When Dana Catrell’s neighbor Celia is found and it looks to be murder, Dana’s world is shaken to the core.  After all, Dana is quite possibly the last person to see Celia alive but the details surrounding her encounter with her neighbor are fuzzy.  Dana knows they had words, she knows there was quite a bit of Sangria, there was the picture of her husband, and she is the only person who has a key to her neighbor’s home.

But could Dana have committed murder?

While the evidence is pointing towards Dana, Dana is working through her own personal demons to try to clear her foggy memory of the afternoon she spent with Celia.  With an unsympathetic husband and her insecurities this is no easy task. Hopefully Dana can clear her own mind all the while wondering if she really does have the capacity to take another persons life.

 

 

 

 

*I started listening to The Pocket Wife in March.  I state that now because in March I was in a different frame of mind then I am now.  I finished listening to this in May and there are many things that may contribute to my thoughts on this book so read this review with all of that in mind.  (Basically if I have finished this one in March my thoughts on this may have been different but I do not think by much)  ~ Sheila

 

I wish I could recall why I chose to listen to The Pocket Wife.  Quite possibly it could have been the narrator, Cassandra Campbell, who I have enjoyed in other books. I know there was something that intrigued me… perhaps it was reviews or the synopsis I can not recall.  I think going into this one if I had known it was centered around another unreliable narrator (more on that later) and around a female protagonist that had a problem with drinking and seems unstable to boot, I probably would have passed on this one.  After all, I did not enjoy Girl On The Train and that was very similar in all of these things I just mentioned.

The Pocket Wife’s protagonist was one I could not like.  Dana was weak minded and whiny.  I need to point out that I listened to this on audio and the narration of Dana as being this weak and soft person only added to my dislike.  This in no way is related to poor narration, in fact I would say just the opposite, Cassandra Campbell is an excellent narrator and I believe she captured the essence of Dana as she was written to be.  I also know in this trend of unreliable narrator (there it is again) that I am in the minority as to how I feel about these books.

Ok, briefly let me explain unreliable narrator.  This is something we see in books like Gone Girl and Girl On The Train.  It is a book written so you are unsure if what you are reading from the view point of the narrator is true or accurate.

Admittedly I enjoyed this one a bit more than Girl On The Train but still struggled with Dana and my love for strong female protagonists overpowers my ability to be sympathetic to Dana.  As they say on Shark Tank, with that being true for me, I am out.

If you enjoyed Girl On The Train you will more than likely enjoy The Pocket Wife as well.  The similarity of the books is there, yet The Pocket Wife I felt brought a little more to the table, a little more to grab hold of and that is what readers will enjoy.

 

• Audible Audio Edition
• Listening Length: 11 hours and 14 minutes
• Program Type: Audiobook
• Version: Unabridged
• Publisher: Harper Audio
• Audible.com Release Date: March 17, 2015