Book Review: The Cover Wife by Dan Fesperman

I like Dan Fesperman because I like traditional, old-school feeling spy novels – and that is usually what he writes. Or at least what I usually read of his. This one felt like half domestic thriller drama and half spy book – and unfortunately there was an overemphasis on the first of those descriptors, which is where the book lost me.

Fesperman does a great job writing characters and espionage / international incident novels. He also does a fine job writing a more relationship-focused story, I just don’t enjoy them as much. There was nothing wrong with this one – it just wasn’t what I wanted it to be. Had I gone in not knowing his work, and looking forward to another full-blown spy story, I probably would have given it a much higher rating. As it is I had to net at 3 because it was a bit of a slog for me in a handful of places.

Kudos to him on doing his own reading though, as he’s a fantastic audio book narrator! His narration was literally the reason I was able to keep going… I found him to offer just the right blend of emphasis and more straightforward narration, in a way that I thought brought the characters to life and kept the story as interesting as possible.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.