The Life She Wants: A totally unputdownable psychological thriller

I’m not a huge reader and very rarely finish a book, but I thought I’d give this a go after doing lots of research and reading some great reviews. I’m so pleased I did, what a great book and totally addictive to wanting to read more. I will definitely purchase more books from this author!

The Life She Wants by J.M. Hewitt is a really tense thriller and it is such an entertaining read. It centres around two women, Anna and Paula. As Paula tries to make her marriage to her husband Tommy, work, she meets Anna. But although Anna comes across as very friendly, she has her own agenda. Soon, Paula begins to realise that Anna may not quite be the person she thought she was.I really had no idea what was going to happen between Paula and Anna. Anna is determined to get what she wants and she is willing to do anything to get there. This is what makes the book so tense. Anna is a very interesting character; I wanted to know what was really going on in her mind and what her real motives were here.I loved that the book was set mostly on a cruise. Tommy and Paula have taken the trip to the northern hemisphere with the hope of seeing the Northern Lights. It made me feel that something bad was going to happen, particularly to Paula and it helped to create a cold, menacing atmosphere. It seemed as though it would be quite easy for someone to get away with a crime. The setting made it feel as though the walls were closing in and that there would be no escape if something terrible was to happen.I thought the voices of the characters came through very well on the page. I could see Anna’s determination to get what she wants and this is what makes her scary. I really did not like her, although I did think that she and Tommy would’ve been quite well suited for each other.J.M. Hewitt also shares with us some intriguing scenes from the past. We don’t know quite how these scenes will feed into the future until much later though. Some of these scenes are very dark.The Life She Wants hooked me from the very first page and it kept me gripped right the way through. It’s the first book I’ve read by J.M. Hewitt and I can’t wait to catch up on her previous novels. If you’re looking for an entertaining psychological thriller then you should definitely add this book to your TBR pile. The suspense is there on every page and the characters reel you in. I really enjoyed it.

Only three main characters. Great story line

Good book to read,mind grabbing and frilling .Will have you unable to put book down.so glad I purchased this book

I really enjoyed this book. After the first few pages I was hooked- It has an unexpected twist at the end which had me shocked! I love how the author tells us when she wrote the book ( after the story ends). I thought this was really interesting to learn. I’ll defo be buying more of her books

From first page to last page this story kept me gripped. Only criticism was the super human strength that Anna appeared to have, bearing in mind that she must have been severely malnourished. The ending certainly took me by surprise.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book full of twists, but I could only give it three stars as there were a few things that were crucial to the plot, that just could not happen on a modern ship. i.e. in real life it is impossible to get on or off a ship without your ship's identity card/room key being scanned. Also, as a passenger you just can't undo bolts and remove bits of the ships railing. I'm sure there are security cameras all round the side of the ship that would spot bodies being thrown overboard. Also, an officer smoking in a passengers suite when there is always a strict no-smoking policy onboard except for designated areas outside, I think not. I know nothing about drugs or stars, so I have no idea if the facts about those are accurate or not. Having said all that, I suspended disbelief, and enjoyed the book. If my friend had been reading it though, he would have given up at the first inaccuracy.

All three main characters were ones I loved to hate. Paula has been with her husband, Tommy, for a long time and once again she broaches the subject of starting a family and once again Tommy fobs her off, this time with a cruise to Iceland to see the Northern Lights. Once on the cruise the couple are befriended by the beautiful Anna and that's when things start to go wrong for Paula.Tommy spends next to no time with Paula and the time he does spend with her he does nothing but put her down and she just puts up with it. Some of the storyline is unbelievable. Cruise ships have very strict security and it is impossible to disembark or embark a ship without it being recorded yet on this cruise ship it was possible to do so. Despite this I found myself being drawn into the story which was fast paced with a lot going on. Definitely worth a read.