The Girl in the Woods by Gregg Olsen

This is an excellent novel by best-seller writer, Gregg Olsen. First , may I comment on the characters which I am 100% coincidental. I just watched a British TV series that is called "The Silent Witness" which stars Amanda Burton (the old series, not the current one). Here,  our coroner has a blue collar sister with a son who idolizes his aunt . Her sister (the boy's mother ) is a single mom and is assigned to take care of their senile mother. It's strange that the poorer sister with a son is the one assigned to take care of the mom while the richer one with no teen can just visit when she has time. The difference is the coroner's sister in the book has a spouse and the mother of the two is a cantankerous old woman. Why they did not shove the banshee in a home to end everyone's problems is beyond me.
         Anyway, in both cases the boy flees his home and opts for the home of his more tolerant aunt. Then the similarity ends.

The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford

Dana Catrell is a woman with a bipolar disorder who was called in by her neighbor, intent on sharing a photo of an apparent adulterous liaison she caught in her phone's camera. After a few drinks with the distressed neighbor, Dana has a heated argument with her because she suspected the woman is unusually distressed by the photo. Unfortunately, after she wakes up from her drunken stupor, she finds her neighbor murdered. Not being able to recall what has happened, she can only remember a few snippets of their conversation that went sour before she blacked out. Hence, she's not even sure if she murdered her neighbor.

It was a good thriller reminiscent of "Under My Skin" but with a different outcome. I was uncomfortable with the adulterous strain of the novel but I was interested to know if Dana would be vindicated after the disastrous events following the murder. I know millions of murder books involve adultery but I developed a strong compassion for the main character and how she was treated by her spouse.

Thankfully a total of 2 adulterers get punished physically and legally  for their sins except for one, who was relieved from the punitive measures he deserves. I am not a fan of unfaithfulness and believe all adulterers should be severely chastened.
The result of the murder investigation was satisfactory with a note at the end hinting that the living "victim" has a second chance involving her  future and love life.