The Last Wife – Karen Hamilton Blog Tour Read

I’d like to extend my thanks to Justine Shar. Publishers by Wildfire Books an imprint of Headline Books for inviting me to join this blog tour for The Last Wife by Karen Hamilton.

In Karen Hamilton’s shocking thriller, THE LAST WIFE Marie Langham is distraught when her childhood friend, Nina, is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Before Nina passes away, she asks Marie to look out for her family—her son, daughter, and husband, Stuart. Marie would do anything for Nina, so of course, she agrees.

Following Nina’s death, Marie gradually finds herself drawn into her friend’s life—her family, her large house in the countryside. But when Camilla, a mutual friend from their old art-college days, suddenly reappears, Marie begins to suspect that she has a hidden agenda. Then, Marie discovers that Nina had long suppressed secrets about a holiday in Ibiza the women took ten years previously when Marie’s then-boyfriend went missing after a tragic accident and was later found dead.

Marie used to envy Nina’s beautiful life, but now the cards are up in the air and she begins to realize that nothing is what it seemed. As long-buried secrets start surfacing, Marie must figure out what’s true and who she can trust before the consequences of Nina’s dark secrets destroy her.

Our Author – Karen Hamilton

Karen Hamilton spent her childhood in Angola, Zimbabwe, Belgium and Italy and worked as a flight attendant for many years. Karen is a recent graduate of the Faber Academy and, having now put down roots in Hampshire to raise her young family with her husband, she satisfies her
wanderlust by exploring the world through her writing. She is also the author of the international bestseller The Perfect Girlfriend.

My Review: The Last Wife

Eek, I was so excited to get to do a cover reveal for this and then read for part of the blog tour. I loved Karen’s last book, The Perfect Girlfriend and so knew The Last Wife would be just as brilliant.

The characters for a start, Karen has the most amazing talent of drip-feeding information to make her characters seem real, Marie, Nina, Stuart and Camilla, even the children are all written in such a way that you can’t not like them, but then as the story starts to unfold, you don’t know who to trust and believe, much like Marie, the main character who is suffering from this issue and she feels alone and isolated by this.

She’s lost her best friend, Nina, who’s entrusted her with her last wishes and Marie will do her very best to fulfil them. But at what cost.

So when Marie’s relationship with partner Ben breaks down, she very soon manages to move in with Stuart, and starts taking the children to school where she hears the gossip and underhand comments. Despite all that, she soon takes Nina’s life on, in all ways conceivable. But its too late, once Marie starts finding out Nina’s secrets and her life unravels into being a real-life tale of lies she can’t let taint her new family.

As it often appears, Nina’s life seemed perfect – she had the husband, Stuart doting, loving and attentive. The chocolate box cottage in the country and Felix and Emily her beautiful children. But Marie soon starts unpeeling layer by layer and finds the insides to be fairly rotten. Camilla, who also went to art college with Marie and Nina seems just as entangled in these lies, untruths, half stories – whatever they are – that Marie is piecing together and it turns out, is even more involved than she first realised.

Marie is now a successful photographer and starts to look back at her photos from shared holidays with her then-boyfriend Charlie. When Nina and Stuart met and their wedding, she sees things she didn’t notice before looks, people who now she knows better and starts to see the real story behind Nina’s. Was she trying to protect Marie? Or stop her knowing too much, why didn’t she just tell her these things?

What a tangled web they weaved indeed….. but if I told you anymore that as they say would be a spoiler – and I don’t do those. You’ll have to read this twisty tale of friendship for yourself.