The Detective’s Wife. Mary Stone

I was convinced I had predicted the end of this book in the first few pages.

I was wrong, until I wasn’t.

How does that make sense? Well I had a hypothesis in my head within the first few chapters, but the more I read, the more I was convinced my first assumption was wrong.

It wasn’t, but how the book gets from start to finish is an amazing read, an amazing story that unfolds through two peoples eyes.

My sympathies and empathies must have changed half a dozen times as I read this book, and not just with the two main characters.

The story is told in the first person but through two peoples eyes.

The first half(ish) of the book is told through the eyes of Jo, a Psychologist working in an institute that looks after troubled women, most of which are dangerous, and spend much of their life highly sedated.

Jo has recently married Conor, a Police Detective whose first wife disappeared 18 months ago.

It’s a Honey Trap, Jo is convinced her husband knows exactly what happened to his first wife, and she wants to use the marriage to find out what.

The problem is Honey Traps are not supposed to result in loving relationships. This one does, and its causing major problems.

About halfway through the book the story switches and is looked at through the eyes of Amanda, a patient at the hospital where Jo works.

Her story is as compelling as Jo’s and is brilliantly written.

The conclusion of the story is epic, but not as epic as the route to it.

As I said at the start of this blog, I had the scenario worked out from the start, as will most people who read the book. But it’s not about the beginning and the end. It’s about the other 80% of the book. The story of how everything comes about.

It’s about what goes on behind closed doors.

It’s about issues within families that not even family members are completely tuned into.

It’s about loyalties, and the way that they are formed, and tested.

It’s about manipulation, and distorted truths.

It is a great story.

Publisher: Bookouture. Pages 404. Publishing Date 24th September 2026