this is how EVERY book should start.

+ all of my 2025 reading goals!

Jan 09, 2025

“I’d never attended a funeral before, but I needed to be in the room for this one, mostly to make sure the jackass in the casket stayed dead.”

hi all!!!

I am currently in a thriller kick. I’ve read 5 books so far this year (maybe 6 by the time this comes out), and all of them have been thrillers… And this comes from someone who probably read less than 5 mystery books all of last year :)

Anyway, here we are with our first thriller book club pick, and I am so excited to read this one with you guys! If you’re new here (because there are quite a few of you), welcome to the club! In January, we’re reading What the Wife Knew by Darby Kane.

unfiltered thoughts on chapters 1-18

I don’t often judge books by their covers.

I used to, but it’s a habit I’ve made myself grow out of. That said, I do judge books by their first line. It needs to pull me in or at least intrigue me. From there, my gut feeling about whether it will be a good book is usually pretty accurate. Take this book, for example, KILLER first line (almost literally):

“I’d never attended a funeral before, but I needed to be in the room for this one, mostly to make sure the jackass in the casket stayed dead.”

Immediately invested and intrigued by both the narrator herself and the storyline. Why?

It’s written in first person POV. Sue me, but I generally hate reading in the third POV because I find it hard to connect with the narrator/other characters. You miss so much of their internal dialogue and thought process, which I love in first-person POV. Anyway, to say the least, I was happy to see an “I” in there.
The tone of the statement. You can’t tell me that isn’t such a good hook. I already love the fmc—and whether she was good or bad, I knew I would still love her character.

what we know so far:

The first 18 chapters of the novel give us a good foundation of how the storyline will play out. Following the death (accidental or not), everyone is quick to blame his newest wife, Addison. We obviously can’t blame them, seeing as though they were only married for three months and shared absolutely no affection for each other. Enter Elias: Richmond’s personal lawyer, who is now taking Addison’s case and always seems to be everywhere at once.

While the investigation is ongoing today, we also look back seven months to when Addison begins her plan to marry and ruin Richmond's image—for what exactly? We aren’t sure yet. We are sure that Richmond is a little crazy and will definitely use her fear of the dark against her again (that’s my guess at least).

Back in the present day, Addison had two goals: get a coffee and find her bat. “Having the whole town think you offed your famous husband made it tough to sneak out for coffee.” Kathryn, Richmond’s ex-wife (who I immediately don’t like) turns up throwing accusations left and right and annoying me to no end. *Obviously* she blames Addison.

The last scene unravels Richmond’s first “accident,” an allergic reaction to shellfish that somehow ended up in his turkey sandwich. It’s no surprise that Addison hesitates to save him… but she does in the end in order to carry out the original plan to ruin him...

my thoughts & theories

Addison: Too obvious; it’s not her. We know she’s not the murderer, and if it somehow ends up being her who killed him, then that’s a horrible ending. That said, I’d support her if she did kill him… I genuinely love her character’s sarcasm and wit so much — More thriller novels have to have somewhat likeable protagonists. Don’t get me wrong, I also love an unreliable narrator, but it’s nice to also have someone to root for.

Elias: I don’t trust this man—I genuinely think he could be the killer. So he’s Richmond’s personal lawyer for YEARS and then decides to represent Addison right after her husband’s death. On top of that, Elias is always there - whenever Addison is accused of something or in trouble, he shows up. I'm not sure whether that’s just being a good lawyer or he knows something more…

Kathryn: A very probable suspect. She would’ve known about the shellfish allergy AND where the blindspots were around the house. Writing ‘you will pay’ on the wall would’ve been an easy job for her knowing the house's layout and where Addison slept. On top of that, the previous accidents Richmond had could very easily be orchestrated by her (ie the shellfish allergy that Addison evidently had no idea about)

Wyatt: No - He’s just a kid at the end of the day, and I think he’s just grieving his dead father.

Richmond himself: The guy’s dead, and I still don’t like him. It’s obvious he’s not innocent of any of this, and I have a random theory that he somehow gave himself an allergic reaction. Why? I’m not entirely sure. The recent allegations of malpractice also don’t help his case.

It’s safe to say I don’t really have a clue what’s going on, but I’m so hooked on this story and the writing itself. I also really want to read Darby Kane’s other books now because the way she writes is so freaking good!!!

Next week, we will cover up to chapter 36 :)

2025 reading challenge

Okay, so I want to create a 2025 bookish reading challenge!! If you haven’t seen these before, it’s a bingo-like sheet filled with goals such as “read one non-fiction book” or “read a complete fantasy series,” etc..… and you can cross them off throughout the year. With this in mind, I really wanted to get your opinions and goals as well, which I can include. Indigo also made one recently — I’ll leave it below as an example of what I’m thinking of doing!!

indigo

A post shared by @indigo

In the comments below — share one or a couple of your 2025 reading goals. Again, this could be as simple as “read a self-help book.”