Review – The Baker’s Wife

Erin Healy in her new book “The Baker’s Wife” published by Thomas Nelson gives us a wonderful thriller.
The Bofinger family has lost their church ministry in a scandal exposed by Officer Jack Mansfield. Hoping to heal and to restore their reputation, Audrey, Geoff, and their son Ed take over a failing bakery in the small community. Driving to the bakery one morning, blinded by fog, Audrey hits a motor scooter owned by Jack’s wife, Julie. The mangled scooter is crushed and bloody. But Julie is nowhere to be found. Her disappearance coincides with a sudden illness that nearly cripples Audrey.
Jack believes the Bofingers have hurt Julie to take revenge on him, but the evidence dries up and her trail goes cold. At a breaking point, Jack takes the tiny bakery and its patrons hostage, issuing only one demand: Audrey has six hours to return Julie to him, or lose Geoff and Ed forever.
With only an excruciating and intuitive gift, an ex-con, and Julie’s estranged daughter to help search for clues, Audrey starts the search of her life for a woman who has vanished like the fog.
“The Baker’s Wife” is a thriller. The director, Alfred Hitchcock defined thriller this way, put a time bomb under a table in a crowded restaurant with an hour on the clock. Two women sit at the table with their baby strollers and have lunch. The audience will be screaming at the movie screen as the clock is running down. Erin Healy has written that kind of story. Be prepared to have your nerves stretched to the breaking point as you read this book. The nice thing is it is all worth it in the end.