Book Review
Title: The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
Genre: Domestic, Mystery, Thriller
Rating: DNF
I didn’t know anything about The Wives before getting into it and I prefer reading mysteries and thrillers this way because you don’t know what to expect. From the synopsis all I can gather is that Thursday’s husband, Seth has two other wives who she knows about but has never meet and that there is a mystery surrounding the husband’s behaviour which causes the wives to meet. We learn very quickly that we don’t get to know the names of the wives just the day of the week that Seth is with them and we are following Thursday. It turns out she is the legal wife of Seth and yet many of his family believe that he is still married to Tuesday who is technically his ex-wife and there is also Monday who is currently pregnant. We haven’t even really got into the meat of the novel at all and this is already severally messed up as the other wives except Tuesday seem to be kept hidden meaning that in Seattle where Thursday is living in America it might not be legal. I actually looked this up and currently polygamy or being married to more than one person is illegal in every state except Utah but that only came into effect in 2020 so we can safely assume that Seth having more than one wife is very illegal which is why they are kept hidden. Thursday loves the attention Seth gives her, however, she is extremely jealous of the other wives and find herself having to not think about them if she wants to have a good day with Seth. She also seems to resent both the fact that Tuesday was the first wife and that Monday is pregnant but her world revolves around Seth so she says nothing to avoid upsetting him because she wants to keep him.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we can see that Seth likes to keep his wives separated so they don’t really know much about each other except for what he tells them. By the time Seth leaves Thursday she is feeling very insecure as we learn about the origins of their relationship it is clear to see she doesn’t understand why Seth is actively seeking this kind of relationship and being separated from the other wives also means she doesn’t know where she stands in comparison to them. One evening she comes across a hospital bill for Hannah Ovark who must be Monday as she is pregnant. This immediately sends Thursday to Facebook to see if she can track down Hannah and she does but this sends her into a mental tailspin as she doesn’t understand why Seth would want her in comparison to Hannah. By a twist of fate, Seth invites her down to Portland to see him for a romantic break and she ends up meeting Hannah face to face although Thursday is horrified by the bruises on the young girl’s arm. We see Thursday thinking over whether or not Seth could have grabbed her when she meets him for dinner that evening. It turns out he brought her to Portland to postpone their trip because he doesn’t want to risk going abroad while Monday is pregnant which upsets Thursday as she has sacrificed so much for their relationship which Seth doesn’t seem to be doing. Before heading home she arranges to meet Hannah once more where Hannah confesses that “her” husband hides her birth control meaning Hannah might not even want this baby and that Seth potentially bruised her in an argument. Thursday also uncovers that Hannah is from Utah where Seth swore he would never return to and he clearly has so Thursday returns home with many questions about Seth and the other wives.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Thursday begins this overly complicated plotline of trying to find out who the other wives are. She learns that Tuesday’s name is Regina Coele and that information given to her by Seth is beginning not to add up. According to Seth, he and Regina only added another wife to the mix because Regina didn’t want to have children as she is a career woman. However, Thursday very easily discovers that Regina is openly dating outside of her and Seth’s marriage which is something neither she nor Hannah has been able to do as Seth wants to be the only man in their lives. When Thursday finds a picture of Facebook showing Regina and Hannah in the background she begins to question whether the other wives actually know each other and if she is the true outsider. She ends up setting up a fake dating profile in order to get in contact with Regina without Seth knowing as she believes that Regina wouldn’t be openly discussing dating with Seth but Thursday is now well aware of Seth’s temper. Despite this I was 35% into the novel and I didn’t care about the plot or the characters which is why I have a love hate relationship with domestic thriller so I am going to be putting The Wives down and DNFing it at this point but it doesn’t mean that I won’t return to this book or one of Fisher’s other books in the future.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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