Review: The Next Wife - Liz Lawler
Review: The Next Wife - Liz Lawler - November 2020
There’s something quietly unsettling about a love story that begins in warmth and slowly turns cold, and The Next Wife by Liz Lawler captures that shift with a haunting, slow-burn intensity.
At the start, I found myself drawn into Tess’s world - the kind of life that feels small but safe, filled with love, routine, and comfort. Her relationship with Daniel in their London apartment had that cosy, almost cocoon-like quality, and I could understand why Tess believed marriage would simply be an extension of that happiness. But as we all know, sometimes change doesn’t arrive loudly ,it seeps in quietly, almost unnoticed, until it’s everywhere.
When Tess and Daniel move into the grand mansion, the atmosphere subtly shifts. What should have been a dream upgrade instead becomes isolating, and Lawler does an excellent job of showing how control can creep into a relationship under the guise of care. Daniel’s transformation is chilling not because it’s sudden, but because it feels so gradual and believable. The way he chips away at Tess -her independence, her confidence, even her sense of reality is deeply unsettling. Watching Tess doubt herself, especially when she loses her job over something that wasn’t her fault, made my heart ache for her.
The introduction of Martha adds an eerie layer to the story. There’s something almost ghostlike about her warnings, and it plants that seed of unease early on. When Tess discovers the journal of another woman who experienced the same treatment, the story takes on a claustrophobic tension. I found myself willing Tess to trust her instincts, to see what was happening before it was too late.
The postcards were a particularly compelling touch, they added a sense of quiet solidarity, a reminder that Tess wasn’t as alone as she felt. It created a thread of hope that carried me through the darker moments of the story.
Interestingly, towards the end, I did find myself feeling a flicker of compassion for Daniel. Learning about his own trauma added complexity to his character, reminding me that people are often shaped by their pasts. However, it didn’t excuse his behaviour. Ultimately, his actions were cruel, and I couldn’t help but feel that his comeuppance was deserved.
This is definitely a slow-paced thriller, one that relies more on psychological tension than fast action. It’s the kind of story that lingers, quietly unsettling you even after you’ve turned the final page. A chilling reminder that not all prisons have bars and sometimes, the most dangerous place to be is inside your own home.
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