OK. Wow. This was a heck of a ride!

We’re first introduced to who we assume to be our narrator - the spurned ex-wife, seemingly stalking her replacement. Then we’re sprung into the narration of Nellie, who we assume to be the replacement our first narrator is stalking. We are warned we shouldn’t make assumptions. And the first thing you need to know is that you should absolutely heed that warning.

The beginning of The Wife Between Us, a collaboration between debut author Greer Hendricks and best-selling author, Sarah Pekkanen, starts off somewhat slow. You might call it a slow burn. The first twist takes a little while, but it’s worth the surprise.

Vanessa, our main protagonist, is a well-written character and we get to know her intimately - perhaps a little too intimately. While some of those past revelations do help to obfuscate and advance the twists and turns we’re hit with, some of them felt a little out of place. That said, the pace certainly picks up and I raced through the last half of the book at breakneck speed. Even though I had figured out “the big one” by the time we got to that reveal, the writing was good enough to keep me interested in seeing how it played out. The extra twist or two that were thrown in towards the end only served to reinforce my decision to stick it out.

In the end, I felt it was a little bit of Gone Girl meets Girl On The Train, but with enough of a fresh take to keep a devoted fan of psychological thrillers and suspense from rolling their eyes and throwing The Wife Between Us at the wall. Yet to me (and this is the only thing that has me in two minds about this one), it seems to straddle a line between being thriller-y and being not. It is an enjoyable read though, and it’s already been optioned for a movie, so pick it up and decide for yourself!

Note: I think the thing that most impresses me about this one is that both Ms. Hendricks and Ms. Pekkanen managed to blend their voices so seamlessly. There were times I had to remind myself that there were two authors.