Review: A Killer's Wife (Desert Plains, #1) by Victor Methos

 

Print Length: 361 pages

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (March 1, 2020)

From Goodreads.com:  Fourteen years ago, prosecutor Jessica Yardley’s husband went to prison for a series of brutal murders. She’s finally created a life with her daughter and is a well-respected attorney. She’s moving on. But when a new rash of homicides has her ex-husband, Eddie, written all over them—the nightmares of her past come back to life.

The FBI asks Jessica to get involved in the hunt for this copycat killer—which means visiting her ex and collaborating with the man who tore her life apart.

As the copycat’s motives become clearer, the new life Jessica created for herself gets darker. She must ask herself who she can trust and if she’s capable of stopping the killer—a man whose every crime is a bloody valentine from a twisted mastermind she’s afraid she may never escape.

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

This story left me feeling a certain kind of way. On one hand, I was absolutely glued to the pages, staying up late so that I could finish this book in one day. On the other hand? Parts of this story were an absolute train wreck that went beyond even the realm of suspended disbelief. 

Right off the bat let me say I was drawn to the premise - the wife of a serial killer having no idea what her husband was up to until he was arrested now has to visit him in jail to try and stop a copy-cat killer.  I know some people have likened this book to the Stillwater Creek series, but I was no where near as invested in those characters as I was in Jessica. At least at first. 

And then she started just being so darn wishy-washy about everything that I quickly started to lose interest in her. "I'm not going to help - wait! Yes I am!" She is told AGAIN how much of a genius her daughter is, but refuses to entertain the idea of putting her in a higher grade or doing anything to challenge that intellect because she wants her to be "normal". And then there is her choice of boyfriend who despite them dating for over a year still keeps ahold of his own place even though he lives with her. Oh, and she's never stepped inside his place either. Not once. Yeah... okay. 

Throughout this novel there are things that are just so darn unbelievable that I almost became tempted to throw my own kindle. There is no way a murderer the likes of Eddie Cal would be allowed out of prison (he's on death row by the way) to go see a crime scene in person. Nor, I would think would his ex-wife be allowed to call the jail and arrange to visit him all hours of the day and night. 

Jessica (who by the way is called by her last name Yardley throughout the entire book which was another annoyance) is purported to be an intelligent federal prosecutor, and yet does things that go above and beyond the realm of possibility. For one thing, instead of taking the "evidence" she has and obtaining a warrant to be served by the police department, she instead takes it upon herself to try to gain access to a residence. When that access is denied, she gets a warrant, then goes into said residence ALONE. She should have known not only how dangerous a stunt like that would be, but also that there was a good chance any evidence she found could be thrown out due to conflict of interest. Then several pages later, this same so-called highly intelligent woman is having a snit fit because she was told she can't prosecute the case against someone close to her? Wow.

Unfortunately, Jessica isn't the only character prone to moments of blatant stupidity. Never before have I seen FBI agents dumb enough to turn off camera recordings the way these ones do. And lose their temper to the point that they jeopardize their entire career (not to mention a murder case)? 

As if this farce wasn't bad enough to begin with once we get to the whole courtroom scenes, it falls even farther downhill. 

***SPOILER ALERT***

Somehow a murderer is allowed to walk free? A man who doesn't even have a real law degree (just forged paperwork) is so super smart he was not only able to pass the bar in Nevada and obtain jobs with said documents, but he's able to get all the evidence against him thrown out of court? Only to have "justice served" when he tried and convicted for another murder that he actually did not commit? What is going on here? 

***END SPOILER*** 

The final nail in coffin that is this story for me was the supposed shocking twist at the end. Yes, it was shocking to be sure, but only in the sense that the author actually expected us to believe that something like that was actually plausible. 

***SPOILER ALERT***

You really expect me to believe that Jessica's 15 year old daughter who DOES NOT DRIVE and is so DUMB she almost ends up in a prostitution ring - is smart enough to plant evidence, conspire with a witness, and do all the things she did in order to get someone convicted of a crime they didn't commit? Yeah... I call BS on that one. 

***END SPOILER*** 

End thoughts? Despite all of the many things I found fault with in this one - I am going to give the author another chance and read the second book in this series. I will decide from there whether or not I continue. 

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                                                    A Killer's Wife is available from Amazon.com
                                                   (for free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited)