A Trusted Wife (An Emily Just Psychological Thriller—Book One): An utterly mesmerizing psychological thriller with an edge-of-your-seat twist ending

Emily Just #1

by Ella Swift

As a home aide, Emily Just has lived with families and seen too many secrets. Yet when she accepts a new job for the wife of a reclusive tech tycoon in Silicon Valley, she finds herself cut off from the outside world, in a high-security mansion that watches her every move.

And the more she tries to connect with her agoraphobic charge, the more she suspects this isolation isn't for protection—it's imprisonment.

When someone associated with the family ends up dead under mysterious circumstances, Emily knows it’s time to take charge of her situation.

But in this house of futuristic horrors, can Emily discover the truth before she’s trapped forever?

A TRUSTED WIFE (An Emily Just Psychological Thriller—Book 1) is the first novel in a new psychological suspense series by mystery and suspense author Ella Swift.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Audiobook, Ebooks, Suspense, Mystery Thriller

147 pages, Paperback

Published June 9, 2024

Reviews

[Kellie O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really twisted and completely compelling read! This is a mystery packed with a lot of twists and turns that keeps you guessing until the end. Full of action and the characters are well developed. Well written.

The main character is Emily Just from a small town in Ohio ( I live in Ohio, so I had to read it!). Alicia is a woman who suffers from agoraphobia and is shut up in her bedroom terrified to leave. Her husband, Nathan is the owner of a high tech company and their teenage daughter, Chloe, live in a beautiful mansion in California. Emily is hired to go take care of her as a home health aide. Soon, secrets appear and Emily has to find the truth in this mystery.....her life depends on it. Is someone drugging Alicia to keep her quiet or is something or someone more sinister at work? 🤷‍♀️ I had a suspect from the beginning and I was right! Yay! I don't usually guess the right person.

Perfect for Spooky Season and a very enjoyable, solid story that I couldn't put down. It's part one of a series but can be read as a stand alone. It also fulfills one of my goals for this year to read more books at home 🏡

Enjoy and Happy Reading 💫💫

[Jodie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Made myself finish it. Predictable, slow, horrible dialogue. It would make a cheesy Lifetime movie.

[Rebecca Marks · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was very disappointing, despite a plausible start. In terms of the story, it was extremely unbelievable in many ways. The protagonist stayed on at this mausoleum of a mansion because she wanted to earn money for a graduate degree. There are other jobs. She didn't need to stay on at her own vast peril. And nothing was ever really fleshed out. It was a kind of outline of a book. Above and beyond that, the writing was hard to take. One example: If the protagonist had a "heart beating in her chest" or a "heart pounding in her chest" one more time, I was about to scream. Where else does a heart beat? And why proliferate this Gothic-romance-novel trope over and over and over again in every chapter and multiple times within each chapter? (And when it wasn't beating in her chest, her heart was beating in her throat.) There are countless other ways of demonstrating someone's fear, and an experienced author should know that and how to show that. The book felt as if it needed a good and thorough edit, and it didn't feel as if it had that at all.

[Lynn Ramsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

It really twisted but a very interesting read but a little slow at time

[diane anjulo · Rating 1 out of 5]

A Trusted Wife

Needs editing badly. Lots of holes in the story. No depth to any of the characters . Not one like able character

[mildred_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Predictable and while I didn’t dislike it, I didn’t love it. I feel it needed more involvement in the story from Alicia as felt she took more of a backseat where that character could have been developed more and been more a MC

[HippieWitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good suspense thriller read

[Angel **Book Junkie** · Rating 2 out of 5]

I totally could not get into this book at all! Like it was extremely difficult to understand the characters and what was taking place. The ending..It was just that..an ending.

[Charlotte Dorge · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️’s! this book was quite short, 191 pages and so it went super quickly. i have mixed feelings about this because i read it quickly and it didn’t take a lot for me to read it but i don’t feel that there was a lot of substance to the book. it lacked detail of character building. like it mentions her friend dying but i don’t understand the relevance of it in this book? i guess this is a series so that will come later

[Kat Weir · Rating 3 out of 5]

a fast-paced thriller read, but almost too fast-paced. I didn’t feel like I got to know the characters and their relationships with one another very well, which kind of took away from the dramatics of the twist at the end. but entertaining.

[Alicia Huxtable · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

The writing grabbed me from page one, and the action swiftly followed. The characters all fit their parts perfectly. Just a great story all round.

[antisocial butterfly · Rating 2 out of 5]

It started out okay but it just got less and less interesting the more I read.

