THE GUILTY WIFE by ELLE CROFT

THE GUILTY WIFE

BY ELLE CROFT

THE BLURB:-

If you were being framed for murder...

Bethany Reston is happily married.

But she's also having an affair with a famous client.

And no one can ever know.

...how far would you go to clear your name?

When Bethany's lover is brutally murdered, she has to hide her grief from everyone.

But someone knows her secret.

And then one day the threats begin.

With an ever-growing pile of evidence pointing to her as the murderer, the only way she can protect her secrets is to prove her innocence.

And that means tracking down a killer.

THE REALITY:-

Well, I can't fault this fast-paced page-turner of a thriller- I started reading it on the Thursday and then (after a mammoth Friday evening session) finished it in the early hours of Saturday morning. At only 309 pages long, I suppose it fits into this modern idea of 'exactly what size a book needs to be.' That's probably so that it can fit into your handbag nicely, which is a good thing (my tome weighs a tonne!) but... call me biased, but I've a soft spot for said tomes. It's also, no doubt, so that a novel is an easy, quick read- which is no bad thing, but not all books should fit into a certain box. Agents and publishers please take note.

Rant over. This was brilliant in that the chapters were short, so it was easy to read 'just one more chapter' and the story was suspenseful and interesting. I would NEVER have guessed who the killer was, although I did have- spoiler alert!- Jason down as an early contender, and even Fran, Bethany's assistant. I did question how the protagonist could have sneaked in and out of Bethany's house (or was it a flat? I believe it was described as both) in the space of only a few minutes and through a locked door whilst she was actually there. If my memory serves me correctly, she bolted the door from the inside too, and changed the locks. The killer was not without opportunity to get past at least one of these matters, but even so... this seemed slightly far fetched. Set in London, my city, it was easy to visualise the areas depicted, and I'm probably being a bit picky in finding the attention to detail slightly shoddy. I am someone who likes everything to be explained to my satisfaction, after all.  This writer has since written another novel and I'll certainly look out for it (although the first few pages are printed at the back of this book, and actually didn't do much for me...)

The author has a blog, which I checked out, and the changes she had to make in rewriting and rewriting her manuscript actually made me glad I self-published and had no one to meddle in my masterpiece! She is a social media specialist, so I will certainly read up on hints to make my own promotion easier via the media channels, such as Search Engine Optimism, etc. She also blogs on days out like I do, but mentions things such as pricey restaurants, which I will never do. I boast about not how much money I've spent, but how little- kind of like a SuperSavvyMe. Oh, I am such a chav!

Anyway, back to the matter at hand and this had a good mix of likeable and not so pleasant characters. I didn't actually think much of murdered Calum- he came across as cold- and Bethany was a mug supreme, but she didn't deserve what she got given. This great little read is definitely worth a go.