Ponder Post: The Wife Between Us

The Wife Between Us ©2018 by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen is categorized as a psychological thriller. The overview in the front flap of the book reads:

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife. You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love. You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle. Assume nothing! ... Read between the lies.

One reviewer of the book claimed.

This one will keep you guessing.

As a suspense novel, I was indeed compelled to keep turning each page to read what would happen next. I am unsure, however, if this irresistible urge stemmed from literary suspense or a dogged belief that this book just had to get better at some point. The "keep you guessing" review comment was true. The narrative was extremely confusing. The chapters were written in first person but it was initially unclear if the "I" was Vanessa or Emma, or Vanessa looking back on her life as Emma, both of whom were nicknamed Nellie, for nervous Nellie and both of whom are so strikingly similar in appearance they could be the same person. Was the psychology of this novel that the two women were really one with a dual personality disorder? Was that the conundrum I was supposed to "figure out"? Invariably, once I reached the third paragraph of a chapter, I would come upon an inconsistency that forced me to re-read the first couple paragraphs of each chapter twice to see if my assumption was correct about who the "I" was. Maybe other readers would be able to faithfully forge ahead and trust the confusion to iron itself out eventually, instead of repeatedly backtracking as I did. Like a dog with a bone, I was too anal to let it go.

The husband in all this was Richard. I know for sure there was only one of him! He is very handsome, very smart, very rich, very savvy, very loving, but subtly controlling in his own way. His interactions with Vanessa/Emma are fascinating and often contradictory. At points he was really sweet and at other times extremely annoying.

I had never heard of The Wife Between Us until I picked it up off the book counter at Costco and was drawn in by text on the front flap. Since Costco has a limited selection they typically promote what appeals to the majority, so the probability of a book being reasonably appealing are good. The Wife Between Us was also an instant New York Times best seller. On the surface this book should be a good read, however, I had very mixed emotions about this novel. Normally, to avoid bias, I do not read the Amazon reviews until I have written my own. I was curious to learn how well-liked this book was among the Amazon audience. It was rated 4.2 out of 5 stars.

Amazon cites it as the "19th Most Read" book from its sales. I do not think that data is verifiable. It may have been the 19th most purchased book on Amazon but how many of those buyers actually read the entire book? I plowed open-mindedly through the first three quarters to clear up my haze. I then whipped through the final quarter dénouement. Vanessa and Emma actually are two women who look very much alike and have very similar personalities. Revealing this fact is not a spoiler but more so an admittance of my lack of perception skills or over-abundance of suspicion in being unable to figure this out sooner. I am almost slightly tempted to read the novel again to see if I could enjoy it more while not struggling with the women's single or dual identities.

So how do I rate The Wife Between Us? I did like the compare/contrast of the two women and the evolution of the interactions between the two. There were two twists at the end – one slightly contrived that I did not see coming and the other believable but that could have been supported and intimated more throughout the book. The Wife Between Us is a great book for a book club or for discussion. I was a bit lost reading it in a vacuum. 

Perhaps this book selection was a mismatch between me as the audience and the novel as the subject matter. I have been reading a lot of romance novels lately. Maybe my brain has just turned to mush as a result. Read this novel for yourself and form your own opinion. I hope I have raised your curiosity. The length of this review bears testament that there was a enough of food for thought in there worth digesting. I give it a fairly non-committal rating of 3 stars out of 5.