If you’ve read The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine and you want to talk about that ending, you’re in the right place. Join the Spoiler Discussion for the Wife Stalker with the ending explained. NEWLY UPDATED with thoughts on the 2025 Lifetime TV movie based The Wife Stalker!
Table of Contents for my Spoiler Discussion for the Wife Stalker
- First off, you can check out (and buy) The Wife Stalker book online here.
- The Lifetime TV movie based on the book premiered on March 29, 2025!
Quick Plot Summary of the Wife Stalker (book)
The Wife Stalker Ending Explained (book and movie)
Did Joanna Kill Olivia in The Wife Stalker?
Did Piper Kill Her Two Ex Husbands in The Wife Stalker?
Jen’s Quick Plot Summary of the Wife Stalker (book) by Liv Constantine
The movie follows the plot of the book pretty closely, but I will discuss the differences below:
- Joanna is worried about Leo. He’s distracted by his work as a lawyer. He seems not to pay attention to the children. She’s happy that he decides to take a class at the new wellness center in town, but much less happy that he seems to be getting very close with the center’s very attractive owner, Piper.
- Leo starts a relationship with Piper and basically kicks Joanna out, trying to force her to sign an agreement so he and Piper can start their new life together.
- Joanna is distraught and starts investigating Piper and her past. She finds out that Piper was married twice before and that her husbands seem to die mysteriously.
- Joanna tries to warn Leo, but he brushes her off. She tells her therapist about her concerns (in the book, she talks to her mom), but even her therapist thinks she needs to back off. But one of the children is getting ominous stomachaches from Piper’s healthy blender concoctions (smoothies in the book, green juice in the movie).
- When Joanna learns that Leo, Piper and the children are headed on a trip to Maine, Joanna follows them, determined to protect them. After Joanna confronts Piper with a gun, Piper protects the children and Joanna ends up arrested and Piper in the hospital. (In the book, the confrontation happens at Leo’s home in Atlanta.)
What are the differences between The Wife Stalker Book and Movie?
Wondering what changes were made to The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine when it was made into a Lifetime movie? Here’s what I noticed. If you have more changes, please leave them in comments!
Overall, the movie follows the plot of the book pretty closely, with a few small timeline changes
- The location of the story was moved from Westport, CT (book) to Atlanta, GA (movIe). According to the director, Elisabeth Rohm, the movie was filmed in Atlanta in early 2025.
- Leo Drakos’s Greek heritage was changed. Leo is now Leo Drake. Stelli is now named Aaron.
- Celeste, a therapist to whom Joanna pours her heart out, is not part of the story.
- In the movie, the final confrontation between Joanna and Piper takes place in the Drake home, not at Leo’s Maine home (the site of Olivia’s death in the book)
- The ending of the movie was slightly changed (see below!)
What was the ending of the Wife Stalker? Spoilers Ahead!
Main Spoiler: Joanna was NOT Leo’s loyal wife at all!!
WHOA. I did NOT see that coming!! One of the reasons I loved this book was that twist, which totally surprised me.
- Joanna was actually Leo’s personal assistant. She had a huge crush on him and was helping him with the kids after Leo’s wife Olivia took her own life after a struggle with depression.
And, okay, Joanna was a little possessive of Leo and the kids
- Leo either didn’t realize how disturbed Joanna was, or maybe just ignored the signs because he was grieving his wife and she was so helpful with the household and the children.
Then he fell under Piper’s spell. And the trouble started…
- When Joanna started meddling in Leo’s relationship with Piper, he fired her.
But Joanna started researching Piper and became convinced that she killed her two ex-husbands and her step-daughter.
- Concerned about the safety of Leo’s children, and she lost it completely, attacking Piper and ending up in jail.
The BIG change between the book and the movie:
At the very end of the movie, there’s a conversation between Piper and Joanna, who calls Piper from prison. (Was she calling Piper, or just Leo’s landline??)
Piper gloats and tells a furious Joanna, “I won.” (Joanna does not take this well.)
BUT Leo has picked up the extension and listens to the entire conversation with a horrified expression.
Your Questions (and mine) About The Wife Stalker
Were these questions answered to your satisfaction? Do you agree with my take? Talk to me in comments!
Did Joanna kill Leo’s wife Olivia in the Wife Stalker?
In the book, only Evie knows for sure.
Toward the end of the book, Leo’s daughter Evie says that she saw Joanna push Olivia to her death from a hiking trail.
Joanna’s take was that that Olivia was depressed and wanted to commit suicide and that Joanna just helped her along. Okay, Joanna! Joanna felt she’d be a better mother to the children than Olivia.
In the movie, the answer seems like yes.
