About the Author

Samantha Downing was born in the Bay Area, and currently lives in New Orleans. Her debut novel, My Lovely Wife, was a Richard and Judy Book Club pick and a Sunday Times bestseller, and has been published in thirty languages. It won a Dead Good Reader Award, and was shortlisted for four other major awards: The CWA John Creasey Dagger, The Edgar Award for Best First Novel, The ITW Thriller Award for Best First Novel and The Macavity Award for Best First Mystery. Amazon Studios and Nicole Kidman's Blossom Films have partnered to produce a feature film based on the novel.

Her second novel, He Started It, was also a Sunday Times bestseller and her third novel, For Your Own Good, will soon be adapted for HBO Max by Robert Downey Jr. and Greg Berlanti.

Reviews

We're calling it: My Lovely Wife is the most gripping psychological thriller of 2019... this book will keep you reading late into the night
*Stylist*

One of my favourite thrillers of the year - I couldn't stop reading but didn't want it to end. Dark, chilling and compelling ... My Lovely Wife is a brilliant debut

Wow! My Lovely Wife is a stunner - full of twists, well-drawn characters, and riveting suspense

Dexter meets Gone Girl - I loved this this brilliantly dark and twisted novel. One of the best books I've read this year!

The twist at the end of the first chapter made me read through the night. Clever. Manipulative. Dark. Disturbing. What more can you ask for?

Brilliant - I was enthralled by the premise and it totally delivered. Five star entertainment!

Dark, shocking and very witty, this wickedly good read will make you run screaming from the suburbs
*Heat*

We're calling it now: Samantha Downing's creepy, sexy debut thriller is going to be the next Gone Girl.
*Marie Claire*

So beautifully and elegantly written . . . the ending is amazing and there is a great twist. I loved it.
*Sophie Hannah*

An assured and deliciously engrossing debut. You'll surely devour My Lovely Wife, but it will linger long after you've reached the last page

I pretty much inhaled this twisty, audacious, Gone Girl-y psychological thriller. This is the book that everyone is going to be talking about this summer. I can't shut up about it!
*Red, The best Spring crime novels and thrillers*

A genuinely fresh take on the psychological thriller genre. Expect dark humour and more loop-the-loops than a roller coaster
*Good Housekeeping*

A dark and irresistible debut
*People*

My Lovely Wife is a knockout. It's an effortless page-turner
*Publishers Weekly*

My Lovely Wife is dark, twisted-and impossible to put down. Samantha Downing has written a wickedly plotted and suspenseful psychological thriller

A fantastic foray into what we know-and what we do not-about those closest to us. Intricately plotted, fascinating characters - I loved it!

Domestic noir has rarely been darker . . . it's a psychological shocker
*i*

Utterly gripping . . . Expect more twists and turns than a bowl of spaghetti and block out a whole day to read this, because you won't want to sleep until you're done
*Red Online*

This gripping page-turner offers a new take on the psychological thriller genre - the ideal beach read
*Evening Standard*

A dark and clever debut thriller
*Prima*

Suspenseful, shocking thriller. Deliciously dark
*Best*

Totally engrossing and I kept on thinking, one more chapter... an intelligent page-turner that makes you question everything

Truly horrifying in the most delicious way. Samantha Downing sucks you in with a great story, pitch-perfect prose and disturbingly dead-on insights into the dark side of human nature. I hope I never meet her in a dark alley....

I couldn't pull myself away from this story - a terrifying and riveting window into the mind of the perfect suburban mother with a taste for murder. Make sure you clear your schedule before you pick it up. Absolutely unputdownable

It's no mean feat to find something fresh in the crowded thriller field, but Downing pulls off an indisputable triumph with My Lovely Wife. Exemplary writing and outstanding pacing confirm Downing's talent, but it's her deliciously depraved characters that kept me flying through the pages. Couldn't get enough of this subversive love-gone-sideways tale!

Deliciously dark and twisted... It's a remarkable achievement, full stop.
*Shelf Awareness*

Best new books to read this March
*Cosmopolitan*

A highly original and dark look at the shifting power structure in a modern marriage. . . A funny, smart book
*Daily Mail*

Darkly witty and strangely plausible, it's a read-in-one-sitting firecracker of a thriller, laced with explosive twists
*The People*

A marital, psychological thriller with darkly comedic undertones
*The Wrap*

Bold and brilliant
*Big Issue*

This is a ringer of a yarn, shot through with enough tooth-clenching moments to make you have your dentist on speed dial
*Connaught Telegraph*

With a twisty plot that will leave you gasping, this deliciously dark thriller is on a par with Gone Girl
*That's Life Monthly*

One of the best thrillers I've ever read
*Judy Finnigan*