Publishers Weekly
03/29/2021
After Riley McKay overdoses on alcohol and sleep medication in Milwaukee, his widow, novelist Rose Yates, the narrator of this chilling standalone from Thriller Award finalist Wilson (The Dead Girl in 2A), returns home to the upscale town of Bury, N.H., the scene of a tragedy two decades earlier. From the moment the door of her father’s mansion swings open, Rose, the family black sheep, and her 11-year-old son, Max, are forced to contend with the demons that once drove Rose away. The frosty reception Rose receives from her family deepens when copies of her new novel arrive; neither her father, Logan, a cutthroat businessman, nor Cora, her lovely and ruthless sister, know the plot of the soon-to-be published book is a retelling of the long-ago crime within their community. As Rose’s past threatens to overwhelm her, the police detective investigating Riley’s death closes in on her as a suspect. The tension rises as Wilson slowly reveals the unhappy truth behind the facade of a happy marriage. Psychological thriller fans will be rewarded. Agent: Pamela Ahearn, Ahearn Agency. (May)
From the Publisher
"A rich family with shocking secrets in an affluent small town, Carter Wilson’s The Dead Husband is Succession meets Big Little Lies, and I loved every bit of it. This marvelously crafted thriller is the perfect escape, so find a quiet spot and sink in—you’ll be glad you did." — Jennifer Hillier, award-winning author of Jar of Hearts and Little Secrets
"Wilson unveils each revelation of some new betrayal with surgical precision en route to a bittersweet finale. A harrowing reminder that you really can’t go home again." — Kirkus Reviews
"Carter Wilson's The Dead Husband is a perfectly paced and expertly written thriller. The prose is as smooth as glass, and the pages fly by as fast as the reader can turn them. And then the ending provides a shocking jolt. This is a smashing story about families and secrets and all the things you don't want to know about the people closest to you. Read it!" — David Bell, USA Today bestselling author of The Request
"[A] chillling standalone... Psychological thriller fans will be rewarded." — Publishers Weekly
"How far would you go to protect the ones you love? Rose Yates has come home to a house and a family she’d rather forget. But what waits for her there isn’t the closure she’s been hoping for. Instead, her past hides in the dark corners and recesses of her mind, ready to spring out at her. Carter Wilson’s writing is evocative and tense, his characters deeply flawed yet relatable. In The Dead Husband, he weaves a story of a woman running from her past and the detective determined to uncover her secrets." — Julie Clark, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight
Kirkus Reviews
2021-01-13
A Milwaukee mystery writer recently and painfully widowed retreats to her childhood home in aptly named Bury, New Hampshire, to find even less comfort awaiting her there.
The truth is that mostly unsuccessful entrepreneur Riley McKay’s adultery had killed his wife’s love even before a dose of sleeping pills washed down with alcohol killed Riley himself. Now Rose Yates has uprooted her son, Max, 11, from the only life he remembers and brought him into the orbit of her cruel, remote father, wealthy capital manager Logan Yates, mostly because she has nowhere else to go. Rose has been estranged from both her father and her older sister, Cora, for years. Some of the reasons are obvious from the moment Logan Yates shakes his grandson’s hand for the first time; others await the cold-case investigation into the disappearance 22 years ago of the sisters’ 16-year-old schoolmate Caleb Benner. What provokes that investigation, and what kindles Milwaukee Detective Colin Pearson’s interest in Riley McKay’s death, is Rose’s disconcerting habit of writing fictional versions of these mysteries into the novels she publishes as J.L. Sharp—years after Caleb Benner’s disappearance but well in advance of her late husband’s death. It’s clear that the Yateses are a memorably disturbed family, but is the root of the disturbance Rose’s writing, Cora’s bullying, or their father’s abuse? Wilson unveils each revelation of some new betrayal with surgical precision en route to a bittersweet finale.
A harrowing reminder that you really can’t go home again.