A flashback shows Joanna finding a depressed Olivia taking a bath after chasing down some pills with wine. Joanna pushes Olivia under the water and Evie sees it all. Creepy!
Did Piper kill her two ex-husbands and step-daughter in the Wife Stalker?
Joanna is absolutely convinced that Piper (formerly Pamela) did.
- Both the book and movie are unclear, but let’s be honest, the evidence is not great for Piper.
- Ethan, Pamela’s first husband, died in a hiking accident. (In the book, Ethan is called Eric and is in a coma.)
- In the book, Ethan got his trust fund the week he died. How convenient!
- Ava, the ex-wife of Matthew and mother of Mia, is convinced that Piper somehow killed them in a sailing accident. Both Matthew and Mia were strong swimmers and Piper was a sailing instructor.
- Ava is convinced that Piper (Pamela) sabotaged the boat and killed them both after Matthew put Pamela in his will (again, very convenient!)
- At one point in the book, Piper thinks “If Matthew hadn’t let Mia get her way all the time, maybe they’d still both be alive.” So it’s possible that Piper intended to kill Mia, but Matthew tried to save her and died in the process.
Why did Joanna lie to her therapist, Celeste?
(Celeste in not in the Lifetime movie)
In the book, Joanne was pouring her heart out to her therapist Celeste about the evil witch Piper who stole her loving husband, Leo. She tells Celeste that Leo dumped her and tried to bribe her to sign divorce papers.
The backstory on Celeste: Celeste’s mother had an affair with Joanna’s father, and the two are half-sisters.
Joanna feels that Celeste’s mom took Joanna’s father away from the family.
To punish Celeste, Joanna leaked confidential information from Celeste’s computer about her patients, framing her for the leak.
In the book, Celeste is there to help fool us, as she listens to Joanna’s delusions about her “husband” Leo. But the movie pulled if off! Because I knew the ending from reading the book, I noticed that Joanna never called Leo “my husband.”
Were you fooled?
What Did You Think of the Wife Stalker?
Did you expect those revelations about Joanna? It was really bothering me that Leo was so quick to toss Joanna to the curb and replace her with Piper … or so I thought.
The fact that Joanna was his assistant and not his wife makes a lot of sense. It also makes sense of why Leo was so depressed – it wasn’t work, it was his wife’s death.
While the BIG twist in The Wife Stalker did surprise me, I also felt that a few things weren’t completely explained.
My Remaining Questions About The Wife Stalker
Did Piper kill her two ex-husbands, or not?
Was she that unlucky or is she a murderer? Was Piper really putting weird stuff in those smoothies (“pukie juice” in the movie) or does Stelli (Aaron in the movie) just have a sensitive stomach?
I don’t feel like these questions were adequately answered. Piper’s ex-husbands’ families certainly seemed to think she was a murderer, unless that was just Joanna’s delusions.
At the VERY end of the book, Piper says that she’s now found her perfect family … unless she has to start all over again.
At the end of the movie, Joanna calls Piper.
Piper says, “I won!” She doesn’t deny Joanna’s accusations that she killed her prior husbands. She seems to suggest she would have killed Aaron if he didn’t come around to liking her.
BUT in the movie, Leo is listening in on this phone call and is like ???????
What did you think of the changed ending? It doesn’t completely resolve things, but at least suggests Leo might dump Piper.
At the very least, the ending of The Wife Stalker suggests that:
- Leo has questionable taste in rebound relationships. And employees.
- Joanna had a lot of issues and was probably a murderer, but Piper probably was too.
- At the very least, Piper is a manipulative person who is willing to destroy another family if they don’t do what she wants.
- At the very least, Joanna is a woman with severe mental health issues.
The ending left me surprised for sure but also unsatisfied.
The main problem I had was that the book makes Piper SO awful and unlikeable that at the end it made me depressed to see her end up with Leo and his kids. Did anyone else feel that way?
It was harder for me to like or trust Piper OR Joanna in the movie because I’d read the book.
Join Our Discussion for the Wife Stalker!
Please tell me all your thoughts and feelings about The Wife Stalker (book or movie!) in comments!
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I agree with you on all your points. It sounds like a good book to have a sequel with Piper killing the new family. I also had an issue with the fact that she was charged for swatting the little boy on the behind which doesn’t seem very realistic to me. When I thought that she was the wife It didn’t make sense the kids thought mom was dead. I kept thinking if they had any friends at all they would know that their mom really wasn’t dead so that gave me a clue that she must not of been their mother.
Ooh that is a great point. Would love a book where Piper gets justice!!!
I like that idea too since this one left me so-ooo frustrated.
