The Wife Stalker: A Novel

Leo is suffering from depression. He’s been in a funk for months. Joanna is hoping she can help him out of it, to save her family. She’s been supportive and encouraging. Joanna knows Leo won’t seek help, but find a way to use a current situation to get him to go to a mediation day at a local mental health recovery center.Leo meets Piper, the owner of the center. They skip out on the lunch provided at the meditation day. Piper has her eyes and heart set on snagging Leo’s affections.When Joanna’s mother falls and needs her to move back in with her as her caretaker, Leo decides this is the time to move on. He files paperwork and sends all of Joanna’s belongings to her mother’s home. Joanna is heartbroken and determined to win Leo back.It isn’t until the very end when I realized what I was reading wasn’t the full truth. I did not see what was so clearly obvious until it smacked me in the face! Normally I have it somewhat figured out before the reveal, but not this time! Great storyline and great way of hiding the plot twist!

The Constantine sisters have penned an interesting book. Multiple twists and turns that will delight fans of plot-driven stories. There’s even a plot twist embedded in the last line, which was cleverly done. The story has many tropes found in romance novels, but then, some of those same tropes are skewered and turned upside down. Leo’s chauvinistiic/alpha-male behavior was tiring and eye-roll-inducing. This seemed to be explained away by saying that he was “old-fashioned” and Greek? The “wronged wife” trope figured prominently, too, and on multiple levels. The story was somewhat compelling, if initially standard fare. Middle-aged woman (Joanna) still loved her partner, the two kids, the houses, etc. She managed her busy life, handling everything seamlessly on the home front, while Leo relished his work as a corporate attorney. Predictably, Leo got bored after a bout with depression, and sought the company of the young, beautiful and accomplished, Piper.Piper was new in town, eager for a fresh start, and had set her sights on Leo. Unsurprisingly, Piper and Leo soon married, after Leo untangled himself from the bereft, Joanna. Joanna found out that Piper had a shady, mysterious past, with two dead husbands and a stepchild, who all died under suspicious circumstances. Joanna feared for the safety of Leo and the two children. She became obsessed that Piper had “bewitched” (eye-roll) Leo and vowed to get her family back. She investigated many of the people in Piper’s past, attempting to piece together the relevant facts. She worried that they were all in danger, and began to stalk and lurk to keep watch over everyone.It is best to remember that the two narrators are unreliable, and all is not what it seems. Also, at one point, therapist, Celeste, called her client “crazy”, and I doubt an actual clinician would say that.This is a good story, if you like devious, misguided plans and characters with little sense of self. Because the book was written by two women, I was surprised when some of the women were portrayed as shallow, unhinged, conniving and unstable. It is a fast-paced, entertaining tale, if one can sidestep and ignore the stereotypes and a few minor plot holes. Otherwise, it’s a quick read.

The Wife Stalker was a little too convoluted, and ended too abruptly. I relish plot twists, and suspense, but this fell short for me.If it could have reworked, it might’ve been marvelous.

I didn’t see the end coming! What a wiiiiild twist! Loved it! Kept me on my toes and on the edge of my seat!

“If the path be beautiful, let us not ask where it leads.”- The Wife Stalker.SYNOPSIS: Breezing into the tony seaside paradise of Westport, Connecticut, gorgeous thirtysomething Piper Reynard sets down roots, opening a rehab and wellness space and joining a local yacht club. When she meets Leo Drakos, a handsome, successful lawyer, the wedding ring on his finger is the only thing she doesn’t like about him. Yet as Piper well knows, no marriage is permanent.Meanwhile, Joanna has been waiting patiently for Leo, the charismatic man she fell in love with all those years ago, to re-emerge from the severe depression that has engulfed him. Though she’s thankful when Leo returns to his charming, energetic self, paying attention again to Evie and Stelli, the children they both love beyond measure, Joanna is shocked to discover that it’s not her loving support that’s sparked his renewed happiness—it’s something else.Piper. Leo has fallen head over heels for the flaky, New Age-y newcomer, and unrepentant and resolute, he’s more than willing to leave Joanna behind, along with everything they’ve built. Of course, he assures her, she can still see the children.Joanna is devastated—and determined to find something, anything, to use against this woman who has stolen her life and her true love. As she digs deeper into Piper’s past, Joanna begins to unearth disturbing secrets . . . but when she confides to her therapist that she fears for the lives of her ex-husband and children, her concerns are dismissed as paranoia. Can she find the proof she needs in time to save them? - The Wife Stalker.REVIEW: I was so excited when I heard that Liv Constantine was releasing another book because their previous book “The Last Mrs. Parrish” blew me away. This book is another great thriller with plenty of twists along the way. I really enjoyed reading this book and rated it four stars. I rated it this way because I felt that the majority of the larger twists happened fairly close to the end of the book, and I felt like a lot of the plot and twists had to be explained by the characters rather than showed and developed through the entirety of the book. However, once the whole plot is revealed, the whole book seems to change, so I think that this book would make for a good second read-through because of it, and to catch all the smaller details they play into the plot.This book is told from the perspective of two characters: Joanna and Piper. I love these types of books where there are two main characters with intersecting plots. I felt that each character was very interesting and really pushed the story forward. I also felt that the other characters in the book were purposeful and added to the twists.As with most thrillers, I think it is better to go in as blind as possible. While this book has some vaguely similar elements to “The Last Mrs. Parrish” it is very different and I think the plot is quite unique. I would recommend this to others who love thrillers, domestic thrillers, and of course those who loved Liv Constantine’s previous books. I think this is a good thriller for a nice summer read!

Every time I read a thriller book, I think I have it figured out and those “shocking ending” reviews never seem to apply to me because I’m usually able to expect the unexpected. This one has the MOST unexpected ending ever and I had to reread the chapter it takes a twist multiple times before I even understood what was happening. Wow, wow, wow. If you like to be mind-effed this one is FOR YOU. I wasn’t sure about it until the end, but now without a doubt 5 stars across the board.

… no one could have guessed the ending. Very good read, with an unpredictable ending. I will definitely read Liv Constantine again !

I really enjoyed this thriller from start to finish. It had a great plot, some brilliant twists, with some unbelievable gasp moments that came together towards the end. Not everything was what it seemed. Another five star read from Liv Constantine.

Did take a while to get to the plot twist BUT once you get to it, it's very good!

This has a twist to it which is quite clever, but it isn't cleverly done and the plot is full of holes. Some are (poorly in my opinion) explained away.. such as the protagonist hasn't spoken to her mother for over 20 years, but the mother calls her on her cell phone to inform her that her father died. This is a minor one, supposedly explained away by "I asked a friend of yours for your number" but we are led to believe that she changed her identity and cut off her old ties completelyThe twist at the end could have been better handled. Throughout the book the reader is mis-led. But not cleverly... in quite a "small child performing a magic trick misdirection " type of way.

Couldn't stop reading till the mistery was solved ... at the end... deliciosly good...