The Quiet Wife

by J.M. Cannon

At 36, Katie Cope isn’t where she thought she’d be. Somehow the things she was supposed to have slipped by. Her dream of being a journalist was reduced to writing pop culture pieces. Her dream of being a mother stalled in a faltering marriage. And when her husband sells his business, reaching success she never has, she feels more pressed than ever to make something of her life.

When she discovers a disturbing connection between a wealthy housing project in the Colorado mountains and missing girls, she knows she might have a chance at a big story. But after joining the community, what she sees in her neighbor’s windows and the strange footsteps in the snow that come out of the woods and linger at her backdoor have her wondering if the success is worth her safety.

Something is fatally wrong in the mountains of Carson’s Pass, and when she realizes her own past might have everything to do with the vanished girls, she must risk going missing herself to find out what.

Genres: Thriller, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Book Club, Psychological Thriller

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 23, 2023

Reviews

[Pheadra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am truly astonished at how many 5 and 4 star reviews this book received. It is poorly written and in desperate need of an editor. At one point, I started highlighting grammatical errors on the Kindle version but gave up as this is a full-time job and tried to concentrate on the implausible storyline. Far fetched, gory and somewhat bizarre, this wasn't for me. Why would a woman married to a super wealthy man go out on a limb for a journalist she doesn't know, risking her life by moving to the sticks? 2 and a half stars.

[Donna Mallery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great THRILLER! While parts may be unbelievable, that’s what allows the author to write such a riveting tale! The suspense carries throughout the book, not just near the end. I actually had no clue where this book was headed, and it’s a crazy one. I wouldn’t even read the summary (although it doesn’t really give anything away). Just go for it! While there are some grammatical errors, I was surprised to learn this is a debut novel! I’ll be looking forward to more books from this author!

[BookwormBeccaAnne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m torn on this book. There were parts that were good but overall it was VERY far fetched. So extremely unrealistic. Rich, bored housewife plays detective and makes stupid decisions.

[salemandsatire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my god this was so good.
I’ve been following JM Cannon’s writing on Reddit for a couple years now, and when they reached out saying they wrote a book - I knew I had to get my hands on it.

JMC sets the story so well and placed incredible red herrings to keep you guessing and on your toes the entire time.

I had an inkling of what could possibly be happening around 50% of the way in, but I was so incredibly wrong.

They did beautifully, and I’m so incredibly eager for their next book.
5 well deserved stars.

[LaceyBanana Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not connect to the characters or plot with this one I really tried! It’s been a week and I don’t remember a single thing 😩

[jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

so torn about this book. i couldn’t put it down bc of all the crazy things that kept happening and i was so creeped out in the middle. however it was a slower start bc the build up was kind of unbelievable like in what world is a woman just going to move to the middle of nowhere in the winter for “investigative journalism”. also the twist was so far fetched and overall unrealistic but again i read it so fast so i guess good it still kept me reading. also so many grammatical mistakes?? like did anyone even edit this idk

[Kaitlin Corbett · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure about this! The very end was quite satisfying but who messaged her? I hate unanswered questions!!! I feel like the whole point of this book so stupid, like this man’s ego was so hurt he went through all this? And recruited her sister and best friend? The sister is so fucking entitled to think she can do this to her sister just because she didn’t give her money?! Like it’s not her money it’s his.

[mary mullins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't want this book to end!

Great storyline and characters. Ending that I didn't see coming. This author's first book is amazing! I highly recommend this book.

[Zayna · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a refreshing one, albeit being a domestic thriller, it was quite unique and not the typical he said she said, it was fast paced, kind of unpredictable, and something you can escape into for a night or two and let yourself be guided by the story, tho I'll admit many characters lacked character depth and back stories, and the main character at some points acted a little stupidly but if you just allow urself to overlook that, i think you'll be entertained by the story much more than a regular domestic thriller (at least i was & it just pulled me right out of a book slump!)
just think of it as a pop corn thriller, (a spooky pop corn thriller , cause it had me sleeping with lights on, lol)

[Literary Han · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.25 stars

A good read but not believable in the slightest

[Christine Joachims · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book definitely had a crazy plot twist but it was just like a little too violent and gory for my taste.

