You’ve never met the other wives. None of you know each other, and because of this unconventional arrangement, you can see your husband only one day a week. But you love him so much you don’t care. Or at least that’s what you’ve told yourself.

But one day, while you’re doing laundry, you find a scrap of paper in his pocket—an appointment reminder for a woman named Hannah, and you just know it’s another of the wives.

You thought you were fine with your arrangement, but you can’t help yourself: you track her down, and, under false pretenses, you strike up a friendship. Hannah has no idea who you really are. Then Hannah starts showing up to your coffee dates with telltale bruises, and you realize she’s being abused by her husband. Who, of course, is also your husband. But you’ve never known him to be violent, ever.

Who exactly is your husband, and how far would you go to find the truth? Would you risk your own life? And who is his mysterious third wife?

What do I need from a great thriller? I need an edge-of-your-seat plot. I need a narrator who grabs my attention and never lets it go. But I also need the story to show me something about real life, no matter how crazy or outlandish the plot gets.

At first glance, the premise of The Wives seems far-out. The narrator is a woman with a tightly controlled routine: She goes to work, she lives in a glassy condo, and she sees her husband on Thursday nights... because he spends the rest of the week with his two other wives. Yup: He’s a polygamist. Initially, I shook my head at this. I mean, what? How could you agree to that? How would the jealousy not destroy you?! But as the story went on, and as the narrator became more and more obsessed with uncovering the truth about the other wives, I began nodding my head instead of shaking it. Yeah, I thought. We will do crazy things for love.

The Wives is smart and juicy, with razor-sharp insights about how women will shape themselves around the desires of men. Maybe you don’t think you have much in common with the wife of a polygamist—but she’ll suck you in. She’s got a lot to tell you. And trust me, it’s not what you think.