The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford

ISBN-13: 9780062362858
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 17 March 2015
Format: Paperback, 320 pgs
Source: Publisher

Dana Catrell and Celia Steinhauser are friends and neighbours. They'd share recipes, gossips and any other stuff that women like to talk about, but not secrets. Not until Dana learned of her friend's death and the truth began to hit on her. Is Dana's husband, Peter, being unfaithful and goes after his secretary? Why is Celia's number listed on Peter's cell, and the message she left him was vague yet suspicious? Are they both doing things behind her back? 

Before you could speculate if there's anything going on between Peter and Celia; Dana, as we know from the beginning of the story, is a little mentally unstable. However, that doesn't make her a mad person, just that sometimes she couldn't remember things and she finds there are troubling holes in her memory. And of course she couldn't recall what had happened on the afternoon of Celia's death. Did she kill Celia in a drunken, manic rage? After all, both of them had had some drinks in that afternoon, and that was the moment when Celia had told her that Peter was being unfaithful. 

Detective Jack Moss is assigned to this case. Jack himself encounters some marital woes as his current wife walks out on him. He has a son, Kyle, from his first marriage and they are somewhat estranged, given the circumstances. Kyle isn't what anyone would call a good kid but he does has his own set of problems - mixing with the wrong crowd and so on. 

As Jack runs through his list of suspects, he also fears that his son, Kyle, might be involved in the case. After all, Celia is his teacher. Suddenly, everyone becomes a suspect and he doesn't know what to think and where to begin with. Then, there's Lenora White, the assistant prosecutor, who he thinks is attractive and wants him to close this case as soon as possible. 

The Pocket Wife has all the elements of an intense psychological thriller. And if you are a fan of unreliable narrators, this is another book for you to devour because the characters here all seemed to have their issues. And of course, there's Dana that makes you question over her sanity (or insanity) throughout the story. While overall this was a good read in my opinion, I felt disappointed that the ending was a little anti-climatic (I was still thinking about it while writing this and thought perhaps there is another better ending?). Nevertheless, it was neatly wrapped up and it had kept me engaged throughout my reading journey. This is Susan Crawford's first novel and I'm definitely looking forward to her future releases.