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WARNING: This review contains spoilers.

I recently finished The Mad Wife by Meagan Church, and I have mixed feelings about it.

The book started off extremely slow, so much that I almost stopped reading it several times. It is marketed as a thriller, but I don’t think that label accurately reflects the reading experience. Going into the story expecting suspense and constant tension left me disappointed because much of the book focuses on the daily life of the main character and her attempts to become the “perfect wife.”

One of my biggest struggles with the novel was the protagonist herself. Early on, she comes across as cold and unnecessarily cruel toward her new neighbor, which made it difficult for me to connect with her. As the story progresses, the reader learns about her health struggles and the possibility that lupus symptoms may have been contributed to some of her behavior. This added an interesting layer to the story and made me more sympathetic toward her situation, even though it still didn’t completely change my feelings about her actions.

One thing I did appreciate was learning that the author was inspired by The Yellow Wallpaper. After reading the author’s note, I found myself looking at the story differently. Themes involving women’s health, mental health, and the expectations placed on women become more noticeable. The book raises the question of what happens to women who fail to meet society’s expectations and how quickly they get labeled as difficult, unstable, or “mad.”

Overall, The Mad Wife had an interesting premise and thoughtful themes about women’s health and expectations, but the slow pacing, unlikable protagonist, and misleading thriller marketing made it a bit difficult for me to fully enjoy. My biggest issue wasn’t the historical setting or themes. In fact, those were the parts I found the most interesting. The problem was that the book was marketed as a thriller, while the story itself moved at a much slower pace than I expected.

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

Questions or thoughts?