I am delighted to share my review for Her Husbands Secrets by Louise Mangos. This is the first book I have read by this author and it is also the first book I read in the #20booksofsummer reading challenge.

Let me show you what it is all about…

Art college dropout Lucie arrives in a Swiss ski resort looking for work – but instead finds love in the form of the handsome and charismatic Mathieu.

Matt seems like perfect husband material – especially when Lucie discovers he’s from a wealthy family. But Matt’s dark side soon emerges. Manipulative, controlling and abusive, he is anything but perfect and will tear the life she has built for herself and their six-year-old son JP apart.

Then, one fateful night, things come to a head in the most shocking way . . .

Wrongly accused of her husband’s murder and left fighting for her freedom in a foreign prison, Lucie is starting to lose her grip on reality. Now, she must summon all her strength to uncover the truth about Matt’s death and be reunited with her son – before it’s too late.

The clock is ticking . . . but who can she trust?

Previously published as The Art of Deception.

Buy a copy HERE

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After dropping out of Uni to take time out to travel, Lucie finds herself at a bar in Switzerland. She also catches the eye of Matt and gradually they become friends and her travel plans are on hold as they gradually form a relationship. There had been the odd mysterious comment about them being together and Lucie didn’t feel exactly welcomed into the family. So where did it all go wrong?

This was an intriguing read and one that I really enjoyed. It is set out in a past and present format. I like this style for this type of book because it means I get to understand the backstory that fills in the details that bring things up to date. I found this back and forth style very easy to keep up with and was eager to see what happened next in each of the tenses.

What started out as a potential holiday romance that then became a relationship sounds like a good basis for a story, but then as it progressed the little doubts and niggles started to creep in. Understanding the lead up to Lucie’s incarceration makes for good reading. Also making good reading was the mystery around what happens after her arrest.

Lucie was a naive character and it was easy to see how she fell for Matt. There are several other characters and if I am being honest I didn’t really like that many of them, Lucie and her friend Anne were nice and likeable, but the some others felt devious and cold suiting the part they played perfectly.

The story had a good deal of tension and this was increased as the pressure of time began to play its part. This meant the pacing gathered momentum the latter half of the story. Mystery, intrigue, suspense and tension were all evident, then the manipulation, lies and secrets are added to the plot making for a tense thriller. I enjoyed this a lot and would recommend it to readers who like a domestic thriller and psychological thriller reads.

Louise Mangos grew up in the UK but has spent more than half her life in Switzerland. Her debut psychological thriller “Strangers on a Bridge” was a finalist in the Exeter Novel Prize and long listed for the Bath Novel Award. Her second novel “Her Husband’s Secrets” (previously titled The Art of Deception) was published in June 2019. She lives on an Alp with her Kiwi husband and two sons, and when she’s not writing you can find her on the cross-country ski trails or wild swimming in the lake, depending on the season. She also writes short stories and flash fiction which have won prizes and been published in various anthologies. She has recently completed her MA in crime writing at UEA.

Visit Louise on Twitter – Amazon Author Page

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