The Jealous Wife by James Caine

Genre: Thriller, Suspense

Format: Digital

Pages: 352 Pages

Start Date: July 20th, 2023

End Date: July 21st, 2023

Overall: ★★★★ 

Character Development: ★★★★ 

Ending: ★★★★

Recommend: Yes

🚨 May Contain Spoilers, Continue at Your Own Risk 🚨

I was provided with an Advanced Reader Copy of this book complimentary in exchange for my honest review & I have to say I LOVED it! I did rate it a 4, but only because I did love it - but it wasn’t the most original thing I’ve ever read. Maybe I’m jaded, but once you read a few thrillers - you’ve read them all. That doesn’t stop me though, I absolutely loved the twists. 

One of my favorite things about thrillers are trying to figure them out & be right. This. One. Kept. Me. Guessing. I was so back & forth in who I thought it was by the end I was absolutely surprised. Proof that it was difficult to put down, I read it in less than 24 hours! One pet peeve I had about the book was something most probably wouldn’t have paid any mind to, but it drive me insane. Some of the chapters started “Kelly, Then” but the latter chapter would be “Then, Kelly” - probably a little silly to be annoyed by, but I is who I is. 

What did you think of Kelly? Do you think she was a “bad egg”? Her character was painted in a way to make you think that for sure, but there was something too obvious about it. She sounded like your typical teenage girl & then a stereotypical housewife type (purely what I view on TV of housewives, not actual ones - because I am one - kinda & I’d be lucky to have my hair brushed most days - but I guess Kelly didn’t have children) What were your first impressions of Nora? I was immediately suspicious of Nora, I had a feeling she had to have been some sort of mean girl in High School to feel so strongly about Kelly. Did you think that Kelly had something to do with the death of her Husband? In the beginning, a little bit. Seemed odd for her to have been questioning herself on timing for “moving on” so soon after his death. But the ending made that make SO much more sense. After you found out what Kelly’s husband did, did you question WHY she stayed with him? Obviously she didn’t know what was going on with Beth, but what he said to her in the gym closet or whatever it was would have totally soured any feelings for the guy for me. But kids are stupid & maybe she thought he was just a teen & had outgrown it when she decided to marry him. After you discover who Nora really is, did you perception of her change? In turn, did that make your perceptions of Kelly change? Absolutely, I think it’s a good lesson that some things are only skin deep. Kelly was painted in a negative light & that light was so bright we didn’t see the person holding the flashlight so to speak. In this analogy, Nora is pointing the flashlight. Her jealousy was masked as concern for her friend, but in the end was the demise of their friendship.