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!
DO YOU LOVE BOOKS WITH BIG TWISTS? CHECK THESE OUT!
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides – SPOILER DISCUSSION
Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier – SPOILER DISCUSSION
The Wife Between Us by Sarah Pekkanen and Greer Hendricks (review with marked SPOILERS)
You Are Not Alone by Sarah Pekkanen and Green Hendricks (review with marked SPOILERS)
The Whisper Network by Chandler Baker (review with marked SPOILERS)
Count My Lies by Sophie Stava (review with marked SPOILERS)
Ok here’s my question…I feel like I need to reread it, because didn’t Leo act like his wife was still alive when he first met Piper? I feel like he said his marriage was over and she’d have to deal with it…but that wouldn’t make sense since his wife is dead. Any insight here??
I think that was just misdirection to make us think he was married to Joanna. Over lunch, he tells Piper”there will always be a place in my heart for her, but I know I have to move forward” and that Piper is his destiny (ugh!) We think “her” means Joanna but it actually means Olivia. In retrospect, that makes sense to me.
I just read this book and just HAVE to chime in. So.. I think Piper wasn’t responsible for Ethan’s death, but was for Matthew and Mia’s. Aside from the last sentence in the book about having to start all over again if THIS perfect family doesn’t work out, it is mentioned one more time from Piper’s thoughts that Matthew making Mia a priority over her was why they had both perished. It is also important to keep in mind that Piper’s chapters were not from Joanna’s perspective, so these could not be manipulated. Even if Joanna obviously suffered from some kind of attachment disorder or mental illness, I don’t feel she was wrong about Piper. There are still a bunch of red flags, and who knows what would have happened if Joanna had not shown herself on the ski trip or if Stella had ultimately never warmed up to her?
Shelby! This is a great point. Agree that Joanna did have issues, but Piper DEFINITELY did too.
Shelby, your comment here is exactly how I feel about the book. Piper was in love with Ethan, and she mourns him on the anniversary of this death. Her thought memories of Matthew all led me to believe she either killed or let Matthew and Mia die. If Steli hadn’t come around, I think at least he would have been next–Piper simply would have amped up whatever was in those smoothies. Different vitamins for different children. ptffff…..
Loved the book, couldn’t put it down but can not figure out if Piper really changed her selfish self and became the perfect mom or was it a hoax? The last line had me question everything. Frustrating. Did she kill her other husbands and a child? Was she making her stepson sick? Is she really going to stay with this family or will she move on if a better opportunity presents itself? Absolutely love the twists and turns but need a better sense of closure. There definitely needs to be a sequel and I will be first in line to buy it!
Agree!! I wish this were clearer, but I guess this is one of these books written to spark debate!
This book left me so surprised and wanting more.
Hi Mindy!
That twist was crazy, right?
I have some suggestions of similar books you might enjoy (if you have read them, I will also link to my spoiler post):
1. The Wife Between Us – my review
2. The Silent Patient – My Silent Patient Review AND My Silent Patient Spoiler post
3. If you are up for a book that’s a little darker, this just came out and has two big twists that I didn’t see coming at all.
My Review of The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard
My Spoiler Post for The Trap by Catherine Ryan Howard
I was disappointed in the ending as well. I thought for sure that Piper was poisoning the little boy and that she planned to push him off the cliff and JoAnna would save him, with Piper perhaps falling off the cliff. The author did leave it possible that Piper was that horrible by assuring us she would find another perfect family if Leo’s didn’t work out.
Hi! That is how I choose to interpret it and I think a lot of readers agree with us.
Just finished the book! My big question is- what’s the deal with Rebecca? If Joanna was supposedly the assistant that became the live-in help, what was the purpose of nanny Rebecca?
I am blanking on Rebecca but when I have a chance to check the book I will come back and give a guess….
Hi Aubrey,
First off, this is my favorite Liv Constantine. The twist surprised me so much. Unfortunately I read it several years ago and this was an older spoiler post, before I started doing character lists.
I took a look and I’m pretty sure that Rebecca was always the children’s nanny. Joanna was the assistant who thought Leo was her husband. With Joanna out of the picture, Rebecca moved back in to take care of the kids because both Leo and Piper have full time jobs.
I think Rebecca is sympathetic to Joanna and a little suspicious of Piper as well.
Just finished this book and I have so many questions. The main one is why would Piper want to wipe all memories of the dead mother and why would Leo be ok with that? Also did Piper know Joanne was the assistant all along?! As she already saw his dead wife’s images all around the house, was it not strange to her that Joanne was so close and involved with the family?
I thought Piper was just after Leo, so she’d want the kids to forget their mom. And I’m not sure if Piper knew that Joanne was the former assistant and was happy to have her out of the way now that she (Piper) was there to take over. What did you think? I was really surprised by the twist!
I didn’t like the ending when Leo picked up the phone and heard everything and that’s how it ends
Hi – is this the ending of the movie? I am watching it tonight and will report back.
EDITED: okay just finished the movie and I agree. The book was open ended as well, but that was a bit weird.
I’m guessing later this year it’ll be part 2.
I think I it’ll happen. Piper is a sneak. Evil. She was going to either harm or kill Aaron.
Slow poke Leo finally heard Pamela( Piper) tell that to Joanna when she called Pamela from prison smh 🤦♀️.
I’m going to hope for part 2.
On a scale 0-10 I’ll rate it a 7.” Adios.”
Do you mean part two book? I would have said no, but the authors just did a sequel to one of their other books, so I think it’s possible!!