So I thought that when I was reading it, but after the fact I think it was a “clue” to us that Joana wasn’t the actual mom! Not only did she hit a kid that wasn’t hers but she more or less kidnapped them if I remember correctly. I was thinking the same regarding how Loe treated Joana through their divorce, it seemed totally unfair to Joana until I got to the end 🙃
Towards the very end of the book, Joanna says to Leo, “You should come back to me” and he says, “I was never with you”. That was my first clue! So much left unexplained with Piper – the deaths, the smoothies, wanting to sweep the house of memories of their (actually) dead mother!
Ooh, you’re good! And yes please don’t leave those poor kids with evil Piper!!!!
I can’t get over the ending either! I mean, when we heard Piper’s point of view Throughout the story, it’s clear she doesn’t care for kids and sees them as in the way. I believe she really did have something to do with her previous husbands’ and step-daughter’s deaths. At one point in the book she thinks that if the other step-daughter- Mia?- hadn’t always gotten her way, they might still be alive. I don’t like
that she ended up with the family at the end either.
The twist I didn’t see coming was that Celeste was the daughter her dad left Joanna’s mom for. That’s some crazy stuff!
Agree. I think that Piper is shady. And yes, the twist with Celeste was also surprising. And not really her fault either.
Thank you for raising all of my same questions! I was loving the book. Early on I recognized there was going to be more to it than “husband leaves wife for younger woman who isn’t what she seems” BUT – the ending to me implies that Piper WAS evil – two unexplained dead husbands whose money she benefited from. Then the smoothies – was she trying to harm the son all along – what happened the her second husband and his daughter? It almost was set up for a sequel. I don’t know, I have mixed feelings not knowing.
YES! I thought it was weird that Piper ended up all happy-for-now with her new family. I’d have preferred an ending where both Joanna and Piper ended up having to pay for what they had done. Those poor kids – they have been through enough lol
i can’t put the book down once i started it bc i was so curious about the deaths of Piper’s previous husbands & I was so intrigued by the point of views of piper & Joanna which made me kept guessing all the way. The ending was such a thrilling twist I never expected! There were many things I can’t decipher in the story, like how can Leo fall in love so fast with Piper with just a session in the Center when he has a loving wife ‘Joanna’, Leo claiming to Piper that he still loved his wife & there’ll be always a place in his heart for her as he has to move forward sounds kinda perplexing too. Not to mention, why would a mother get a protective order just by swatting her child? it just doesn’t ring a bell to me but now it kinda does as Joanna isn’t their mother, but an assistant fgs. Furthermore, how can Leo’s parents or family be so nonchalant about Leo’s remarriage & infidelity when they came for the thanksgiving invitation? After re-reading the book with a new perspective, it all made sense! As you had mentioned, this book was good but the ending left me with many unanswered questions. The book made me skeptical & doubt Piper as the murderer or perhaps the main cause of the previous husbands and Mia’s death, then suddenly she’s the loving mother whom will protect Stelli from the gunshot. Also, I’m sure Piper did add some dissolving pills in the green smoothies hence Stelli kept having stomachaches & from Piper’s point of view, she doesn’t seem to care for Stelli that much since he has a petulant demeanour similar time Mia’s. In addition, I don’t think Piper’s ex-husbands died mysteriously as it’s too much of a coincidence & I doubt it’s Joanna’s delusions either as she even went to meet Ava, Ethan’s family & Piper’s mother. In my opinion, Piper just wanted a new man as somewhere in the middle of the book, she did mentioned that she never expected she’ll encounter a man with kids AGAIN. Which means in the first place, she didn’t want to be a stepmother at all but she has no alternatives but to be if she wanna be Leo’s wife. Towards the end of the book, I thought I missed a character called Olivia & I was bewildered when Leo said his wife had passed away which is the cause of his depression too. I just can’t get over the ending of Piper having a perfect happy family when she just seems so menacing & repugnant as I’ve been seeing her as the third party for infidelity/adultery. The revelation with Celeste didn’t shock me as much as Olivia’s bc I kinda see it coming. I had always been guessing that Celeste might have something to do with Joanna father’s new family. Oops I think I wrote too much oh god. Nonetheless, thanks for reviewing this book & for raising my questions as well, it’s really insightful and comprehensive! See you around x
Yes, Piper is menacing and repugnant and it really bothered me to see her get what she wanted.
PS Love the long comment!!!
Me too. It left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. And by the way when I was reading the ending, I was drinking a smoothie.
That is too funny!
Did we ever get closure on if Piper was poisoning Stelli? There were so many times that she had a smoothie specifically for Stelli and she mentioned to Leo she could give him something to help with his behavior. I was thinking maybe she thought he had ADHD and was giving him something to calm him but I know she was only into all natural stuff. I feel like I missed this part!
