Guilty Wives

Guilty Wives by James Patterson and David Ellis
5/5 stars

Wow, it's been an embarrassing amount of time since I've blogged. But I've still been reading! I absolutely ate this book up, and I wanted to share it with everyone because it's a great read for summer, which will be upon us soon!; it's a quick read, fast-paced, and perfect for the beach. It can be hard to navigate James Patterson's books, since he has about a bazillion of them. However, this is a standalone novel (not part of a series), and fairly new (2012), and definitely worth a read.


This novel starts out with a prologue that will make you wonder what the heck has happened, as it takes place with the narrator in a French prison, which is a living hell, and it seems as though her best friend, who is also there, is in major trouble. It then jumps back and tells the story of four women, wives and mothers, who went on what was supposed to be a relaxing, exciting girls vacation in Monte Carlo. However, they wake up after a wild night on a yacht to find the police everywhere, and the women are arrested! There are piles of evidence against them for a crime they did not commit, and the vacation of a lifetime definitely becomes a memorable one.

This was something different for Patterson, as he and his co-author formed a novel that is different from Patterson's usual stories of serial killers and detectives. Those are also great, but this was a breath of fresh air, as the novel focused on these women who claim to have been framed, and are helpless victims to the laws of France. The usual short chapters featured in Patterson's novels create a super quick read that is impossible to put down. The European setting was also different for Patterson, and really interesting to read about, especially when it came to dealings with the French government. There is enough ambiguity to make the reader wonder the whole time whether the narrator and her friends are truly innocent, and the stakes are sky high.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and it really is a great beach (or anytime!) read. If you read this and enjoy it, I would suggest Patterson's Alex Cross series, which is awesome!

What I'm reading now...

1. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald