The First Wife [Mass Market Paperback]

William P. Kennedy (Author), Diana Diamond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 3, 2005

Jane Warren swore she'd never marry again even though plenty of perfectly respectable men would consider themselves lucky to end up with someone like her. Then again, the last perfectly respectable man to end up with her-her ex-husband-ended their marriage, not to mention Jane's belief in happy endings...

But she just can't muster the cynicism to resist William Andrews-a dashing, debonaire widower with two children of his own. Soon, Jane's doing what she swore she'd never do: Marching up the aisle, promising to have, hold, serve, and protect, 'til death do them part. But once married, Jane discovers that Andrew seems to be obsessed with his dead wife...

As Jane struggles to understand the nature of the powerful hold Andrews's first wife still exerts over the husband and children she left behind, she realizes that her life may depend on the answer. For someone would clearly like to see her follow the first Mrs. Andrews to the grave...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pseudonymous Diamond's (The Good Sister, etc.) updated version of Daphne du Maurier's classic Rebecca offers a savvy heroine (divorced business reporter Jane Warren), a widowed media mogul (globe-trotting power broker William Andrews) and a famous socialite first wife brutally murdered eight years before in her posh Adirondack lodge. Like the original, this romantic thriller begins with the whirlwind courtship of a down-to-earth younger woman by a wealthy older man, as Andrews whisks Jane off to Paris while she tries to interview him for a profile she's writing. Diamond enlivens the familiar story line with modern touches: instead of a loafing cousin, she introduces Jane's hapless playwright ex; instead of an English country estate, she features a New Jersey horse farm, a Manhattan penthouse apartment and, of course, the Adirondack lodge. She also adds two children from Andrews's previous marriage. Such twists on the 1938 original add to the reader's delight: how will the modern heroine handle the old-fashioned mystery? How will the old-fashioned hero handle the modern heroine? And who is the villainous Mrs. Danvers, and what will she do next? Even when presenting details about sex, business and a catered wedding that would make du Maurier blush, Diamond never forgets that the story's appeal lies in the heroine's frequently failed attempts to understand the hold the first wife keeps over a husband who otherwise looks too good to be true. Without pretense and with energy to spare, Diamond builds excitement through a series of inevitable yet still somehow surprising scenes, making her fresh take on an old classic not great literature but very good entertainment.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

THE GOOD SISTER
"[A] satisfying and highly unsettling suspense thriller...Diamond keeps readers guessing until the very end, and her thrilling story is backed up by taut writing and snappy dialogue."-Publishers Weekly

"Diamond keeps readers guessing until the very end, and her thrilling story is backed up by taut writing and snappy dialogue."-Publishers Weekly

"Diana Diamond's gripping thriller takes sibling rivalry to a whole new level."-Marie Claire

THE BABYSITTER
"A multifaceted, remarkably suspenseful thriller."-Booklist

"Vivid...thoughtful exposition and careful plotting."-Publishers Weekly

THE TROPHY WIFE
"A gripping page-turner."-People Magazine, A Beach Book of the Week

"[A] flawless gem...sharp, brilliant, and strong, the novel is sure to be a girl's best friend-and maybe even a boy's...[Diamond's] convincing action scenes are real enough to leave readers breathless...a clever and genuinely surprising ending tops off a superb thriller."-Booklist
(starred review)

"Diamond alternates laughs with chills in this tale of marriage, kidnapping, and high finance in the Susan Isaacs/Olivia Goldsmith school of social satire...a strong climax and satisfying epilogue conclude a smart, suspense-packed novel."-Publishers Weekly

"A must-read for anyone who has ever wished revenge on a duplicitous lover...fast-paced...climaxes with a shocking denoument."-Women's Own

"Tinged with revenge and intrigue, this thriller twists and turns to an unexpected end."-
cf0Library Journal

"It moves, it's imaginative, and it's satisfying. Diana Diamond has spun a tale that grips the reader and doesn't let go."-Mary Jane Clark, author of Nobody Knows

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks (May 3, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312993331
• ISBN-13: 978-0312993337
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,115,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars So glad it's over..., April 6, 2005

By 

Mercedes L. Johnmeyer "The Most Happy" (Summerville, SC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The First Wife: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

This was one of the most exhausting books I've ever read. It's about tough journalist J.J.Warren who has to interview communications mogul William Andrews. Andrews is used to having people kiss his butt and do whatever he needs done, well, J.J.Warren doesn't, she tells him exactly what she thinks of him and the way he runs his company. They end up falling in love, and quickly get married, then she begins investigating the horrible death of his first wife Kay Parker.

