Bryan Webb comes home from a bike ride to find the police on his doorstep. His wife’s car has been found crashed in the woods and she has vanished. Has she had another blackout or has someone taken her…?
The Wreckage of Us is a mix of crime, mystery and psychological thriller.
Bryan used to be a police officer and is devoted to his sick wife who has been traumatised by a stalker. Her medication leaves her weak and recently she went missing briefly, with no memory of what happened when she stumbled home. But this time she doesn’t come home and the police are searching the woods when they find a body.
The book is written from multiple perspectives. These show Bryan’s frustration with the officer in charge of the case and the lack of progress being made, Astrid in the lead up to the crash, and the experience of Celine which is fuelled by drugs. The connection between Celine and the Webbs is not revealed until the end, adding to the mystery and clues about the plot development.
Tension builds as Bryan Webb clashes horns with DI Ronson over the case, and Astrid and Celine’s stories unfold. I found it difficult to like any of the main characters as their own personal agendas gain prominence. Celine and Astrid did inspire some sympathy but I wanted them to have more spark and not be passive in their own lives, letting men dictate their choices.
I thought the pacing was well aligned with the nature of the plot and characters. There are clues to link the strands of the plot together and I was able to guess some of the connections but there were secrets revealed right up until the end.
The Wreckage of Us is a tense and intriguing crime and mystery novel.
Book blurb
It’s always the husband… Isn’t it?
Astrid Webb is missing. The police have found her car crashed near the woods, the driver’s door open, the seat spotted with blood. But there’s no sign of Astrid herself. Her husband Bryan is sure that she’s alive – after all, this isn’t the first time she’s vanished, only to reappear without explanation.
As the days pass, Bryan starts to look like a suspect in his wife’s disappearance, perhaps in her murder. But Bryan isn’t telling the police the whole truth. Not about Astrid’s stalker, their broken-in back door, or the threatening messages. Then a woman’s body is found in the woods. By staying silent, is Bryan protecting Astrid, or protecting himself?
From the bestselling author of The Regret and The Box , this heart-pounding thriller is perfect for readers of Harlan Coben, Mark Billingham and Alex North.
