The Ghost Wife - C.G. Twiles

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AUTHOR: C.G. Twiles

GENRE: Suspense, Short Story
RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: Wow! I was surprised by this indie tale! Loved the unusual plot.

Story Synopsis:
Tabitha, our first person narrator, isn’t looking forward to Christmas. As she watches her husband and her thirteen-year-old daughter struggle with the changes in their Christmas duties, she has mixed feelings. After all, she is dead and can’t move on unless her family has moved on. But they can’t seem to accept the fact that she’s no longer there, and she can’t understand why they are still setting out food for her or doing her laundry. She keeps musing over how she can convince them once and for all to let her go wherever she is meant to be. Then on Christmas day, someone comes… and something happens…


When a work is tagged as a ‘short tale of suspense’, you sure want the suspense to be worth your while. In this case, it WAS so, AND HOW!! I did guess a part of what might be happening towards the 25% mark, but my guess was a teensy part of the actual truth.

I loved the way the story was developed. It started the usual way (well, as long as you can call having a dead narrator ‘usual’) but soon the proceedings seemed to turn somewhat bizarre. I completed this within 15 minutes because I couldn’t wait to find out what was going on.

The characters were penned intriguingly. Some of their actions don’t make sense until the very end, as the author does smartly not spoonfeed you every tiny detail but allows you to use your brains too. There are some emotional moments and fun remarks as well. There are also witty pop culture references, which, if you know their source, you will enjoy!

(Towards the start, Tabitha says (after she introduces her family), “Don’t feel like you have to remember everyone’s names”, I felt like she was talking to me because I was, as usual, taking note of the main character names for my review! 😄)

The writing has a teensy amount of repetition, but considering how much it hooked me and that it is an indie work, I will happily let this go.

For this tiny 38-page story, I don’t want to reveal much more. It is better you go in blind. Avoid even the Goodreads blurb if you can, for it goes beyond the bare minimum required.

Heartily recommended to short story lovers and suspense/mystery fans. I was torn between 4.25 and 4.5 stars, but the ending was so good that I am motivated to choose the higher rating and round upwards. I definitely want to read more by this author.

My thanks to author C. G. Twiles and BookSirens for the DRC of “The Ghost Wife”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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