I don’t think that was ever resolved! The smoothies and the stomachaches he had after drinking them were super-suspicious!
I have a BIG problem with the trip to Maine. Wouldn’t Leo say that it would be too traumatic for them to return to Maine so soon because, Olivia died there. Leo would also when he told Piper how Olivia died would have mentioned the cabin so No way would Leo who seem like a devoted Dad make them go to the cabin where their mom had died.
Yikes! This one had me wound up! So I was starting to sense a twist coming when they switched the trip to Maine. But I was still surprised that Joanna wasn’t their mother and that she was Celeste’s stepsister. Joanna’s delusions explained so much. The kids never called her mom. Leo’s heartless detachment even before falling for Piper and his total lack of shame totally fits. It also explais they thought they could get away with telling the kids their mother was dead without them finding out. Also why even a touch on the arm or the his chest was labeled as “intimacy”I will enjoy giving it a reread to see how it holds up knowing the twist.
Obviously, it was intentionally written open for debate as to if Piper was a murderer. I’m actually leaning toward no. She remembers what happened to Ethan and it makes sense. If she really had murdered him, I don’t think she would be so pushy about getting Stelli to go hiking. (That was clearly just to build the suspense since it turns out she had no intention of murdering Stelli.)
I think a bit about Mia being alive if she didn’t insist on her way was referring to the fact that they were not wearing life jackets when they drowned. Mia probably insisted that she was fine without it and Matthew relented. Again it feels like a clever and intentional misdirect.
The reader is set up to dislike Piper, and she clearly has some pretty selfish tendencies, but I can’t see her risking her life for Stelli (who reminder her SO much of Mia) and killing Mia. She said so often that they were pretty much the same. Two nearly identical “thorns in her side” are not likely to draw such extreme opposite reactions. If she had killed Mia, why not just let Joanna kill Stelli (or try to save him with a little less gumption) and let Joanna solve her problem?
Yep, once you find out about Joanna, SO many things make sense.
Interesting Piper theory. Whether she’s a murderer or not, it was still hard for me to stop feeling bad for Joanna and stop disliking Piper. I couldn’t do it!!
Let us know if you find anything new in your re-read!
I kept thinking throughout the book, something doesn’t add up. First of all, the wife would get half of the house and more. I knew when she asked about what school the therapist went to that she was “the other daughter.” What fooled me was when the little girl called her Joanna and I had to stop and then re-read. While I loved the book up to the last three chapters, I disliked Piper so much throughout the book that the thought that she would save Steti didn’t add up especially since it appeared she was poisoning him. This is the kind of book where the holes at the end ruined the entire book for me. The characters except for Joana, Mia and also Rebecca were totally unlikeable, Piper being a mom to the kids makes no sense since she disliked kids. Also Piper probably killed the second husband and the daughter, Mia otherwise why did Ava blame her so. I couldn’t put it down until the last three chapters. I feel the writer sacrificed the story for that TWIST which didn’t work for me.
I loved the whole book and the twists! I think Piper definitely killed the others and is planning to kill Leo and family if that does not work out!
Ha! omg you are giving me chills!
I don’t think that she killed Ethan because from her perspective itvwas explained how he died. These are things she was thinking, not sharing with some else.
When it comes to Matthew and Mia, it was more open ended. Same with whether she was poisoning Stelli. She thought that he was faking the sore throat but she didn’t necessarily think it about the stomachaches. I think the authors made it purposefully open ended. But I think the authors created her with the intention that she did murder Matthew and Mia, and that she poisoned Stelli.
The whole time I was reading this book, what kept me so interested and going, was the hopeful fall of Piper at the end. The whole time I was pissed off at Leo for so easily being able to leave his wife and change up his children’s life for a woman he had barely just met. I really felt for Joanna, but there were instances where I did catch the crazy vibe when she would talk to the therapist. A lot of details in the book made me so angry, Leo moving Joanna stuff out when she went to visit her mother, saying that she can visit the kids when she wants to and then later on getting a restraining order against her. When I thought Joanna was the mother, I was livid reading all of it. That being said Joanna is a crazy murderer. On to Piper, I cant say exactly that she might have been the murder for her past marriages, but when she would recall the memories there were details that could lead to her being the murderer, even if she wasn’t the murderer, she was a horrible person. When she first met Leo, she saw the wedding ring and still decided to pursue him, she also had horrible thoughts and kept trying to push the real mother out of the house and the children’s thoughts. I didn’t like either characters and wish that Leo ended up with neither of them.
Same! I was waiting for Piper to get what she deserved. While I was definitely surprised that Joanna was not Leo’s wife but a nanny with mental health issues, I also really felt for her. I didn’t like the ending at all!