The Wrong Woman by J.P. Pomare

Publisher's Synopsis

Reid left the small town of Manson a decade ago, promising his former Chief of Police boss he'd never return after a very public career-ending incident. He made a new life in the city, became a PI and turned his back on the past.

Now, sent by an insurance firm to look into a suspicious car crash, he finds himself back in the place he grew up. As Reid's investigation unfolds, nothing is as it seems: rumours swirl about the young woman who crashed the car, killing her professor husband, and their connection to a missing student.

Soon Reid finds himself veering away from the job he has been paid to do. Will he jeopardise his new life to take on the town he ran from?

My Review of The Wrong Woman by J.P. Pomare

The Wrong Woman is another darkly mysterious thriller by J.P. Pomare, a private investigator case that hides more than just a tragic road accident. It’s a story steeped in intrigue and infidelity with a hint of revenge thrown in and it continued to compel me to keep reading as it regularly chucked out juicy tidbits of information that, on their own, meant very little but as a growing whole, meant heaps.

This is a story that starts with a car accident in the twin towns of Manson and Ethelton. Eshana Stiles was driving herself and her husband Oliver home from a restaurant one night when it appears she lost control of the car and crashed. The accident killed her husband and left her alive but in a coma.

The story is told from the first person of two viewpoints and time periods. Reid’s first person account is a present day narrative of his investigation into the accident as he attempts to learn how it might have happened. Eshana’s first person account starts years before the accident when she meets her future husband and then runs us through their life together right up until the night of the accident.

Vince Reid is a PI and is in town to investigate the accident on behalf of the insurance company. He used to work as a Manson PD police officer until he left the job following a controversial incident that’s only hinted at early on in the book. It was such a traumatic event that Reid was not only forced out of his job, he was forced out of the town. He’s only back because the job promises to pay handsomely but he knows when he crosses paths with the local cops, things won’t go well.

This is a high quality thriller that proves to be unpredictable in that deliciously unsettling way where you think you know the direction it’s heading when, suddenly, the rug is pulled out from under you. Reid’s investigation appears to be making progress, he’s uncovering information missed by the original police investigation, finding evidence of lies, deceit and infidelity. But not necessarily evidence that relates to the car crash.

Certainly not enough to satisfy an insurance company looking to withhold payment. So why then, suddenly, is the insurance company satisfied and happy to cease the investigation. It’s from here that the intrigue and surprises start to make themselves known and we suddenly become aware that there’s more to this investigation than first met the eye.

The use of two separate first person accounts was an interesting approach and was able to provide a unique perspective on two sides of the investigation. While Reid was coming to his own conclusions after the event, we were becoming more and more aware of what was going on before. It heightened the feeling of tension that grew as we reached the moment where both Reid and Eshana met. By this point it felt as though I knew exactly what made both of them tick and this only made the stakes even greater.

I really enjoyed the story, particularly by the sudden change in direction we took halfway through. It was another reminder that I shouldn’t take everything presented to me at face value. It’s an engrossing mystery that portrays a difficult marriage and the way in which words may be used to manipulate the mind. It's also a reminder that revenge comes from the most unlikely of quarters.