This week we look at a twisted tale reminiscent of Gone Girl. This week, we look at Dear Wife by Kimberly Belle.
Structurally, this book is told from three perspectives – a woman on the run, a husband she is running from, and a cop investigating the disappearance. And this structure very much works for this tale to keep the reader guessing until the point the author wants to begin to clue the reader in on what is really going on.
The tale itself is a tad too similar to Gone Girl up front, with a missing wife and the husband being targeted by police and media. And honestly, through this section I was looking at a 4 star review based on that. But instead of the mind-warping shift at the middle of the book presented in Gone Girl, instead here we get a more gradual revelation of what is really going on – and that is very much appreciated by at least this reader. And what is actually happening is enough to get the book its 5th star – truly great work. While it does have its issues along the “content warning” level, I don’t really do those and to my mind revealing what they are would go into spoiler territory in this particular tale.
At the end of the day, if you enjoyed Gone Girl or at least didn’t have particularly strong feelings against it, you’re probably going to enjoy this book. If you hated Gone Girl, you’re probably not going to like this one much either. If you’ve never heard of Gone Girl… what rock have you been living under for the last several years? 🙂
This was my first book from this author, and it won’t be my last. Very much recommended.
As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
Girl Gone Good. The easiest way to tell you about this particular book, my first from Ms. Belle, is that it very much evokes the Gone Girl vibe. Thus, whether you’re a fan of that work or not will give you a good indication of whether this book may be for you – though if your feelings toward that book are not particularly negative, I would still recommend giving this one a try. And if you’re not familiar with that work… what rock have you been living under for the last few years? 😀
On its own, this is a solid mystery told from three perspectives – a woman on the run, a man she is running from, and a cop investigating the disappearance. The key difference between this tale and Gone Girl is that this tale doesn’t suddenly and mind-warpingly pivot halfway through, but instead begins to drop major clues in the back half of the book before explicitly revealing itself with about 15% left in the book, leading to the finale.
Overall an excellent work thanks to the back half in particular, and I’m very much looking forward to future work from Ms. Belle. Very recommended.