The Wife by Alafair Burke

 

Angela Powell’s quiet, routine life is shattered when two women come forward with accusations, resulting in the arrest of her husband for crimes he swears he didn’t commit.  She believes in his proclaimed innocence, but is terrified that the police investigation will reveal things about her own past that Angela is desperate to  keep secret for the sake of their son, Spencer—but secrets can’t be hidden forever.

I’m not going to talk about anything specific and inadvertently give anything away, so this review will be short and sweet.

The Wife is a compelling read that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. The plot was far more complex than I imagined it would be, and surpassed all my expectations. Several twists at the end of the book literally had me gasping in disbelief, and changed everything I thought I knew about certain characters.  I love when that happens!

This is the first time I’ve read one of Burke’s books, but it definitely will not be the last. My only regret is that it took me this long to read one.

I definitely recommend this book to everyone!

I received an advance reading copy of this book courtesy of Harper via Edelweiss.

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Author: Alafair Burke
Title: The Wife
Genre: Suspense, Thriller
Publication Date: January 23, 2018 by Harper
Rating: 5 stars

About the Book

His scandal. Her secret.

When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.

Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look at the man she married. And when she is asked to defend Jason in court, she realizes that her loyalty to her husband could unearth old secrets.

About the Author

ALAFAIR BURKE is the New York Times bestselling author of “two power house series” (Sun-Sentinel) that have earned her a reputation for creating strong, believable, and eminently likable female characters, such as NYPD Detective Ellie Hatcher and Portland Deputy District Attorney Samantha Kincaid. Alafair’s novels grow out of her experience as a prosecutor in America’s police precincts and criminal courtrooms, and have been featured by The Today Show, People Magazine, The New York Times, MSNBC, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Chicago Sun-Times. According to Entertainment Weekly, Alafair “is a terrific web spinner” who “knows when and how to drop clues to keep readers at her mercy.”

A graduate of Stanford Law School and a former Deputy District Attorney in Portland, Oregon, Alafair is now a Professor of Law at Hofstra Law School, where she teaches criminal law and procedure. Her books have been translated into 12 languages.

Alafair’s work has been praised by some of the world’s most respected crime writers, including Gillian Flynn, Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Karin Slaughter, Harlan Coben, Lisa Scottoline, Lisa Unger, and Nelson DeMille.