She saw a bus bearing down, bouncy and keen. She squintedinto the white light on the front, looking for a number. It slowed as it neared her and she turned and saw a bus stop to her left, with people standing at it. If you’re after grown-up, brilliantly written intelligent fiction, The Third Wife should be your first choice Sun In “The Third Wife” Ms Jewell delves into the psychology of a fractured family – one that on the surface looks magical, everyone having moved on and accepted the changes but underneath the surface there is a whirlpool of resentment and hidden secrets. Absolutely compelling throughout, at the heart of it sits the character of Adrian, a man who is in love with love. His first two wives, the children, and Adrian get along famously. They all seem to be one big happy family. His children seem to be resilient and coping with their lives and all seems to be moving along wonderfully, However, as in most things dealing with perceptions and real life, things are not so very wonderful. An emotionally intelligent, brilliantly plotted and beautifully written examination of a very modern family that will keep you gripped until the end. Daily Mail, Books of the Year

How does Jane fit into this story... is what I kept wondering. Did she know Maya? Why has she vanished all of a sudden? The story centered around a man, Adrian Wolfe, and his unique family situation. When the story started off, my heart broke for him. Here’s a guy that just lost his third wife. Yes . . . third. It’s hard to fathom, anyone could believe in love after two failed marriages, but this guy was convinced, he had finally found the one. The woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with. In an attempt to move on, after Maya’s death, Adrian tries to find a home for her cat. He meets a woman that opens his eyes to the possibility that maybe things weren’t as great as he once believed. Her role in the story and some of the secrets along the way, played out a little differently than expected. Luke being a standout... expressing face-to-face to his father his his observation, insights, awareness of what is really going on with 'everyone' in the family. Clever, intelligent, and believable on a subject few of us really understand. Lorrie is one of the most vivid—and complex—characters I've read in years. Wonderful.”This was the first book I have read by Lisa Jewell, so I wasn't at all sure of what to expect. I really enjoyed it. I found it to be very interesting from the start, and I liked getting to know the characters. Some of them were very flawed, yet still sympathetic and likable. There were parts of the the book that made me smile, and parts that brought tears to my eyes. I'll definitely be reading more by Jewell. What would you describe as the major themes of this story? Would you say it is a redemptive story? Why or why not? There is nothing normal about our family, dad. I mean, what were you thinking? How did you think it was going to be OK just to keep building families and then leaving them?”” This is a perfectly fine thriller, no massive twists or turns, no massive OMG moments but the plot line works, the ending was a bit too soppy for me but all in all it's a decent read.

The story wasn’t really about Maya, or even the other wives and their children it is about Adrian. While there are POVs from the children and Maya it is told primarily from Adrian’s perspective who I found to be a frustrating and unsympathetic character. She closed her eyes, gripped the lamppost tighter as she felt her balance slip away from her. She smiled to herself. This was nice. This was nice. All this color and darkness and noise and all these fascinating people. She should do this more often, she really should. Get out of it. Live a little. Go a bit nuts. A group of women were walking towards her. She stared at them greedily. She could see each woman in triplicate. They were all so young, so pretty. She closed her eyes again as they passed by, her senses unable to contain their images any longer. Once they’d passed she opened her eyes. Another unforgettable psychological suspense novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone and The Family Upstairs. Was Maya's death a terrible accident or was it a suicide? The circumstances of that night, didn't really fit with the person everyone knew. Or thought they knew.For fans of Liane Moriarty and Jojo Moyes comes a riveting family drama with a dark mystery at its core, from the internationally bestselling author of The House We Grew Up In.

And what does Adrian discover about Maya, Jane, his five kids, his two ex- wives...and also himself?

I'm not sure if it was the slow pace, or the fact that I didn't really connect with many of the character, but I had trouble getting into this one. Not to say that there wasn't a good story at the heart of this and that the red herrings weren't illuminating, but if a book is slower paced it needs to be atmospheric to hook me into the story. Well written, a few good surprises but a mixed read for me. The family is very wealthy (enough to support two very expensive houses in London and Hove!) which adds an additional unrelatable element to a story where the relationships between the two families are already hard to believe. Adrian must be a millionaire to afford all this! I absolutely adore Lisa Jewell books and have read them all. I especially loved Ralph's Party, Dream Street and The House We Grew Up In. I was overjoyed to see this had been released and couldn't wait to start it. Create categories on a continuum to describe the degrees of “addicted to love.” At your next book club, discuss what keeps people in the cycle of addiction and what are some possible first steps toward sobriety. But that's OK, because everyone's happy. Your children are happy. You're happy. And so is your new wife.

Maya is Adrian's third wife, one evening she steps out in front of a moving bus and is killed. Is is suicide? Was it an accident? Nobody knows for sure.From all appearances, Adrian Wolfe is a successful, happy man. But when the tragic death of his third wife shatters his world, he begins to unearth disturbing clues that things were not necessarily as they seemed. The mystery surrounding his wife’s death exposes some hidden unsettledness within the family system, and casts suspicion on the true cause of her demise. The Third Wife is a riveting story filled with psychological nuance of how the Wolfe family unravels the truth of their story.