I look at the closed door, half afraid of what I’m going to be faced with when she opens it. Then the squealing noises from downstairs remind me that I must hurry the morning routine along. I leave the bedroom and head to the kitchen, relieved at the excuse to put off confronting the reason Jen is avoiding me. Chapter 3 JENNY Cream cakes from Kelly’s – couldn’t resist. Sorry, it’s why I was late – had to wait for her to open up, then she took a while to serve me. Thought it’d be worth it?’ Abi gives me an apprehensive look as she stretches out her arm, offering me the open box. Does she think I’ll chastise her? I hope I’m not that kind of boss. I smile, keen to make up for my earlier omission, too. My gaze catches on the skin of Abi’s arm as her long-sleeved polo shirt rides up, revealing a succession of raised white lines that run horizontally along the inner forearm. Echoes of trauma, I think with concern, and I avert my eyes. The final nail in the coffin for me was the absolutely unnecessary epilogue in which one of Jenny's children cruelly pulls the wings from a butterfly only to smash the poor thing into the table. This was supposedly to cause Jenny to wonder if the "serial killer gene" skipped a generation to "infect" her child, but due to the fact that there was a lot of talk about animal mutilations in this book just leads me to seriously wonder about the author herself. I loved the storyline. It captured the mind of a criminal, dark thoughts and doubts amazingly. It made so much sense when I read that the author has a psychology degree and worked with prisoners.

If you're looking for a fast-paced, bingeable thriller then look no further.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Reader review on The Serial Killer’s WifeThe twist at the ending is so cleverly written that I was left thinking about it for a long time after.

I scrub at them with a nail brush for what feels like ten minutes before leaving the sanctuary of the bathroom with my dirty pyjamas bundled in my arms. I lift the lid of the hamper and shove them underneath the other clothes. I don’t want Mark to see them. In a sleepy Devon village, a young girl is taken from the streets. Local vet, Jenny, is horrified. This kind of thing doesn’t happen here.Things start to unravel for Jenny, who is concerned that she will become chief suspect and have her past revealed. Too late, I realise I should’ve corrected her, praised her instead of letting her think she’d done a bad job, but my mind is not quite here. I need to make sure it is, though, because in twenty minutes I’m going to be operating on our first animal with Samir and Vanessa. When I first saw the title, thought it was a sequel to the first book by this author, The Serial Killer’s Wife. It is not. This is another twisty tale of a family and how the evil of one affects all the lives around them. While I guessed who the killer was, still found this to be an enjoyable read and would recommend to fans of this genre! My eyes take a while to focus. I reach a hand across the bed, but it’s empty. What time is it? I feel groggy – no doubt due to the bottle of red I polished off last night – and my head hurts. I’ll pretend it’s because of the ‘my body isn’t used to getting that much sleep’ story I like to tell myself, all the while knowing it’s simply because I’m hung over. Midweek drinking is never a good idea. Although, every time I choose to partake, I seem to forget that. It was a celebration, the voice in my head says. Indeed, I do like to celebrate every achievement, however small – and last night’s was because I’ve reconnected with an old uni chum who is going to propel my IT business to new heights. Or so he repeatedly promised me. The details of how he’s going to help me accomplish this are hazy.