I have to say, I think this book hyped itself a little bit too much in it’s synopsis. I absolutely loved Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train so I was ready for a real psychological thriller. The Girlfriend took a really, really long time to get anywhere I’d even remotely describe as “thrilling”. It also probably needed several dozen trigger warnings…
The story begins with Jennifer and her family preparing for a big Halloween party to debut their new house that has just been renovated. Jennifer’s husband, Cole, stumbles out of the house and takes off without telling anyone, though his son Miller sees him go and tells his mother he thinks his Dad is drunk and took off with the car. No one seems to think anything of this despite the fact that he had previously lost his license for a year and they continue on with getting things ready for this party.
Shortly after, Jennifer is visited by some police officers who inform her that her husband has been in a car accident and did not survive. Shortly after that, a woman shows up on her doorstep with a baby and says that she is Cole’s girlfriend and she also is the mother to his son. After some investigating, Jennifer finds out that Cole was bailed out of near bankruptcy by Sara and her trust fund and now Jennifer has nothing – the home belongs to Sara and so does all her money.
The two decide that Sara and her son will move in with Jennifer and her son and daughter which I think everyone else in the book and the world didn’t think was a good idea… and all sorts of chaos ensues.
The rest of the book is all sorts of twists and turns as Jennifer tries to find out what she didn’t know about Cole, what her son did know and kept from her and what other secrets Sara is hiding. The police then let the women know that it wasn’t the accident that killed Cole but rather he got struck in the head before his death and that caused the accident. Now on top of everything else, they want to figure out who it was that actually killed Cole…
While I have to say I didn’t see some of the twists coming, this book just wasn’t it for me.
I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.
About the Book
My husband’s dead. She’s at my door. She owns my home…
The doorbell rings, just days after my beloved husband’s sudden death. I don’t recognise the woman on our doorstep, with her buttery blonde highlights, a diamond bracelet identical to my own and a bouncing baby boy in her arms.
As I show her inside, I notice her eyes grow wide as she takes in our spacious hallway, and the big squashy sofas that we all used to pile on. She glances at the silver-framed family photos and my little daughter hiding behind my skirts.
She looks at me, her blue eyes serious. ‘I’m sorry’ she says. ‘I know this will be hard to hear. But I am your husband’s girlfriend. And this is his son.’
My world implodes. And then she tells me that she owns our home – and that she’s not going anywhere…
An utterly gripping psychological thriller from the number one bestselling author of The Marriage. If you like Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and Lisa Jewell then you will be hooked by The Girlfriend.