[Annie Loven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don’t even care that it wasn’t realistic, it was so entertaining.

[Raynah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a good twist omfg

[Teresa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm in the minority and that's fine.

I disliked this story. I struggled to get into it from the start. There was too much in the beginning regarding the lives of these rich, annoying people that I wasn't on board with. It was bad people making bad mistakes. Yuck.

However, then the opportunity came for some of these people to venture outside of their rich lives of comfort. Our heroine...if you can really call her that...finds a connection between missing girls and a housing settlement in the mountains. She connects with a journalist and she, the husband and her best friend move to this settlement to start finding out what's going on. That part got a bit interesting and the book picked up pace for me. I was thinking there was something sinister a foot and here comes the mystery!

No.

Things started happening and then it began to get weird. And then the reveal? Annoying.

I felt like I lost some valuable time reading this book. Sorry, not sorry.

Reading Challenge 2024
Month: September Letters: Q/R

[Lauren Speringo · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars rounded up…I guess I’m feeling generous today. The book started out good…started to get a little weird..briefly redeemed itself…then got weird again. The ending went off the rails crazy and not in a good way. It was also WAY too long.

[Natasha Boudreau · Rating 1 out of 5]

dnf at about 10%.

[Melanie Dubois · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a good Thriller book!!

I was so determined to figure out what was going on and I was WAY off! what an ending!

I found myself staring off while listening trying to figure pieces of the puzzle out. It was captivating.

I couldn't have asked for a better ending, Katie was a fighter!

[Sam Stoddard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow wow wow. This is an absolutely wild ride. I had never heard of this book before, which is absolutely shameful, but I’m glad someone recommended it. It is amazing. It is insane. It is wild. I loved it. I will be reading all other books by this author.

[Heather Juliao · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be fair, I was bored, which made it hard to follow the 2nd half of the book. Aside from not holding my interest though, I was unmoved by the thriller cliches at the end with the “big reveal.”

[Arleen C. Zack · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, the technical issues: editing needs work. For example, the word "lamented" is used in two separate instances when the correc tword is "laminated.; grammar examples include wrong possessive-- "boy's" used instead of "boys' "; and typos...the word "head" when "heard" is the correct word.
Having said that, the early development of the story is pretty good, although the idea of the main character going out on a limb for an alleged "journalist" and her unsubstantiated theories is not believable for a seemingly intelligent person.
I also think the circumstances of what happens and why are overdone , but have potential with more development..
I finished the entire book, so that says something, but would not give it an encouraging recommendation to my friends.

[DANII · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so glad this book was on ku and I didn't actually buy it, it was so far-fetched, and all over the place, it gave me whiplash, the way it twisted and turned constantly. It started out really well and kept my attention but toward the middle and end it felt rushed and all over the place, almost like what was being written was just there to fill up the word/page count and it didn't matter if any of it made any sense. I wouldn't recommend it if I'm completely honest, but as it's my first book by this author I'm prepared to check out their other works and see if they are any better.

Happy reading, everyone 📚😊

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! A 10 star read if there ever was one. One of the best if not the best bookI've read in a long time and to think it's a debut novel is incredible. Can't wait to see what this author continues to produce.

A unique storyline and never a dull moment and just when you think you know what's going to happen you surely don't. And the writing is first rate as well.

Just a superlative read in so many wonderful ways.

[Wendy Del Toro · Rating 1 out of 5]

The one star rating is strictly for the ending, which was super corny but at least entertaining. It had a pulse. The other 90% of the book I found to be lacking in suspense, characterization, intrigue and atmosphere, with really flat dull storytelling and writing. It felt like reading the phone book.

[Jean · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely RIDICULOUS

Worst story plot ever. It started out with a possible interesting plot but then morphed into a ridiculous exaggerated and unbelievable unrealistic story. Disappointing!

[Julie Zack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed in character development.

[Jen - Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Held my interest all the way through. The twist was a disappointment, so far-fetched.

[Deb Gunnarsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

don’t waste your time

This is ridiculous and I’m sorry wasted time reading this book. I kept hoping it would get better, but alas, it did not.

