Review: The Innocent Wife by Any Lloyd

The Innocent Wife by Amy Lloyd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars




Every so often a book comes along that you really enjoy but you can't really work out why,well for me this is most definitely one of those books.

This riveting thriller is a tale that is split into two halves that are set before and after Dennis is released from prison.

Our main protagonist is Samantha who is a teacher,she lives in England and has recently been dumped by her boyfriend.Quite a number of other reviewers have stated that they found Sam annoying and irritating but because she had a number of my own personal character traits, although I didn't like her very much at times,I understood when she had moments of anxiety,paranoia and indecision.I certainly didn't understand why she or anyone else would want to write to a convicted killer but after watching an online documentary about him, she decides to start writing to Dennis Danson who is on death row after being convicted for the murder of a young girl.What starts out as a friendship swiftly develops into a romance and before you can scream `what are you doing you stupid woman` she has accepted his marriage proposal.She also finds herself involved with a film crew who are convinced that Dennis is innocent and are making a true crime documentary about the case.As well as following Sam`s visits to Dennis in prison and the film crew as they make their documentary,there is also extracts from a book that was written about the case.These extracts give the reader background information on where Dennis grew up,his family and upbringing.

When new evidence casts doubt on the case against Dennis and he is exonerated and released,the couple start their lives together as a married couple while being under the constant scrutiny of the media.Only as time passes Sam begins to realise that Dennis might not be the loving,nice guy that he appeared to be when he was in prison.The story is rather one sided because you only see things from Sam`s perspective,a couple chapters told from Dennis`s point of view might have given the reader more insight into his character and true feelings towards Sam.After a short stay in New York,they go to stay at Dennis`s childhood home in Red River County,Florida which is when the tension starts to build but this is also when the story starts to get a bit predictable.Once a certain character is introduced into the story,it's not difficult to work out who was behind the disappearances over twenty years ago and there was no unexpected twists during the final confrontation.

Like I said,I can't honestly say why I enjoyed this book as much as I did but I can say that it's a well written,debut thriller that could result in some interesting discussions if it was read by a book group.

HARDBACK PUBLICATION DATE : 28 December 2017

PUBLISHER : Cornerstone / Penguin Random House UK

GENRE : Crime,Thriller & Mystery

PURCHASE HERE.....

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Innocent-Wife-Amy-Lloyd/dp/1780898118/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=