This is Jessi Wakefield with the Sioux City Library, and you’re listening to Check It Out.
There are many psychological thrillers out there to wade through, so when one comes around that shines a little brighter than the rest, you take note. This is how I felt when I finished reading The Wives by Tarryn Fisher. Honestly, when I closed the book after the last page, the first thing out of my mouth was “geeeez!”
The Wives is told from the point of view of a woman whose husband has two other wives. Part of the agreement they have is that she doesn't meet or attempt to make any kind of contact with the other wives. It's not her idea of a perfect marriage, but she’s willing to make any sacrifice necessary for the man she loves. She has a gorgeous and loving husband who comes home to her once a week. The rest of the time... well, she can just pretend he's working away from home. Everything is fine, until one day, while doing his laundry, she finds an appointment reminder for a woman named Hannah. Is this one of the other wives? With this new detail, our heroine’s very fragile life begins to fall apart. She has to see what Hannah looks like, who is she?
Fisher constructs a story that really can be divided in half. The first half is absolutely unputdownable, as we follow the protagonist through her subterfuge to locate and stalk the other two wives. With an assumed name she even genuinely befriends pregnant Hannah, but must know where the strange bruises on Hannah’s arm came from and where that black eye came from. Can their perfect husband be the cause of them? Then about 50% through the book, the story takes a weird and twisty turn. One that I wouldn’t say was unpredictable, but once I realized this was the direction Fisher was going, I buckled up and went along with the ride.
Contact the Sioux City Public Library to get a hold of this title and to learn about other mind-bending psychological thrillers.
Support for Check It Out on Siouxland Public Media comes from Avery Brothers.