Review: The Widow by Fiona Barton

Title:The Widow

Author:Fiona Barton

Published:February 2016, NAL

Format:ARC E-copy, 336 pages

Source:Netgalley

For fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train, an electrifying thriller that will take you into the dark spaces that exist between a husband and a wife.

When
the police started asking questions, Jean Taylor turned into a
different woman. One who enabled her and her husband to carry on, when
more bad things began to happen…

But that woman’s husband died last week. And Jean doesn’t have to be her anymore.

There’s a lot Jean hasn’t said over the years about the crime her
husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect
wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the
anonymous harassment.

Now there’s no reason to stay quiet.
There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it
was like living with that man. She can tell them that there were
secrets. There always are in a marriage.

The truth—that’s all
anyone wants. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years
is that she can make people believe anything…

My thoughts:This is a book that I was excited to read as soon as I started hearing about it and I’m so glad I did! As a debut novel, I thought it was extremely clever and twisted – exactly how I love my psychological thrillers to be! 

From the very beginning of this book, I was hooked and found myself completely invested in this story. I had to know what was going on and while I kept making guesses as to what the ultimate truth would be, I never saw the end coming. I did have some suspicions that were partially correct, but never did I see it all playing out the way it did and that was just brilliant – this book kept me on my toes and I loved it. The characters were all so cleverly drawn so that you weren’t ever quite sure if they were being completely forthcoming or not.

What exactly does Jean know about her husband? As the story is told, some in the present and some through flashbacks, we see the power Glen held over her, the secrets he kept from her, the double live he was living. But is she really that naive? Did she blindly believe in her husband that he was doing what he said he was doing or did she know about all his dirty little secrets? Just what did she know about him?

What I absolutely loved about this book is that Fiona Barton plays with our minds with this story. She has created a novel that has us thinking one way about the characters at the start of the book and then quite possibly thinking something very different by the end. Just who is worthy of trust and who is manipulating the situation to their own advantage? Is anyone who they say they are?

I love when I can add a new author to my must-read author list and Fiona Barton is definitely going on that list.