The Wife

Angela Powell, the unreliable narrator of this plot-propelled roller-coaster of a domestic thriller from Edgar-finalist Burke (The Ex), is the wife of a respected NYU economics professor and rising media star and the mother of a 13-year-old. She leads a privileged, if somewhat boring life—which is precisely what she craves after miraculously surviving, as a teen, the kind of ordeal that spawns true crime tomes. But then intern Rachel Sutton accuses her husband, Jason, of sexual harassment, and a second woman comes forward to claim rape and then suddenly vanishes. NYPD Det. Corrine Duncan doggedly investigates the initial allegations and later the disappearance of consultant Kerry Lynch, who Jason claims was his mistress. In the process, Corinne uncovers Angela’s painstakingly buried past, and it starts to look as though almost no one, maybe least of all Angela, is who he or she seems. As riveting as Burke’s increasingly jaw-dropping twists prove, they eventually undermine the believability of her principals. Agent: Philip Spitzer, Philip Spitzer Literary Agency. (Jan.)