The Pocket Wife

The Pocket Wife is a psychological thriller by Susan H. Crawford. First published in 2015, it tells the story of a woman suffering from bipolar disorder who can’t remember if she murdered someone during her last breakdown. Crawford’s debut novel, the book received lukewarm reviews from critics for its narrative style. However, psychologists have praised Crawford for her accurate depiction of bipolar disorder and memory problems. When she’s not writing, Crawford works for the Department of Technical and Adult Education in Atlanta. She’s also a member of the Atlanta Writers Club and the Village Writers.

The protagonist is Dana Catrell. She’s a middle-aged suburban housewife who lives with her husband, Peter. Peter’s a high-flying attorney who’s often away from home. Because he spends so much time at the office, he doesn’t notice Dana’s deteriorating condition. She suffers from bipolar disorder, and it’s only getting worse now that their son’s moved to college.

Dana moves between bleak depression and manic euphoria, and it’s impossible to predict how she’ll feel on any given day. Her closest companion is her neighbour, Celia. She tells Celia that Peter treats her like a “pocket wife,” or someone he can put away and pretend doesn’t exist for a while. Celia understands Dana’s mental health problems and is always willing to listen when Dana needs to talk.



One day, Dana tells Celia that she thinks Peter’s cheating on her. He’s always leaving the room to talk on the phone, and he finds excuses to get out of the house. Celia checks that Dana’s still taking her medication and seeing a psychologist, because she thinks it’s best that Dana talks over her fears with a professional. Dana reassures Celia that she still sees her psychologist, although she’s often off her medication. She turns to alcohol instead.

Celia also enjoys drinking, and she offers Dana wine. The pair spend the afternoon drinking and chatting, and Dana’s soon drunk. Celia tries to show her a photograph on her phone, but Dana passes out before she can make sense of it. When she wakes up again in her own house, she discovers that Celia’s been murdered.

Worryingly, Dana’s the last person to see Celia alive—or so she thinks. She obsessively tries to piece her memories back together, but it’s impossible. She’s worried that because she has a key to Celia’s house, she somehow went back over there and killed Celia. She can’t remember much of where she’s been at all, and she’s terrified.



With no other clues, Dana suspects the photograph Celia wanted to show her has something to do with her death. She can’t confide in Peter because she doesn’t trust him anymore. She doesn’t know who she can rely on, and she decides to conduct her own investigation with the help of the lead detective Jack Moss.

Moss has his own marital problems, and this murder case distracts him from his homelife. When he obtains prints from the crime scene, he thinks he’s cracked the case. What he doesn’t expect is for the prints to belong to his son, Kyle. Because Dana doesn’t want to admit that she can’t remember anything and Moss tries to hide who the prints belong to, the case gets colder. To make matters worse, prosecutor Lenora White is pushing Moss for a quick arrest.

One day, Dana discovers Celia’s number stored on Peter’s phone. This worries Dana because, according to Peter, he only knows Celia in passing. According to his phone records, he’s called her many times. Now, Dana’s convinced that Peter’s hiding something—especially when she looks again later and the number’s missing.



At this point, Dana remembers who was in the picture on Celia’s phone. It was Peter and another woman. She manages to get Celia’s phone, but the picture has been deleted. Dana’s terrified that she’s imagining everything, and she’s sure she’s going crazy. Still, when she falls into a manic state, she’s determined to use her sharpened, quickened senses to uncover the truth.

Moss learns that Celia taught GED, and that Kyle was one of her students. He’s sure this means there’s a rational explanation for his son’s prints being on her car and at the scene. Still, it doesn’t explain who’s responsible for killing Celia, and Lenora puts more pressure on Moss to wrap up the case every day.

Meanwhile, evidence arises that puts Lenora at the crime scene. At first, Moss passes this off as meaningless—perhaps she visited the scene as part of her investigation. However, with no suspects other than Kyle, who Moss believes is innocent, he wonders if Lenora is as innocent as she seems.



Moss confronts Lenora with the forensic evidence that places her at the crime scene on the day of the murder. Lenora admits that she killed Celia, which shocks the entire neighborhood. An ambitious young woman, Lenora hoped solving a case like this would ensure she rose up the ranks. She didn’t expect to get caught.

In the end, Dana accepts that she needs more help with her illness and that her marriage with Peter isn’t working out.