By: Nicole Trope
ISBN: 9781835251072
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 02/28/2024
Format: e-book
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
Loving father. Loyal husband. Liar?
In our large family home on a peaceful, tree-lined street, I clear away the breakfast things whilst my husband ignores me, his eyes on his phone. Leo comes home from conferences with flowers for me and hugs for our twin ten-year-old boys, but each time I smell an unfamiliar perfume on his shirt. I know all about his affairs and it’s tearing my heart in two.
When one of the boys tumbles into the kitchen, full of laughter that he beat his brother in the race home from the park, I smile despite everything. When his brother isn’t right behind him, I start to worry… and then I get a text that makes my blood run cold. If you want your child to come home, your husband needs to tell the truth.
Is my husband hiding even darker secrets than his affairs? As I realise his double life has put my children in terrible danger, I make a promise: I will not let my husband’s lies destroy my life. And I will do anything to get my son back…
A totally addictive page-turner about terrible secrets within a marriage, perfect for fans of Big Little Lies and Sally Hepworth.
My Review
Nicole Trope's latest, HIS DOUBLE LIFE, is a twisty domestic thriller when a husband's web of deceit and dark secret past collides with the present—a son is kidnapped, putting his family in danger.
TRUST NO ONE~
Set in Australia, Diana and Leo Palmer have been married for fifteen years. They have twin sons. Leo is in real estate investments and has an affair when he is out of town at a conference.
Now Sawyer is missing. Diana receives a text.
"If you want Sawyer to come home, your husband needs to tell the truth."
What has Leo done to endanger their family and child? Told from POVs: Serena/Melanie, Diana, and Leo.
CONFERENCE IN QUEENSLAND:
SERENA: The author takes us back five weeks earlier at a conference when we hear from Serena Burns. She is not in commercial real estate, and neither is she Serena Burns.
LEO: (five weeks earlier). The first time he slept with someone at a conference had been four years earlier, and guilt gnawed at him. But each time he did so, he felt less guilty and looked forward to the next out-of-town conference so he could let go of his mundane existence. Yes, he has an excellent life, a wife, ten-year-old twin boys, a nice house in the burbs, a safe neighborhood, a pool, an expensive car, and a good wine collection. What is his problem?
DIANA: Five weeks earlier. She suspects he has someone with him in his hotel room. It is time to put a stop to it. To confront him and be done. The boys are old enough, and her job is secure. She always knows when he strays, as he comes home with flowers, chocolates, and gifts for the boys.
But she has collected the dirty laundry and knows the smell of a woman's perfume. Their marriage was struggling and had been since the twins were born. She was exhausted with things getting in the way, like completing her postgraduate degree to be a child and family health nurse, and then time went on and then more gifts and guilt. She knows he is unhappy. She fears being a single mom but can no longer stay silent. He cannot get away with what he is doing anymore.
Despite making up her mind to leave her marriage, she is waiting for him to confess, for guilt to drive him into telling her the truth, and when he does not, it chips away at her. Can she pretend all is well?
What has happened with Leo? He was a real estate star, but then something changed. He started losing sales, not making money, comparing himself, hungry for something, and seeking other women.
Now Leo's office has been trashed and his car damaged. There are secret letters. Now they are holding his son hostage. Does someone want REVENGE?
Diana is angry and receives a text with a photo of her husband in a hotel. Someone wants to meet her?
Then one twin comes home, and the other is missing. A threatening text that he will be returned when the TRUTH comes out. There is so much more to this story; no one is as they appear. Diana knows her husband is unfaithful, but she has no clue about his darkest secret that sent an innocent person to prison.
How far will each person go to uncover/protect their secrets? Will telling the truth solve everything? What do these people want?
Someone has a score to settle. However, will Sawyer be caught in the middle of this dangerous plan? Betrayal, lies, deceit, and secrets!
HIS DOUBLE LIFE is a twisty, multi-layered domestic suspense with a twist you do not see coming, with a cast of unlikeable and unreliable narrators. A marriage turns inside out when the ugly past rises to the surface. My first book by the author, and I look forward to reading more.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for a gifted, advanced digital review copy.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: Feb 28, 2024
My Rating: 4 Stars
About the Author
Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- 'It's not meant to be a story.' She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters' degree in Children's Literature.
The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story. She went on to publish a further five novels in Australia before joining Bookouture in 2019. She is a USA Today and Amazon bestseller in the USA, UK, AUS, Canada and Germany. Her books have been translated into German, Italian, Polish, Hungarian and French.
She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children. READ MORE
