Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
So D.J. Palmer is hit or miss with me. This one was such a miss. I think the issue was not only the three points of view (showing Michael Hart and then Natalie Hart before and then in the present) just didn’t work. I also rolled my eyes at how things got resolved. There’s no real DUN DUN DUN for me. I just guessed at one of the plot points early on and was so disappointed to be right. I didn’t care for Michael and I got real tired of Natalie too. The only reason why I gave this 2 stars honestly was that it was interesting to see how hard it really is for anyone to just “disappear” in this country. And I liked the resolution of one of the mysteries, kind of. I just wish the insomnia plot point actually had been leaned into more than it was. That was the main reason why I selected this book since I suffer from it and thought it interesting to read about a woman who hasn’t slept who starts to hallucinate things. I thought this be more of a what is really real type of book and it was not. I felt things got overly explained as I read the book.
“My Wife is Missing” follows married couple Michael and Natalie Hart. The two of them and their two children go to New York City for a vacation. Michael and Natalie have been rocky for months and Michael hopes this vacation gets them back to where they were. After returning to the hotel room with a pizza, Michael realizes that his wife and children are gone. Not only that, their suitcases are missing too. Michael initially hopes that his family has moved rooms, but after bringing in hotel security and the local police it’s apparent that Natalie has fled the hotel with their children. And the police won’t become involved since legally Natalie is allowed to take their children. The book seesaws back and forth between Michael searching for Natalie and getting assistance from a New York City detective to Natalie on the run with the kids and then Natalie before she was on the run and what led her to start to distrust Michael.
Michael I didn’t really care for. Palmer writes him inconsistently. On one hand we are supposed to believe he loves his wife and wants to find her but there’s some big dark secret that he’s hiding (of course). Natalie acts irrationally through most of the book and I just shook my head. I can’t say more than that. Things wrap up way too neatly I thought.
The writing was just okay. I just once again didn’t buy all of the ins/outs that we get and the look at certain character’s past.
The flow was pretty bad. I think it would have made more sense to follow Michael in the present and Natalie in the past and then do a whole “linking” up so to speak for that final act. The book dragged so badly.
The ending wraps up every plot point so there’s no last mystery that is left unsolved. I wish that Palmer had went a different way with things though. I am not all thrillers should have some random twists, but this one just kind of meandered along and threw stuff at you as you read it. It just didn’t feel realistic as I read along.