Book Review: The Optician's Wife by Betsy Reavley

Book: The Optician's Wife

Author: Betsey Reavley 

Pages: 225 

Read on: Kindle via my Kindle Unlimited subscription 

Read in: 2 hours 

Plot Summary: Can you ever really know someone?

When Deborah, an unpopular seventeen-year-old, meets the charming and handsome Larry, he sweeps her off her feet. The trouble is Larry has a secret.

Then a series of grisly murders cast a shadow over everything.

As Deborah’s world starts to fall apart she begins to suspect the man she loves of a terrible betrayal. And to keep their marriage alive, sacrifices must be made.

Things I Liked: 

1. The premise was interesting. It hinted that secrets people kept, even within a relationship as intimate as marriage is. It also hinted at one of the two people- Deb or Larry- being a serial killer or being involved in some way with serial killings. So, I thought this book would be quite interesting.. perhaps some kind of a spin on how the serial killer's spouse knows about his killings but keeps a secret..?! But, pretty early on in the book, I was quite impressed with the direction in which the story was going. 

2. The misdirection in this book gets a C-. It was not very well done or successful. The author tried very hard to include a few red herrings but was really unsuccessful. But I am giving her points for trying! 

Things I Didn't Like: 

1. Poor character development. You, as a reader, can't make any sense of the motivations and drivers underlying any of the characters! Deborah seems like a mousy, timid woman and there is not much context provided about the events that make her who she is. So, it all seems a bit disjointed and weird. 

Larry- I couldn't even begin to understand what the author was trying to do with him! He starts off as someone oddly stalker-ish and I don't think "charming" comes close to his creepy, domineering behaviour with Deborah. 

Deborah's sister- for a while you think she is this breath of sanity in Deborah and Larry's crazy life.. but then she does something bizarre! 

2. The killer was SO OBVIOUS!!! It was obvious from the first kill. I don't know the author would make the killer so obvious, unless she is trolling us and it was totally on purpose. 

3. This is a very pointless book. It is like the story of a spineless, bored, vapid, moral-less woman. Deborah had no personality or spunk and it was really boring to read about such a character. You can't connect with someone like her and the writing is so soul-less that you can't even empathise with her. Really awful! 

Rating: 1/5

Avoid this book like the plague!