The Third Wife: A psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Family Upstairs

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So my second Lisa Jewell book in as many weeks – and certainly there will be more coming up for me in the future – if anything I enjoyed this even more than “The House We Grew Up In” – I read it pretty much in one sitting.

The mystery begins when Adrian decides to find a new home for Maya's cat and posts a note on a bulletin board at the post office. A woman answers the add (we first learn she watched him post the ad and she takes it with her) but ultimately decides not to adopt the cat. BUT...she leaves her phone at Adrian's apartment and he tries to find her. I've let this book "sit" in my mind and emotions for 24 hours before writing this review. It's one of those books that makes you think after you have read it so I waited for all the "brain dust" to settle. I was totally hooked into this family throughout – both of Adrian’s ex wives are wonderful to behold, the children all have their own little quirks and foibles and the emotional resonance of how the adult affairs affect them is insightful and often very sad. A complex tangled web of sentiment is unravelled slowly and surely before our eyes as the truth emerges from the fiction created by Adrian of how well adjusted everyone around him appears to be – the depth of his tunnel vision will at times astound you, and yet it is easy to understand why he suffers convenient blindness to the realities of how his actions have consequences.From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone comes a riveting family drama with a dark mystery at its core, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Jojo Moyes. From all outward appearances, Maya was the perfect fit for Adrian’s unconventional family. Still immersed in his ex-wives lives and juggling the schedules of his five kids, Maya didn’t have much choice but to be accepting and join in the chaos. It honestly was a strange dynamic. One, I couldn’t ever imagine any woman signing up to be a part of. But, sometimes love makes us do crazy things, right?

But that's OK, because everyone's happy. Your children are happy. You're happy. And so is your new wife. I actually know other friends.. (Families of the '90's they called themselves)... that did just what these people did.

Retailers:

Having gave 5 stars to Lisa Jewell's other book 'I Found You' I was really looking forward to reading this 'The Third Wife'. This reading group guide for The Third Wife includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book. As Adrian continues to explore what happened, his family's real feelings and in essence Adrian's feelings and his all powerful need to have a woman in his life are held up to the light. Adrian learns many things about himself as well as learning that his family has suffered. Just as Adrian has broken marriages he also has broken children. This is another emotional clever read from Jewell, beautifully written and populated with carefully constructed characters you’ll be rooting for as you race through it.... I couldn’t put it down. Sara Lawrence What a delightful novel! I was truly absorbed by Betty and Arlette. A wonderful perspective on the curiosity, confidences and deep affection that can exist between the generations. The story is ingeniously and seamlessly balanced within two different time frames, and the care Lisa Jewell devotes to the sense of place and the detailed fabric of each age gives her book a richness that both charms and moves. Juliet Nicolson

The family dynamics are what drive this drama. The problem is that the majority of the characters are not that likable. Most seem morally challenged or self-absorbed to the point that they are simply reprehensible as human beings. Moreover, Maya’s death remains as mysterious at the end, as it was in the beginning. It can be embarrassing or it can be disorienting. But it’s always kind of awful. It leaves you wondering what else you’ve been wrong about. Jewell was born in London and educated at St. Michael's Catholic Grammar School in Finchley, north London, leaving school after one day in the sixth form to do an art foundation course at Barnet College followed by a diploma in fashion illustration at Epsom School of Art & Design. First of all, I'd like to thank Random House UK, Cornerstone for allowing me to read and review this book via Net Galley. I love this author. Adrian is a serial husband. There has always been somewhere for him to go. The next woman. The next house. The next family.They had all belonged to him once; the houses, the wives, the children. And yet now he had nothing. A crap flat, a weird cat, a stranger’s phone. For nearly five decades he had lived with an unshakeable belief in the decisions he made. Every morning for forty-eight years he had woken up and thought: I am where I want to be right now. And now he was not. He did not want to be in this flat, with his cat and this phone and this feeling of cold dread. He’d made a bad choice somewhere along the line but he didn’t know where.” The story centered around a man, Adrian Wolfe, and his unique family situation. When the story started off, my heart broke for him. Here’s a guy that just lost his third wife. Yes . . . third. It’s hard to fathom, anyone could believe in love after two failed marriages, but this guy was convinced, he had finally found the one. The woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with.

I liked that these mysteries were able to stand strong -- ( keeping me on my toes), without being a thrasher, chiller, thriller novel. Hagestadt, Emma (21 September 2001). "Lisa Jewell: Inside the cappuccino conspiracy". The Independent . Retrieved 9 January 2011. [ dead link] The worlds of celebrity and sports are brilliantly dissected and turned upside down in the debut thriller from the bestselling author and creator of the hit Netflix drama The Stranger. Lisa Jewell presents us with yet another emotionally intelligent, brilliantly plotted and beautifully written examination of a very modern family that will keep you gripped to the end.... Take this to the beach, or indeed anywhere — I promise you won’t regret it.”

Customer reviews

ABOUT THIS BOOK: In the early hours of an April morning, Maya stumbles into the path of an oncoming bus. Clever, intelligent, and believable on a subject few of us really understand. Lorrie is one of the most vivid—and complex—characters I've read in years. Wonderful. Jojo Moyes Adrian is a charming but an immature and naively selfish man who cruises through life as the Main Character with little thought to how his actions really impact the people around him, because all the matters is that he can consider himself a “nice guy.” I did think the story weakened near the end and some details were not explained (if Maya left school at 16 how did she become a teacher at a posh girls' school?), but it moves along and is interesting. She saw a bus bearing down, bouncy and keen. She squinted into the white light on the front, looking for a number. It slowed as it neared her and she turned and saw that there was a bus stop to her left, with people standing at it.