How To Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman

How To Be a Good Wife by Emma Chapman
My rating: 3.75 of 5 stars

Description: In the tradition of Emma Donoghue's Room and S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep, a haunting literary debut about a woman who begins having visions that make her question everything she knows

Marta and Hector have been married for a long time. Through the good and bad; through raising a son and sending him off to life after university. So long, in fact, that Marta finds it difficult to remember her life before Hector. He has always taken care of her, and she has always done everything she can to be a good wife—as advised by a dog-eared manual given to her by Hector’s aloof mother on their wedding day.

But now, something is changing. Small things seem off. A flash of movement in the corner of her eye, elapsed moments that she can’t recall. Visions of a blonde girl in the darkness that only Marta can see. Perhaps she is starting to remember—or perhaps her mind is playing tricks on her. As Marta’s visions persist and her reality grows more disjointed, it’s unclear if the danger lies in the world around her, or in Marta herself. The girl is growing more real every day, and she wants something.

My thoughts: The mystery of Marta and what is happening to her is well paced. An astute reader may recognize her diagnosis and past quicker than I did. I kept my mind open for all possibilities until the evidence seemed irrefutable.

It is a dark psychological thriller and I did not enjoy being in Marta's head. On the other hand, it seemed necessary in order to solve the mystery of the possible apparitions, Marta saw. Much happens even though it seems to happen quietly. I liked it.