I recently listened to two Alice Feeney thrillers back to back: Daisy Darker, her locked-room homage to Agatha Christie, and My Husband’s Wife, a newer novel engineered around shifting perspectives and near-constant reversals.
Feeney spent fifteen years as a BBC journalist before becoming a bestselling novelist, and her sense of pace is unmistakable. She knows how to end a chapter one beat before you are ready to stop. The question is whether momentum alone is enough.
The quick verdict
| Book | Rating | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Daisy Darker | 3/5 | A Christie-inspired island mystery |
| My Husband’s Wife | 3.5/5 | A fast, multi-perspective audiobook |
If you need a highly commercial thriller to consume on a long flight, both books do the job. They provide short, sharp bursts of suspense and very little dead air. If you prefer classical detective fiction whose final answer grows naturally from clues laid in plain sight, prepare for some frustration.
That is the difference between a twist that feels surprising in retrospect and a twist that seems to exist mainly because the story needs another surprise. Agatha Christie’s best reversals feel both impossible and inevitable. Feeney’s can feel like the author has changed the rules at the last moment.
Daisy Darker: a finale that asks too much
Daisy Darker openly echoes And Then There Were None: a troubled family gathers in an isolated house, the tide cuts off the escape route, and deaths begin to accumulate. The ingredients promise the clean pleasure of watching suspects, motives, and opportunities narrow.
The atmosphere works, and the family is dysfunctional enough to keep the pages turning. My problem is the conclusion. Instead of rewarding careful attention, the final device made me question the basic logic of what came before it. Once almost any explanation becomes possible, guessing stops being fun.
This is not a dull book. It is a book that spends its credibility for one enormous final effect. Whether that trade feels worthwhile will determine your reaction.
My Husband’s Wife: better in audio
I gave My Husband’s Wife an extra half-star, largely because the multi-cast audiobook elevates the material. Different performers carry different viewpoints, turning the experience into something closer to a tightly edited television thriller. Feeney’s detailed scene construction and frequent changes in perspective suit that format.
Nearly every chapter contains a revelation or reversal. That makes the book extremely easy to continue and almost impossible to pause at a sensible point. It also creates the literary equivalent of a popcorn movie: satisfying while it is happening, but not something I expect to revisit.
Who should read them
These books are useful examples of modern commercial suspense. Writers can learn from their hooks, chapter endings, withheld information, and ruthless momentum. Readers should choose them according to mood.
- Read them when you want a quick thriller for a plane, train, or hotel night.
- Choose the audiobooks if you enjoy ensemble performances and television-style pacing.
- Skip them for now if you want a fair-play mystery grounded in airtight deduction.
After finishing both in quick succession, I had reached my twist quota. Entertaining? Certainly. Memorable? Less so.