Kay was brutally shot in the head at the couples ski cabin by an intruder who was never found. The deeper Jane (J.J.) gets into the mystery, the more that starts going wrong. Someone is trying to silence her...but who? Honestly, once I got to the point in the book where you FINALLY find out what's going on, I didn't care anymore. I was sooooooo sick of the previous 250 of Jane second guessing EVERYTHING that was going on. Every little thing was analyzed 16 different ways, very trying on my patience.

Overall, I gave this book two stars because I actually finished it, and I did that because a small part of me was curious to find out what was going on...also the ending was a surprise, avid mystery readers might have spotted it earlier, but myself not being one, I was pleased with the ending. That said, I can't really say that I'd recommend this...I just didn't like the writing style and the story draaaggged on. Definitely find something else.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Entertain Me, August 9, 2004

By 

Cynthia L Boyce (Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The First Wife: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

I have to say that this was a pretty poorly written book. I love a good romantic suspense novel as much as the next reader, but I found myself skimming through page after page, and finally towards the end, I skipped a whole chapter or two. First of all, the romance between the two main characters was contrived at best. There was just no reason why these two should or would have gotten together. I just didn't feel any attachment there. A couple of times the author jumped to a totally different venue mid-paragraph. Bottom line, I just could never cozy up and really lose myself in this book. I kept plugging away as long as I could though, because I hate to spend money on a book I don't read, but I finally skipped to the end and even that was a let-down. Check this one out at the library and save your money is my advice.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Confused in NJ..., October 8, 2005

By 

DevJohn01 (Somerset, NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The First Wife: A Novel of Suspense (Hardcover)

I have to admit that this book left me more than a little bit confused. The description they give this book is that it is about a woman who gets swept off her feet by one of the richest men in the world. The reader gets the impression that they have a whirlwind romance, fall madly in love and finally marry only to have the husbands past come back to haunt him in the form of his dead wife. However, in actually reading this book that did not seem to be the case, there was no whirlwind romance. In fact the romance part was very flat. Jane, the heroine of `THE FIRST WIFE', went out on a total of two and a half mediocre dates (on one of which she was almost killed) with the powerful William Andrews before she agreed to marry him. She clearly did not want to marry this man, even rehearsed her speech on how to let him down easily when all of a sudden she decided to say yes. She debated everyday whether or not she actually loved Andrews all the while keeping up an investigation into his first wife's murder (which she believed was at the hand of her betrothed) and having way too many suspicious brushes with death. Moreover, Jane finds evidence of an on going affair between William and another woman. Now my question is, who in their right mind would enter into this marriage and why? Had Jane been only after Andrews money this story would have been a bit more believable, however Diamond painted Jane to be a woman of high morality who despite all of these "obstacles" began to genuinely fall in love with her fiancé. Diana Diamond is a pseudonym for a male mystery writer, which you can clearly tell in `THE FIRST WIFE'. I believe that a woman would have fleshed out the romance a bit and made the decision on whether or not to marry William Andrews a no-brainer for Jane and for the reader.

Also, it didn't seem as though Andrews was obsessed with the death of his first wife, as stated in the description. It was more like Jane who was obsessed with investigating the details of the first wife's life and her death. Which, of course, only brought more trouble for her.

If you have read any of my other reviews of Diamonds books they have all, with the exception of `THE BABYSITTER' generated three stars. One may wonder, why do I keep reading her books if I only find them to be average? I read them because they are very easy to read, never boring and often times unintentionally funny. Definitely a break from some of the more serious mysteries.