The Other Mrs. Miller

The Other Mrs. Miller is Allison Dickson’s major debut. I had not heard of it before and picked it up from the independent bookstore nearby. I am very glad I did.

Reminiscent of The Woman in the Window, this novel was suspenseful enough to keep me turning pages, but I was still able to sleep at night. I did find Part One to be a little slow. I found much of it to be setting up the plot and developing characters, which could have been accomplished in less pages. I was hoping to learn more about some of the peripheral characters, because there were hints at bigger roles that just didn’t seem to come.

Then, I got to Part Two and things picked up. What started as a novel about a curious woman dealing with her neighbors turned into a full-blown mystery full of secrets. There were twists and turns, but when I reach the end, I still felt like I was lacking something. I haven’t been able to put my finger on it yet. It may be my yearned to learn more about the characters. Foe example, Phoebe Miller knows a car is watching her, but I was unable to get a deeper sense on what that was doing to her psyche. It may be the ending. Plot twists did come, but I wanted more. The ending felt a little rushed (likely because of the missing character development).

But, despite my criticisms, I truly enjoyed the book. I finished in about 3 days and enjoyed reading it. I was unable to predict the ending (a major plus for me), and I gave up some sleep because I wanted to keep on reading. It’s a great option of a suspenseful summer read and I am excited to read Dickson’s future work.