Her Dying Wish

I’ll admit, I went into *Her Dying Wish* expecting another run-of-the-mill ‘husband with a secret’ thriller, but Kovach subverted my expectations almost immediately. The hook—a late-night confession—could’ve been melodramatic, but the way Kerstin’s mind spirals from shock to hyper-vigilance feels brutally real. Campbell’s narration is a masterclass in restraint; she doesn’t overplay the panic, which makes Kerstin’s occasional outbursts hit harder. There’s a scene where Kerstin ‘casually’ questions her husband over breakfast, and Campbell’s tight, controlled voice had me leaning in, waiting for the facade to crack. That said, the middle act drags slightly—Kovach spends a *lot* of time on Kerstin’s internal monologues about trust, and while it’s thematically rich, I found myself wishing for more external tension sooner. Where the audiobook truly shines is in its refusal to give easy answers. The small-town dynamics aren’t just window dressing; they’re part of the menace. Neighbors’ gossip, a cop’s dismissive attitude, even the way Kerstin’s kids unknowingly echo their father’s phrases—it all feeds into the paranoia. Campbell nails the secondary characters, too, especially the smarmy charm of Kerstin’s husband, which makes his ambiguity all the more unsettling. My only real critique is the ending: without spoilers, it’s satisfying but *just* shy of devastating, like Kovach pulled back from the full emotional gut-punch. Still, the journey there is gripping enough that I’d recommend this to fans of *The Wife Between Us* or *The Last Mrs. Parrish*—though *Her Dying Wish* is darker, leaner, and far more interested in the cost of obsession than the thrill of the reveal.