The New Wife by JP Delaney

                                             

Hardback:  343 pages                                                                                 

Genre:  Mystery, Thriller, Psychological Fiction

Publisher:  Quercus, July 2023

Source:  Tywyn Public Library

Review Quote: Like Daphne du Maurier he sustains the ambiguity deftly and deliciously - whenever a resolution looks imminent, a new development preserves the enigma ― Sunday Times

Favourite Quote: Did any of us speak a word that day that was true, I now wonder? Perhaps those few words that weren't in English might have been the cold unvarnished truth - a brief instruction to the older woman on how she should respond.

First Sentences:  In rural parts of Mallora, you still come across clusters of carob trees surrounded by high nets, open to the sky. These are es trampes, the songbird traps.

Setting: Mallorca

My Opinion:  First discovered this author thanks to his earlier novel  Playing Nice  being selected as a Richard and Judy Bookclub choice. Since then he has been on the list of authors I select when in the mood for a psychological thriller.

Finn and Jess have just learnt that their father has died in Mallorca.  He has lived there for many years and the farmhouse he lives in with his third wife, is his children's inheritance. Between them they decide that Finn should travel to Mallorca to take control of the situation. It does not work out as simply as the siblings had hoped though. Who is telling lies and who is telling the truth about the situation?

Unpredictable as just when you feel you have worked out what is happening, along comes another twist! If you enjoy being kept guessing then this is definitely one for you. 

Précis Courtesy of Goodreads:

When Finn Hensen gets a call from his sister Jess to say their father has died, neither is heartbroken. Their parents divorced many years ago, after which their father, Jimmy, continued to live a bohemian lifestyle in sun-soaked Mallorca, while his family returned to the UK.

Ownership of his home, a beautiful but dilapidated farmhouse in the mountains, now passes to Finn and his sister. The only problem is that Jimmy recently remarried for the third time, and his new wife, Ruensa, is still living there.

The pair agree that Finn should go to Mallorca and tactfully take possession of their inheritance. When he arrives, however, Finn is surprised to find that Finca Siquia has been completely transformed into a chic Mediterranean bolthole by Ruensa - along with her twenty-seven-year-old daughter, Roze. The Spanish police, meanwhile, are asking awkward questions about Jimmy's death . . . Are Ruensa and Roze the helpless victims of circumstance? Or will they stop at nothing to get Finca Siquia for themselves?

Previous Reviews: Playing Nice   My Darling Daughter

Author Profile : 

                                               

                                                      Courtesy of Author Website

JP Delaney is a British writer of psychological suspense. His novel THE GIRL BEFORE was an instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller which sold over a million copies in 40 countries. It was adapted by him for the BBC and HBO Max in 2021. His second thriller, BELIEVE ME, was also an international and Sunday Times bestseller, as were his subsequent books THE PERFECT WIFE and PLAYING NICE. His fifth psychological thriller, MY DARLING DAUGHTER, was published in 2022.

JP Delaney has previously written bestselling fiction under other names. The Carnivia Trilogy, a series of three standalone but interlinked thrillers set in present-day Venice and written under the name Jonathan Holt, was published in more than 20 countries. 

Photographs and Biographical Information courtesy of the following sites.

Author Official Website   Amazon Author Page