Content warning: Abuse, murder, kidnapping, and rape.

Visit Darby Kane’s website HERE.

Want to know all the anxiety-inducing details of Pretty Little Wife? Read the Spoiler Report HERE.

Lila Ridgefield lives in idyllic college town, but not everything is what it seems. Lila isn’t what she seems.

A student vanished months ago. Now Lila’s husband, Aaron, is also missing. At first these cases are treated as horrible coincidences, until it’s discovered that the student’s is really the third of three unexplained disappearances over the last few years. The police are desperate to find the connection, if there even is one. Little do they know they might be stumbling over only part of the truth.

With the small town in an uproar, everyone is worried about the whereabouts of the beloved high school teacher. Everyone except his wife. Lila is more confused—because she was the last person to see her husband’s body, and now it’s gone…

In this psychological thriller by Darby Kane, readers are taken on a missing persons/murder investigation from several different POVs, but primarily the wife’s.

Lila Ridgefield discovers her husband is a monster and has been for quite some time. Instead of outright exposing him, which would most likely be extremely dangerous for Lila, she plots and executes his murder. Staging his body, planted with evidence, for someone to find end the nightmare.

But when Aaron’s body and the car it was staged in go missing, Lila panics. She isn’t afraid that she might be implicated, she is afraid Aaron is still alive and coming for her.

Through the course of the investigation, it seems the people who are the most important in Lila’s like are most likely to be involved.

The deeper the police dive, the less shiny Aaron begins to seem. But in a small town where most think Aaron is a pillar of communal hospitality and grace, Lila quickly becomes public enemy number one.

This may have been Darby’s debut novel, but I read it after The Last Invitation.

Find the review HERE and the Spoiler Report HERE.

One thing is very clear – Darby has found her formula. I still appreciate the shorter chapters. They keep the pace moving quickly. Otherwise it would drag on, the small element of suspense would be ruined. I don’t feel this was meant to be incredibly suspenseful. There are no big action-packed, race-against-the-clock scenes. Jumping from one POV to another fills the story will small cliffhangers keeping you turning the pages before you fall off.

While Lila is the only character we really get a deep dive into, the supporting cast is also well developed. Ginny, the Senior Investigator; Jared, the bereaved yet supportive BIL; Tobias, Lila’s friend and lawyer. Even Cassie, the nosey neighbor. Each adding layer after layer to Lila’s life. Proving that no matter what choices she made, Lila is a victim. A victim that wants to take control of her life after having so many egotistically assume the responsibility for her.  

Maybe this was intentional given the nature of the story but Lila, as great a character as she was, seemed a bit too erratic to me. Initially, she comes off as completely organized and put together. Personality traits that are innate to her. Responding to panic and heightened emotions is one thing. Out-of-character thoughts were few, but enough to stick out in my brain.

I am excited to see what Darby comes up with next.

If you or anyone you know needs help, please contact The National Domestic Violence Hotline.