novels – Mel Reviews Her Books

I did not expect to devour this book in under a week but I’m not ashamed to say that I did! What I am ashamed to say is that this is my first Jack Heath book! If the rest of his adult crime fiction are anything like this … book friends, you know what’s on my Christmas list 📕

Kill Your Husbands is a witty, stand alone crime fiction novel that takes place in a secluded, digital detox holiday house. Three couples, who are high school friends, take the opportunity to leave behind their every day life baggage and spend some time reconnecting with themselves, their partners and … other couples partners.

There are many different perspectives and characters to flick around in this book, so let me start by introducing them as outlined to us in the front of this novel:

*written by Detective Kiara*

FELICITY, stand-up comic, married to Dominic (trophy wife?)

DOMINIC (Dom), finance bro, gave $10K to Cole (gift or loan?)

COLE, gym owner, married to Clementine (but attracted to Isla?)

CLEMENTINE, fitness model, Isla’s best friend (find someone who’s done IVF, see if story is credible)

ISLA, full-time mum, married to Oscar (what ‘truth’ was he referring to?)

OSCAR, real estate agent (but didn’t rent the house?)

Just reading these I was immediately intrigued! So, we have Dom and Felicity, a very glitzy pair who show off their wealth in a new Tesla & branded clothing. Dom also forked out and rented the grand holiday house for everyone – he’s a bit of a show off really. Felicity is quite a bit younger than Dom and has an interesting background before meeting Dom. Felicity is the one to suggest the partner swap … or is she?

We have Cole and Clementine who are the ‘perfect’ couple. However for them, their seemingly wonderful relationship is not complete without a baby. They’ve been through multiple rounds of IVF and the cost is setting Cole’s gym business backwards. He is also starting to see Clementine as becoming fragile and not able to fulfil his desires. Cole is beginning to feel helpless and he has an urge that needs fulfilling … will the partner swap be just what he needs to fulfil these continuous thoughts?

Finally, we have Isla and Oscar, and they have a little one named Noah who is the light of their life but Oscar is beginning to feel twinges of jealously, like he is left behind and that his wife is only sexually attracted to him because she wants another baby. Mentally, Oscar is finding it hard to stay balanced, and a weekend away from his son, somewhat from his wife, is exactly what he needs. And also because there will be another woman there he’d like to focus on … Oscar never thought he’d be a man who would cheat on his wife, but he’s obsessed.

Snipping through each perspective, two week time period, as well as being lead through the investigation process by Kiara , Kill Your Husbands is a very quick read 📕 There is no time to put this story down because at the end of every chapter, you’re left hanging for the next.

Each character has a motive for murdering another in the group. Each character you feel sympathy for because we learn, care and understand how they feel – it’s only human. Each character is a suspect. Up to the very last pages, I promise you, you will be kept guessing as to who, when, how and why.

Kill Your Husbands was a 5/5 read for me, no doubt about it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you’d like to hear Jack Heath and I discuss Kill Your Husbands, join us on Instagram Live Saturday 23 December @ 10am 🔪

BIG THANK YOU to Allen & Unwin for generously sending me this copy of Kill Your Husbands for review 💫👏🏼

I gave into the hype, I did it and I’m telling you … I really, really don’t regret it. If you have been hesitant like me about reading the ridiculously loved, discussed and recommended novel ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owen – I am here to vouch that this book is great! Buy it, loan it, read it and let’s talk about it 😍✨

Clever. That is my overarching word, expression and summary for this book. Not only has Delia Owens written in a descriptive yet simplistic way, she has allowed us as the reader to connect with Kya who is our main character. We are also strongly invested in the death, or supposed murder of Chase Andrews.

Kya’s life isn’t easy. Her father has strong symptoms of PTSD, domestic abuse and alcoholism. Due to her family living within the deep marshland of North Carolina, the neglectful family environment goes unseen and unknown. Kya’s mother walks out on her uneducated, poor and scared children. Eventually, Kya is left to fend for herself and her father – constantly in a state of pining, grief and hoping her mother may return to the marsh. Eventually, her father also leaves and so Kya is left to completely fend for herself. We see her develop hands-on environmental intellect, sufficiency and resilience from a very young age and well into her teens – where she meets Chase Andrews, ‘the town golden-boy’.

Shifting back and forward of time is something I really enjoy in period novels. Delia Owens has perfected the technique as it provided the reader with suspicion, curiosity and a number of motives as to why/when/how/who may have been involved in Chase Andrews’ death.

The love expressed throughout this book – oh, how good it is!! Over time, Kya was exposed to and learnt how to feel supported and cared for by multiple people. It wasn’t just the assumed modern ‘love story’ scenario. Slang, twang and small town community culture/gossip held this novel in a different light. As the story takes place in the mid-1900’s, African American culture is hugely ostracised and rejected. Kya finds that her reputation as the ‘Marsh Girl’ pockets her in the same category – largely leading to the accusations and theories that spread about her and Chase.

Poetry, mother nature and the interesting scientific facts of insects, birds and animal relationships, really do complement the story. Clever – as I said at the beginning. Trust me, it will all make sense when you read it (which I throughly encourage you to do)! Reece Witherspoon was also behind the push for movie production/ book adaptation of Where the Crawdads Sing. I can’t wait to see this on film in 2022 📽🎞