The Woman He Loved Before

When Libby Britcham almost dies in a car accident in this complex, richly detailed novel of romantic suspense from British author Koomson (The Ice Cream Girls), she decides to find out more about her handsome, successful husband, Jack, whom she married after a whirlwind courtship. The police wonder why Jack was driving the car when he knew that the passenger-seat air bag was faulty. They already suspect he was responsible for the death of his first wife, Eve. As Libby makes a slow and painful recovery, she seeks to understand Jack’s love for Eve, but Jack’s lingering feelings for his first wife (“I still find it hard to say her name... a name that claws her memory across my tongue as I speak it”) and Libby’s inability to move emotionally past the accident threaten their marriage. Eve’s diaries, which Libby eventually discovers, provide some startling revelations about Jack and Eve’s relationship. Agent: Anthony Gardner, Anthony Gardner Literary Agency. (May)