[Nicole Hutcheson · Rating 2 out of 5]

It had potential. It was a good storyline. It started off well but isn't particularly well written and feels rushed

[Tricia Burton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow and had to force myself to finish reading.

[Dee Kendall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering this is book one, I expected a bit more background on the protagonist. The story just *poof* started. All in all, it was pretty darn good. I wish I could just continue on with the other 4, if I read a series, I like reading them all in a row. I read so much, I'll forget all about the characters within weeks. I will be looking for the rest, it was a fast read....not over detailed, but just right.

[Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written, and the time frame seems insane. One week to move in and solve the mystery. And not even follow the clues give, but just making wild and random assumptions. I read it out of spite, just to see how far the main character would go.

[Suparna Mondal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading the book just felt like a chore. At so many points in the story I just wanted to quit but decided to pull through, not because how intriguing the story was, but because I wanted to find out whether it gets any better. To my disappointment, it did not.

The author makes a big fuss about Emily's past, as if that would play an important part in the main plot, but sadly the execution is very poor. She and her mother got abandoned by her father at the age of six, after which there was a large gap until her teens. She was present in the car which crashed and killed her best friend. Her then boyfriend was driving and remained unscathed in the crash, but what happened to him after that is not talked about. I personally felt the past loose threads were quite strong but no attempts were made to tie them up.

Sure, a tragedy like that leaves a big mark, so much so that Emily was not involved romantically with anyone since her best friend died because of her boyfriend being irresponsible. She only blames herself because it could have been prevented easily. I love that guilt driven celibacy. But Ella had to ruin it all by making Emily grow feelings for Grant. I hate how after not being in love with anyone for the better part of a decade she suddenly develops feeling for a guy she talked to for like, two minutes.

Nathan was a waste of a character and it would absolutely not have hurt the story if he were not there. His only job was to divert suspicion and he did that very poorly by not being there at all. How do you suspect someone who has three appearances and barely any backstory? He is supposed to be imposing and threatening but barely comes across as such.

The climax sequence was weak and so poorly written. It felt like fan-fiction written by a twelve-year-old. The action was utterly forced and cartoonish. The geography of the house was never clearly explained because it was unnecessary. But in the final chapter, the vastness of the house was abused and the sense of space was all misplaced. Lena and Nathan left Emily alone with Grant in spite of knowing his true nature, which just comes across as absurd. Lena intentionally locked out Emily as Grant was chasing her, which makes no sense since she was one of the 'good guys', and the matter is not even acknowledged later. The climax was a salty mess which only makes any reader feel that the book was a rushed job. There are plot holes everywhere. A notable one is that Grant says only he and Nathan have access to voice commands in the house. But in literally the next scene we see Alicia use voice command to unlock a door.

The title has no connection whatsoever to the story. It might as well have been named 'Big Fucking House in The Middle of Nowhere' and it would have made more sense in relation to the plot. The book has no business being categorized as a Psychological thriller as it is not a thriller and even less psychological. Kids may find this book fairly interesting. But for adults, this is not even a good time killer.

[Jocelyn Mansoory · Rating 1 out of 5]

i was quite stuck between giving it a 1 or 2 stars, but i initially wrote the below review before I read the final chapter, and I very much disliked many things that took place in that finale chapter like the fact that alisia who has agoraphobia and was terrified to leave just a few chapters before is suddenly very confident in standing up for herself, so a one star it will be.

the book’s initial concept sounded interesting, but there was very repetitive writing, like the author has forgotten they’ve already wrote that same line or assumes that we had forgotten

very frustrating and inconsistent main character, willing to blame everyone except the actual antagonist and it isn’t fully explained why this is the case except that she has a crush but surely if she is willing to countlessly risk her life she could get over a simple crush. an example of inconsistency is how in one chapter she is so willing to risk her life that she confronts the guy she thinks is the villain only to immediately be willing to leave the house in the next chapter as “risking my life unnecessarily won’t help anyone” now while I agree it is unnecessary, I feel like the main character would see it as necessary to their character to stay and help alisia.

would have also loved to know more about mc’s past , I do understand that this is a series so maybe in the following books we learn more, but as an introduction to the series I really do think the mcs past should be covered or slightly explored instead of just references here and there.

very disappointed in the outcome, would have much preferred if the mc was just paranoid and relating her past experiences to a situation that she is completely wrong about, we kind of got this in the sense that both Lena and Nathan have their best interests in mind for Alisia when the mc first thought that they didn’t, but would have loved if alisia had just had agoraphobia and mc is making up this dramatic story because of their own trauma