[Hayley Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so far fetched and had so many holes, waste of time!

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars. Did not see that coming. Do wish the ending gave a little more away but one can think of their own conclusions from it.

The book starts off by introducing quiet Katie from North Dakota who was bullied. She has a husband Howard who just sold a company for 87 million. They never have sex. She has a friend Miranda who thinks she needs to move to get away. Her sister Bea is a copycat and a bully. She had a friend in college Claire who died. Miranda mentions a new housing development that focuses on community she’s trying to sell them on moving to.

Her roommate Claire told her she wanted to go hiking into the woods and just never come out. Had issues with depression. And that’s what she did. Katie is a part time small journalist. She goes to look up Philip pope who is the developer of the complex and finds 2 different women’s disappearances linked to his developments as well as secret walls and spaces in a home?

She decides to meet with a journalist to discuss the disappearances and a possible story. Her and Howard had taken a break and she hooked up with a guy named Ryan. Word got out and she was deemed a slut. Before she got home- her husband knew. She meets with the journalist Amy and discusses how Philip is getting the articles wiped from the internet related to the disappearances. She wants to work together to get an inside scoop.

Her friend Miranda agrees to go with her and they decide not to tell Howard. Her sister Bea calls her saying her sons are probably getting expelled and is looking for 30k a year per kid for 3rd grade. Katie says no. Bea hangs up.

Philip meets and greets them at the house on move in day. They meet the neighbors who seem strange. After walking Miranda home she sees the house with a generator running- apparently some issue with power and she sees supposed twins Kenna and Aiden kissing???

Katie finds a hollow space in the wall with a shoebox of pics of possible missing girls. She finds a photo of Claire in there. There are 45 photos of missing girls not just from Colorado. Her and Howard have sex but it’s cold. Amy wants to meet her. She suggests a bar near her home but weirdly she never told her where she lived. Also Amy says someone’s been following her and there’s a dark tinted suv that sits outside her house. Katie questions what else she could be hiding. Before bringing Amy back to her house, she finds a tracker on Amy’s car.

A young couple they met at the neighborhood welcome party that was all over each other was found murdered. Apparently no threat to the community. Katie tells Howard she’s trying to investigate Philip for human trafficking. They find out the couple fought a lot. Philip seems mad about their deaths? Scripted?

Suddenly her sister Bea shows up with her twin nephews and her man’s Randy. Followed her there too. She isn’t to happy about it. Randy will be a groundskeeper and they got one of the low income homes. Katie speaks with state pd named Jack who says the murders may not be cut and dry. They agree to meet at the bar down the road.

She sees someone in the woods with a flashlight. She meets with jack the detective and finds out that 4 girls went missing over 20 years ago and their clothes were found later on under heavy boulders. The locals think it was cult related. She finds out that the dead woman saw snow prints up to her door the night she died and her body was moved from the basement where she died.

Katie thinks she hears breathing and footsteps in the wall. Howard bullies Katie about wanting to have her own accomplishments. Howard goes skiing in aspen with his friends. Katie and Miranda go for a hike through Carson’s pass. She finds a space in the wall but no one is in there. Katie and Miranda go for a hike during a storm. They find bloody clothes under some rocks. Their phones aren’t working. They decide to go hang in the hot tub. Katie hears screaming. The cell tower falls over and the power goes out. Miranda refuses to go to Katie’s where there is a wood fire. She gets back in the hot tub.

Katie’s sister Bea shows up with a casserole and wants to start drama. She’s got money from selling crystals? Katie hears knocking on the walls at night. The bag of bloody clothes is missing. Power goes out again. She finds footprints at her back door. She finds a secret compartment under her stairs. The footprints just seem to stop.

After drinking as she seems to be doing a lot of, Katie hears a door slam in the night and accidentally shoots her friend Miranda. She then goes back to bed and gets blood everywhere. She wakes up and after puking drags her outside and burries her with snow. Howard comes home and seems sus. When Katie talks to Amy, Amy says a few of the local missing girls have been sighted in the woods either in a dress or naked but they never talk. Most recently seen was Claire. Katie goes into Miranda’s house and find a note that says take her to morrow lake. She dives into the lake with goggles and sees Miranda’s body at the bottom. She hurts her knee and ankle coming back. Howard is worried about her and she’s trying to leave but he has people coming over for a party on Friday that he’s concerned about. He makes her tea and whiskey and she knocks out. She tries to call jack but his number isn’t in service and the state police do not know his name. Does he exist??

