Two Dead Wives by Adele Parks (Review by Aura Johnson)

A bigamist woman with two different set of names, friends, and husbands is missing, presumed dead, circumstantial evidence points to her being held against her will by one of the husbands. Which husband could have done that, and why? As detectives piece together what happened to this woman, we meet various characters during the investigation, each having their own voice at one point or another during the story. Since there is no body, no one has been officially charged, and only very few are hoping she is alive. We are also introduced to another, seemly irrelevant character, Stacie Jones, who lives with her father, Kenneth, as she is recovering from cancer. The link to this unlikely duo and the investigation is curious, as it is unclear at first why the author chooses to include their story, all culminating in amateur investigation done by missing woman’s stepsons, who inadvertently enter the world of jealously, rage, revenge, danger, and unrequited love. The book had a bit of a slow start as each character had to be given their own voice, however, as the story (and investigation) picks up, it becomes more gripping and intense. The characters came to life by revealing themselves and their true intentions all along, as well as unlikely relationships formed all throughout the story. Intensely gripping-for-survival thriller will surely catch you reading late in the night, trying to investigate along with the detectives as to how human emotions can cause people’s personal worlds to flip on its axis.