[Chelsea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an average thriller. It was about 150 Kindle pages and the build up of the story read quick and was good. The first about 60 % of the story I was invested in and was expecting a good twist with the way the writing was going, however it quickly...quickly fell flat for me at the end. Emily was very likeable in the beginning and was a fresh breath of air to how normal main characters are written in thrillers. She however quickly lost her likeability. She quickly developed a crush and as typical looked past any red flags to in turn be extremely quick to make decisions and be overly comfortable to talk the way she did to characters. The last couple of chapters felt like just quick flashes of light, with each time the story being updated without any lead up to it. I finally just finished the book to complete the read, but I was lost on the quickness, timing and house set up. I believe this would have been better if it had been longer, the epilogue was cut out (atleast the lead up to the second book portion), and Emily being toned down a bit. Overall I gave it three stars due to while the ending was obvious the first part of the book kept my interest and had me curious who was doing what.

[Dhivya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book written by Ella Swift, is a psychological thriller featuring Emily Just, a 23 year old lady looking for a job to earn enough money to pursue her masters in psychology.She is presented with an opportunity to work as a home aide in a wealthy household to look after an agoraphobic wife of a tech mogul. So now, Emily's journey towards the world of conspiracy begins.
I just felt that Emily is a bit dumb. The clues pointed to a single suspect and she naively decided to trust him. It was obvious right from the start that she was suspicious of wrong person. Every person in the book practically spelled out the perpetrator, but she refused to connect the dots until the very last moment.
I couldn't really enjoy the book fully due to Emily's naivity. I basically screamed in frustration while reading. So I just hope the author would makes her a bit more smart in the upcoming books of this series.

[Chelsea Blaquiere · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing felt very stilted. There was very little relationship development between all the characters, no background on the main character, and plot felt so rushed. The story was short, a little under 200 pages. It could have easily been stretched out to add depth to the story. There were multiple errors where names changed (Lena to Elena) or it said "Nathan did this to Nathan" (actually meaning Nathan did this to Grant). It was jarring. You never got a moment to get settled into the story.

[Avid · Rating 4 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 🌟 rating, but they don't have that as an option.

It's one of the better murder mysteries I've read lately. 👍 Sometimes, when something is a bit more realistic, it can make a book more appealing and frightening.

I did peg the guilty party right from the start. Still, it remained a good book.

Recommended 👍
📚📚📚+

[Patricia Green · Rating 1 out of 5]

How on earth do books like this get published? The writing reminded me of reading through stories written by my daughter when she just started high school! She was a lot better at maths than English!
Emily was tedious, the story was nonsensical but mostly the writing was irritating - every chapter finishing with a question or thought.
I cannot waste any more time on this, skim read it but dnf

[Kareen Carter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not mesmerizing

There was no edge of my seat ending but rather a typical plot with an unsuccessful attempt to make it look as if it were a grand twist of events. Forcing the reader to read the main character's self-doubts does not make it a psychological thriller. It receives 2 stars because it is grammatically correct, and I actually did finish it.

[Virginia R. Balser · Rating 2 out of 5]

REALLY!!??

How can anyone be so namby/pamby as Emily? She couldn't fight her way out of a paper sack, let alone be of help to anyone who needed help! She finally got her head out of the sack and picked up the knife even though he actually ran into it, she didn't stab him. This book was a waste of time!

[Mell · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ Rounded to 4
Although it became a little predictable just past the half-way point, it was still an intriguing read. I was curious to see how everything was going to unfold and I was not disappointed. It's a slow burn, but it's a good slow burn. In my opinion, if you're in a psych thriller slump, this will pull you right up out of it! #Bookmarked_WithMell

[Kerita Fuller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay read. 2.5 stars. I couldn’t really get into any of the characters, and I have too many questions about how Emily (MC) ended up as a home aide and why they chose her. I think I’m looking for more of a back story than what was given. The ending did tie up of all the loose ends rather quickly. Decent short story. VERY reminiscent of The Housemaid.

[Linda Look · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emily Just is a psychology major working as a home aid. She is hired by a wealthy family to assist in the care of the wife. The mansion has many secrets and confusing relationships. Security is the money-making enterprise that rules every decision. Good plot. I rate this a 4.5.

[Cynthia A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deceitful as can be

Emily takes a job as an aide to take care of a wealthy woman that refuses to go outside. As Emily gets to know the family, something is wrong. Will she figure it out before someone dies?

[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don’t get me wrong this was an ok read. I’ve read better and have read worse. The reason for the low rating was because it sounded so familiar and have read two books that had the same story. Didn’t get me hooked and the ending very predictable.