The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell

From the outside, Adrian Wolfe has carved out a successful life.  Now middle aged, he has built a successful architectural firm.  He has five wonderful children.  He has two ex-wives and married a third time.  Susie was his first wife, right out of college.  They had Luke and Kat but then Adrian met and married Claire, leaving Susie and the children behind.  Claire and he had three children, but once again Adrian left wife and children behind when he met and married Maya.  They are all one big happy family,  taking vacations together and socializing. 

As the novel opens, Adrian is grieving.  Maya has been dead for a year after stepping in front of a bus late one night while intoxicated.  There's no reason she should have done so and her death is a bit of a mystery.  Even more mysterious is the woman who comes into Adrian's life in answer to an ad he places to give away his cat.  She comes to his apartment then disappears but is seen more than coincidentally later around his children.  It turns out she has given him a false name and story so who is she and what does she want?

It becomes clear that Adrian's life is a fairy tale existence only for him.  The children, far from being well-adjusted and okay with his desertion are foundering.  Luke is doing nothing with his life despite his early promise.  Kat is overweight and can't stop eating.  Otis is missing school and the younger children just want Adrian to move back home.  Things take a sinister turn when Luke finds a folder on the computer full of emails meant to drive Maya away.  Was she hounded to death and who was responsible for the campaign of hate?

Lisa Jewell has written a suspense novel that slowly unfolds the story of a self-involved man who blindly follows his desires through life and doesn't understand the consequences of his decisions.  It is a treatise on broken families and having experienced this heartbreak in my own family, it hits home about the inevitable hit on a child's self-esteem to have a parent leave for someone else.  Readers will be furious with Adrian and wonder how it takes him so long to see the damage he trails behind him.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.