My Other Husband: the heart-stopping new novel from the queen of the big reveal

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Never one to rest on her laurels, Dorothy Koomson really takes things to another level with My Other Husband.

Things really start to fall apart, though, when someone tries to frame her murder – in the same ways as the crimes she makes up. Overall, it was a really good read and if you like the slow simmering burner style of books then this one is for you. I appreciated how the theme of obsession was used throughout, but I just wanted to see more from a certain character.I love tying together the hints I’ve seen in the present day plot with things going on in the past as more and more gets revealed. The twists and turns as everything unfolds was second to none and every time you think you’d worked something out, you hadn’t! I have to admit the start of the book is confusing, you’re thinking how it’s going to play out but also what’s going to happen. Dorothy’s novels have been translated into over 30 languages, and a TV adaptation loosely based on The Ice Cream Girls was shown on ITV1 in 2013.

The story is told through two timelines where we meet Cleo in the present as she is going through a divorce and being faced with a murder investigation, and in the past when she is at university and entering into her first relationship with the peculiar Heath. There was a lot of angst and emotion in the writing and you fully felt it all - sometimes I wanted to scream at Cleo and ask her what the hell she was doing. This is another winner from a very talented author and someone whose books I will always want to read.This is the kind of mystery, though, where you want the main character to contact the police at multiple points, which she does not do, so the plot can plod along. Writing is all she’s ever wanted to do, and baking and murder stories have proved a winning combination.

Overall, another fab book from the Queen of Thrillers and I’d recommend it to any of her fans or someone looking to try something new in the thriller genre. There are some very dark, and in parts disturbing, aspects to the story but all done really well in a way that thoroughly hooked me.

Narrated by Cleo, over two different timelines of past and present, the pacing is fast and exciting - forever needing to know more information. This was a totally engrossing tale of past crimes and control, and tension and suspense are in plentiful supply. Dangerous, compelling, obsessive love mixes with murder, violence and desperation until the story comes to a head with an unexpected reveal. TW: racism, grooming, paedophilia, murder, sexism, misogyny, harassment, mental health, rape ⚠️ This was a really good slow burner that hits you with twists and turns when you least expect it. I was on the edge of my seat, biting my nail, troubled many times as certain revelations took place.

A clever and multi-layered dark thriller, My Other Husband is a gripping read that left me gasping in shock more than once. It must have been difficult to make the transition from 'chick lit' to thriller but the gorgeous Ms Koomson did it with style! Both of them love rom-coms and they use this to discuss the guy who was staring hard at Cleo who proves to be Heath Sawyer. Although this is a clever, multi layered slow burner there are some jaw to the floor reveals with information bombs that explode your expectations and opinions of certain characters. Past and present woven together in this take of a successful Black woman novelist who has had a tv show made of one of her books.

I have read several of Dorothy Koomson's other novels, including The Ice Cream Girls, The Brighton Mermaid and Tell Me Your Secret, and this novel, My Other Husband is just as good. Somehow the first few chapters read like any other women's fiction book to me, especially because I chuckled quite a few times.