My Wife Is Missing: A Novel

Written by D.J. Palmer

Narrated by Karissa Vacker

When a woman disappears with her two children, one husband will do anything to find them—even confront the secrets of his own past—in D. J. Palmer's My Wife Is Missing, a twisty thriller from the author of The New Husband...

A family vacation turns into a nightmare for Michael Hart when he discovers his wife and two children have disappeared from their New York City hotel room. Horrified, he fears they’ve been kidnapped. Michael’s frantic search to find them takes a shocking turn when he discovers that his wife, Natalie, appears to have left quite willingly, taking their children with her. The police want to know why, and so does Michael. But there may be a reason why Natalie ran, something Michael can’t tell the police—the truth about his past.

While untangling his deceptions might be the key to locating Natalie, Michael knows it could also be his undoing. To find his wife, he must now turn to the one person capable of exposing all that he’s been hiding. Natalie thinks she has Michael all figured out and has hatched a plan to escape from him permanently. One detail, though, threatens to derail her efforts: sleep—or more accurately, the lack of it. Since the moment the shocking revelations about her husband came to light, Natalie’s insomnia has worsened to the point that she now suffers from delusions.

Are her fears about Michael valid—or a symptom of her condition? With her children’s lives at risk, the stakes for Natalie could not be higher. On her own, running low on energy and resources, avoiding increasingly close calls with Michael—who is on the hunt and closing in fast—Natalie needs someone to turn to for help. But who can she trust when she can’t even trust herself?

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: May 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781250854698

D.J. Palmer

D.J. PALMER is the author of numerous critically acclaimed suspense novels, including The New Husband, Saving Meghan, and The Perfect Daughter. He received his master’s degree from Boston University and after a career in e-commerce he shifted gears to writing full time. He lives by the ocean in Massachusetts where he is working on his current novel. Besides writing, DJ enjoys yoga, songwriting, and family time with his two children and his ever faithful dog.

[Jacq Garrett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I LOVED it. I thought I had it figured out, but it was so much better.. 5/5☆☆☆☆☆

[Emily Lassiter Branch · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is ultimately a book about secrets and the damage they can do. It unfolds as a roller coaster of a ride through the lives of married couple Michael and Natalie and their two children, who take a vacation trip to New York. Michael and Natalie hope to get their troubled marriage back on track on the trip. But the vacation quickly becomes a nightmare for Michael when he goes out to pick up a pizza dinner for his family and comes back to an empty hotel room, with few clues as to where his wife and children have gone.
What follows is the slow disclosure of secrets as we learn more about their marriage as Michael searches for his family. Natalie has been battling a vicious cycle of stress that's led to insomnia which in turn fuels her stress and delusions. To further fuel her stress, Natalie rightly senses that Michael has his own secrets, which are hinted at but are slowly revealed throughout the story. We aren't quite sure how reliable anyone is - Michael or Natalie or the people surrounding them. Overall it's an interesting book that kept me intrigued throughout. The narration of the audiobook by Karissa Vacker is excellent.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.