident—and what, if anything, Jacob is hiding from her—Kyra leaves no stone unturned in her quest for the truth… and it’s more terrible than she could have imagined.

While The Twilight Wife isn’t truly a gothic novel as defined here, it definitely has a pseudo-gothic feel about it.Set on a remote island where living off the grid is the norm, the grey, dreary winter weather, a feeling of isolation from the rest of the world, and the constant underlying sense of Kyra’s anxiety and distrust come together to create a seriously creepy atmosphere. The tension builds in a subtle, steady pace that put me directly in Kyra’s shoes and had me feeling every bit as uneasy as she did.

Kudos to Banner for adding a couple of really excellent (and completely unexpected) plot twists near the end of the book. I never saw them coming, and each elicited a well-deserved gasp of shocked surprise when I read them.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for Banner’s future novels, and am looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next!

I received an advance review copy of this book courtesy of Touchstone via Netgalley.

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Author: A. J. Banner
Title: The Twilight Wife
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Publication Date: December 27, 2016 by Touchstone
Rating: 4 stars

About the Book

From bestselling author A.J. Banner comes a dazzling new novel of psychological suspense in the vein of S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep and Mary Kubica’s The Good Girl that questions just how much we can trust the people around us.

Thirty-four-year-old marine biologist Kyra Winthrop remembers nothing about the diving accident that left her with a complex form of memory loss. With only brief flashes of the last few years of her life, her world has narrowed to a few close friendships on the island where she lives with her devoted husband, Jacob.

But all is not what it seems. Kyra begins to have visions—or are they memories?—of a rocky marriage, broken promises, and cryptic relationships with the island residents, whom she believes to be her friends.

As Kyra races to uncover her past, the truth becomes a terrifying nightmare. A twisty, immersive thriller, The Twilight Wife will keep readers enthralled through the final, shocking twist.

About the Author

A. J. BANNER grew up reading Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier, and other masters of love and mystery. She enjoyed sneaking thrillers from her parents’ library, which gave her excellent fodder for her first novel of psychological suspense, The Good Neighbor. Born in India and raised in North America, she always dreamed of writing gripping stories in which nothing is what it seems. She’s hard at work on her next novel in her home office overlooking a Pacific Northwest forest.