The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane
Publisher: William Morrow
Pub Date: 12/28/2021

Thank you to William Morrow for the free finished copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

GoodReads Synopsis: Elisa Wright is a mom and wife, living a nice, quiet life in a nice, quiet town. She’s also convinced her brother-in-law is a murderer. Josh has one dead wife and one missing fiancée, and though he grieved for them he starts dating someone new. Elisa fears for that woman’s safety, and she desperately wants to know what happened to her friend, Josh’s missing fiancée.

Searching for clues means investigating her own family. And she doesn’t like what she finds. A laptop filled with incriminating information. Other women.

But when Elisa becomes friends with Josh’s new girlfriend and starts to question things she thinks are true, Elisa wonders if the memories of a horrible incident a year ago have finally pushed her over the edge and Josh is really innocent. With so much at stake, Elisa fights off panic attacks and a strange illness. Is it a breakdown or something more? The race is on to get to the truth before another disappearance because there’s a killer in the family… or is there?

Review: The Replacement Wife is a domestic suspense novel that explores manipulation, gaslighting, family dynamics, and lies. Overall, I enjoyed The Replacement Wife way more than Pretty Little Wife (I ended up DNF’ing Pretty Little Wife). The men in this book are so manipulative and toxic. I felt for Elisa, but at times, I wanted to shake her and tell her to trust her instinct. I understood why the author made Elisa’s character the way she was though. Though this suspense novel is a bit predictable, there were a couple of twists I didn’t see coming which made the journey of the story enjoyable. Overall, I give it 3.5 stars but rounded to 4 stars on GoodReads.