Joint Review: The Widow by Fiona Barton

Author: Fiona Barton
Publisher: Berkley NAL
Date of publication: February 2016

Jean Taylor’s life was blissfully ordinary. Nice house, nice husband. Glen was all she’d ever wanted: her Prince Charming. 

Until he became that man accused, that monster on the front page. Jean was married to a man everyone thought capable of unimaginable evil.

But now Glen is dead and she’s alone for the first time, free to tell her story on her own terms.

This book was one of those slow to grow on you stories.  I kept wondering "where is it going?"  I couldn't understand what the big deal was and why did all these people care about this woman's husband dying?  Finally, about halfway through, the lights came on.  It was a really captivating story from there on out.  It was hard to decide if this marriage was a like attracting like, as in they were both crazy people, or if he drove her to become quietly out of her mind.  It seemed like he was a sociopath from the beginning but her changes were more insidious.  Either way, it was a good, creepy story.  Just the kind I like.

This was an unexpected surprise for me.  I ended up really liking the story.  The alternating points of view helped keep up the suspense and the pacing.  The reveals came just at the right time without giving away too much too soon.  What I liked most was the ending.  It was really spine chilling and creepy. I thought the writing was really good for a debut novel. Definitely a book worth checking out and definitely an author to watch!