Katie has a possible dream that her and the girl Kenna with masked men are in the woods and she gets naked and is a possible sacrifice? She wakes up in her bed. Ankle must have gotten a steroid injection because it feels better. She goes to the woods and finds blood and Kennas clothes. People are at the house setting up for the party.

Katie gets a text from Amy to go to her PO Box. She goes and the envelope says only open when home. She opens it in the car and it’s photos of Amy. Dead and hanging. She tries to call Amy’s phone and her call cannot be completed. Meanwhile her husband has his friends coming to the house in a party bus from aspen. Her sister Bea is still a bully to her.

Katie makes an absolute fool of herself when the cops show up making a hole in the wall at the party and trying to show the pictures of Amy. The photos end up being full nudes of herself and the room next to and under the stairs is gone and filled with concrete. Her husband is smiling. She wakes up tied to her bed. After escaping, she goes to the McCarthy’s house which she finds is essentially unfinished with a bunch of bunkbeds. When she goes upstairs, she is looking for a laptop password finds building permit records, for the fact that her development used to be abandoned, and the houses that were guarded by the dog were moldy unfinished shells of homes with new siding. It does have folders named and labeled with peoples names and jobs. They were all actors- the families, employees, and police. A notebook she finds was written in her husband‘s writing. Her husband hired everyone- Miranda and Bea included. Philip tells her she should probably get out but when she walks outside she sees her sister and gets hit with a shovel.

Bea hits her few more times and puts her in the backseat of the car. She brings her into the house. Howard comes home. Essentially, he set up this whole thing so that he wouldn’t have to be embarrassed by a divorce because his wife cheated on him. He made her look like she was delusional and suicidal with the intent to kill her over his ego.

After a mishap with losing her own gun, they decide they can’t shoot her and just need to light the house on fire with her in it. Howard and Bea’s husband/Randy leave but Bea stays. She shoots Katie in the ribs as she’s getting out of the burning house and the shoulder, but Katie manages to get outside and push Bea into the flames. Bea gets outside but she is on fire. The gun is now empty. She runs to the plow truck and goes to the old runaway truck ramp where she purposely collides the plow truck into her husband’s car, suspending them mid air before a cliff.

When she wakes up she’s wrapped in a hospital bed. Her husband Howard has a tbi. Essentially unable to move and a brain trapped in a body. She’s being asked to be his caregiver. Bea and Philip get away. Randy died at the scene. She refused to tell details to the cops. She decides to put Howard in a poorly staffed assisted-living facility so he can live out his worst nightmare being spoon fed, shitting in a bag, and having the daycare kids next-door play dress up with him. She assumes Bea is dead and Philip got away. They found drugs in her system/roofies so she wasn’t really much of a suspect. She got a text that stated “you owe me nothing but I need your help” with an address to a ranch in Montana. We don’t know who it is from and the book ends.

[Jen W · Rating 2 out of 5]

Katie seems to have it all. She is married to a tech/genius who just became a billionaire, living in a mansion and continually talks about how in love she is with her husband.

Katie wants a more rewarding career. She is writing fluff pieces but would love to write a gripping article. Something to jump start her journalism career. An opportunity to break a major story falls into her lap. To follow the story, her, her husband and best friend move to a small community in Colorado. This place is not what it seems and strange things start happening immediately.

This book was not for me. While I know that we should be able to suspend disbelief while reading some fiction, this was so outlandish to me.

Katie is trying desperately to hang on to a man that clearly does not like her. He is a complete jerk with no redeeming qualities, unless you count his money. He treats he like trash. May a love like this, never find me.

I stuck with it to see how it ended. While some of it, I appreciated, there is an added part that leaves us scratching our heads.

I like this author and will continue to read their books. This just wasn’t for me.