There has been a good deal of advance chatter about MY LOVELY WIFE. I am pleased to report that all of the praise that has been heaped on this debut thriller by Samantha Downing is highly justified and possibly even a tad understated. It is a fun book to read, particularly if your idea of fun is suburban carnage. There is plenty of it here.

MY LOVELY WIFE is told from the first person present viewpoint of the anonymous husband of a woman named Millicent. We initially come to know the gentleman as “Tobias,” thanks to an interesting but vaguely unsettling vignette that opens the first page and becomes increasingly suspenseful as it unfolds. We learn that Tobias is not his name at all, nor is he a couple of other things he pretends to be as he introduces himself to a woman in a cocktail lounge. He’s not there in the hopes of a seductive interlude --- well, not entirely --- but we learn his true purpose soon enough. Millicent and Tobias, the parents of two adolescent children, are spicing up their otherwise staid lives by killing women and making them disappear.

"Despite being a first-time novelist, Downing writes with the confidence of an author with several books under her belt, which makes MY LOVELY WIFE even more impressive than its intriguing concept."

As a general rule, Tobias selects the subjects, while Millicent kills and disposes. That is how it’s supposed to work, anyway, when Millicent is not busy at her day job as a high-end real estate agent while Tobias puts prospective tennis players through their paces as an instructor at the neighborhood country club. They cover their tracks with an intricate plan that puts the blame for the disappearances on someone else. It’s a good plan, well-executed by two intelligent and careful people who know each other intimately. Readers learn, right along with Tobias, that there is more going on than he knows about.

We also discover in dribs and drabs that Millicent has more than a homicidal streak. In fact, she has a number of issues that gradually manifest themselves as the pages rapidly advance and readers become fully immersed in the goings-on of what appears to be a fairly typical, well-off family in suburban Atlanta. There are countless twists and turns here, especially in the final third of the book, with a major revelation --- as well as some subtle symmetry --- occurring in the last sentence. Don’t peek, or else you’ll spoil it for yourself.

Despite being a first-time novelist, Downing writes with the confidence of an author with several books under her belt, which makes MY LOVELY WIFE even more impressive than its intriguing concept. She fleshes out her work with a bevy of memorable characters who do more than just provide scenery and transition to an engrossing story. Readers have to pay attention to the folks who dip and swirl through Millicent and Tobias’ world. Each one plays a role that sends the plot spinning in a new direction.

However, it is ultimately Tobias and Millicent who are full of surprises in this tale of life in the tony suburbs gone very, very wrong. Those who encounter MY LOVELY WIFE --- and many should --- will want more from its extremely talented author and as soon as possible.