The Third Wife

May 15, 2015

Jewell (The Making of Us; The House We Grew Up In) introduces us to Adrian Wolfe, who has left a trail of ex-wives and children in his quest for love. His third wife, Maya, stepped in front of a bus and was killed; she had not conceived before her mysterious death. Maya also had received a steady stream of hateful emails. These vitriolic correspondences contain information only an insider from one of Adrian's families could know...or someone talking to an insider. Grief-stricken Adrian wants to place Maya's cat Billie in a loving home when Jane appears. Adrian is transfixed by Jane, but as he sees more of her, questions arise. Who is Jane really? And what does she want from Adrian? Jewell tells the story from multiple viewpoints, giving it much greater depth than if it had been told from only Adrian's perspective. The characters are quite distinctly drawn, and the author effectively switches between past and present to keep readers engaged. VERDICT A great choice for readers seeking a mystery with a blended family twist. [See Prepub Alert, 11/25/14.]--Jennifer M. Schlau, Elgin Community Coll., IL

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2015
Adrian Wolfe, 48, prides himself on how well his two ex-wives, five children, and new, much younger wife, Maya, have blended. Then Maya gets very, very drunk and is hit by a bus. Adrian accepts the fact that the death of his third wife was an accident; that is, until beautiful Jane comes to adopt Maya's cat and leaves a strangely blank cell phone behind. His youngest daughter tells him that she saw Jane watching her at skating practice, while his oldest daughter, Cat, discovers that Jane is not Jane at all. But who is she? And what does she know about Maya's death? As Adrian tries his best to avoid facing the fact that his marriage was troubled, his blended family face their own roles in Maya's death. As in The House We Grew Up In (2014), Jewell excels at juggling multiple perspectives to slowly peel back the layers of supposed domestic bliss. Like Liane Moriarty, she manages the perfect blend of women's fiction and nail-biting suspense, throwing enough red herrings in the reader's path to keep the pages turning.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)