My Wife is Missing – DJ Palmer

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the free early copy in exchange for my honest review

MY WIFE IS MISSING – DJ Palmer (Released May 10th, 2022)

Book Description:

A family vacation turns into a nightmare for Michael Hart when he discovers his wife and two children have disappeared from their New York City hotel room. Horrified, he fears they’ve been kidnapped. Michael’s frantic search to find them takes a shocking turn when he discovers that his wife, Natalie, appears to have left quite willingly, taking their children with her. The police want to know why, and so does Michael. But there may be a reason why Natalie ran, something Michael can’t tell the police — the truth about his past. While untangling his deceptions might be the key to locating Natalie, Michael knows it could also be his undoing. To find his wife, he must now turn to the one person capable of exposing all that he’s been hiding. Natalie thinks she has Michael all figured out and has hatched a plan to escape from him permanently. One detail, though, threatens to derail her efforts: sleep — or more accurately, the lack of it. Since the moment the shocking revelations about her husband came to light, Natalie’s insomnia has worsened to the point that she now suffers from delusions. Are her fears about Michael valid — or a symptom of her condition? With her children’s lives at risk, the stakes for Natalie could not be higher. On her own, running low on energy and resources, avoiding increasingly close calls with Michael — who is on the hunt and closing in fast — Natalie needs someone to turn to for help. But who can she trust when she can’t even trust herself?

My Thoughts: 4/5 stars

I’ve read a few books by DJ Palmer and I think this is one I enjoyed the most out of them so far. MY WIFE IS MISSING is a suspense/thriller read that starts off with a bang and pulled me in immediately. Michael goes to pick up food for his family while they are on a vacation in New York. He gets back to the hotel and sees the beloved stuffed bear sitting outside their room in the hallway – something is off. They are nowhere to be seen in the room, and the strange part is that their luggage is gone. In a panic that they have been abducted, Michael gets the assistance from the hotel manager and the police to look at security footage. There they are – his wife and two children – they get in a car and leave. Nothing seems amiss and they appear to go willingly. Michael knows something else is happening and he is determined to find his family.

Why did Natalie take their children and leave Michael? Could it be the horrible side effects of her insomnia finally catching up to her and she can’t trust her own thoughts? Or is it something more sinister and threatening that is causing them to flee? The secrets that unraveled in this book were wonderful to see all come together. The only thing that took off some of the rating for me was that the pace seemed to drop part way through the book and my interest faded a little bit, but once the pace picked up again in end I was hooked.

If you’re a fan of Palmer’s already then I definitely recommend this one. If you’re wanting a good thriller/suspense read that you can devour in a sitting or two, then this needs to be added to that TBR for the summer. I’ll continue to pick up more from Palmer in the future – I love the writing style and the stories always seem to pull me from the get go.