About the Book
Local police have announced that they’re closing the investigation of the suspected drowning of 37-year-old painter Colleen Westcott. She disappeared on April 11, 2010, and her car was found parked near the waterfront in Cleveland two days later, but her body has never been found. The chief of police has stated that no concrete evidence of foul play has been discovered in the probe.
I close the online search window, annoyed. These articles never have enough detail. They think my husband’s first wife disappeared or they think she is dead. There’s a big difference.
My phone rings, jarring me away from my thoughts, and when I pick it up, it’s an unknown number. The only answer to my slightly breathless hello is empty static.
When the voice does finally come, it’s female, low, muffled somehow. “Where is it, Claire? What did you do with it? Tell me where it is.”
A woman. A real flesh-and-blood woman on the other end of the phone. She’s not just in my head.
A wave of panic spreads under my skin like ice water. It’s Colleen.
My Review
I tend to find books with an unreliable narrator quite good. I tend to always have that surprised “I did NOT see that coming” moment, and then giddily keep reading after the plot twist. With The Starter Wife, I didn’t really have that moment, and when we moved to part two, I simply had a casual flick of my brows, and kept reading. While the actual plot was interesting, I felt I was so quickly finding gaps and questioning the characters. Claire is not at all likeable, but neither is quite a few of the cast in this story, so it was tough to feel empathy toward them. The last quarter of the book does really pick up the pace and get pretty suspenseful, but overall it was just okay for me and the ending did leave me wanting a little bit more.
3.5 stars
