I will most definitely be picking this one up! Just from the excerpt, it is very interesting and grabbed me right from the beginning!!

The excerpt was enough for me to know that I want to know what happened! Abbott really dives right into the thrill from the start. In just the first three chapters we have 5 characters with a ton to uncover. Really wish I could have kept reading this one! Excited for more!

Two men dead, and wives thinking they are going to be.

20 books into it and JA is still writing with true cursive curves. Not the normal shtick, so don't stop too soon.

Great book

The copy I received was quite messy and needs some serious formatting which really detracted from the story. Otherwise it was quite riveting and enjoyable. I look forward to more.

This book was great! I highly recommend it. It was a non stop page turner! For sure will read more by this author!

I am certainly intrigued as to what happens next in this thriller that starts right off the bat with murder. The writing was very awkward and choppy at times, but I got used to it by the end of the third chapter and will definitely be reading the rest of the book once it comes in from my library!

Thanks to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the except of An Ambush of Widows by Jeff Abbott.

Awww heck. This was an EXCERPT of the book. I was disappointed when after chapter 3 it ended. The three chapters sure made me want more of this book. I will get it when it becomes available.

Did you know that a grouping of widows is called an ambush? You do know. The only thing that Kirsten and Flora have in common is that their husbands were murdered. Together.

This story starts off with a bang and has a ton of potential. Very excited to read this one!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

I requested a copy of this through NetGalley unaware that it wasn't the book but the excerpt that was being available. Nevertheless the excerpt was intriguing and have successfully piqued my interest in the book. I am definitely intending to read the book now.

The excerpt seems very intriguing... I didn't realize it was only three chapters but I looking forward to reading the entire book!
thanks NetGalley.

This excerpt was sent to me by Netgalley on Kindle for review…intrigue…mystery…characters who are somewhat likeable and others not…it is all in there…can’t wait to read the rest…

This excerpt is the first three chapters. An intriguing start to a new mystery thriller. One I'm sure to pick up and finish. I've enjoyed other books by this author, so I'm looking forward to this novel.

When Henry doesn’t return from a business trip, his wife, Kirsten, panics—and then gets an anonymous phone call: “Your husband is dead in Austin.”

Kirsten North is unable to fathom that her husband is not where he was supposed to be. She is shocked to receive a call from her husband’s cell phone, thinking it is a prank.
“Your husband has been killed. In Austin. Texas...He was shot.” Deciding she needs to act now, she books the first flight out of New Orleans to Austin after checking the news. She finds that another person is found dead, with seemingly an unidentified person, who could be her husband.

Flora Zhang is struggling after her husband, Adam’s, death. Adam’s body was found next to Henry’s, but what's intriguing is why their body is found together.

There is also a hitman in this story, someone coming after Kristen to make it seem like a suicide!

Being the biggest fan of Mystery and Thriller, I was immediately drawn into the synopsis and the cover of this book. This was also my introduction to author Jeff Abbott, and it certainly will not be the last. I was hooked from the first sentence, and it was difficult to put down the book till the excerpt was over. Since I only received the excerpt, I'm basing my rating on the 3 chapters I've read, and I already know I'll definitely be purchasing the book and continue to read it.

4/5 ⭐

“In this psychological thriller from a bestselling author, two seemingly unconnected businessmen are found murdered in an abandoned warehouse, leaving their two widows desperately seeking answers—both with secrets of their own.”

I only read the excerpt for this and I. Want. More.
From the very first page author Jeff Abbott reals you in with murder and lies. Then we immediately get the killers perspective and as the audience, we know some truths, but I’m dying to know them all.

This was a great snippet of what I’m sure is going to be an even better book.

Two woo man, newly widowed are thrown together, after both their husbands have been murdered. Henry North, is in financial trouble and hasn’t told his wife.. Adam Zhang is a wealthy entrepreneur, who seems to have it all.. Both men end up, killed in the same warehouse. A homeless man finds him and seems to be the first suspect.. But things aren’t always the way they seem. Kristin gets a call that her husband is dead, in Austin and shows up at nearly the same time as the police.. Who called her? Is she involved?
She won’t rest until she finds her husband’s killer..-and becomes quite a menace to investigators. Flora Zhang, is the widow of Adam.. She seems to have it all.. a new baby.. a beautiful home.. money isn’t a problem.. and yet did she have a happy marriage? Adam’s cousin, business partner and Kristin’s brother, all throw a wrench into the investigation.. this was a good old fashion who done it? I found myself reading late into the night to see how this would end.. The author did a great job, with this story and the writing was excellent..

I got the excerpt from NetGalley and liked it so well that I got the book and read it. I loved this one! The twists, the turns, the mystery, the suspense all worked for me! There are two women, Kirsten and Flora, whose husbands were both murdered at the same time and place. The women don't live near each other and don't know each other, and they sure don't trust each other. They both want to find out who murdered they husbands and why, so they end up investigating together with some help. But as the plot thickens, it really thickens.

There is Zach who works for an organized crime family/organization and is Kirsten's foster brother. Then there is Flora's deceased husband's partner in business. Accusations fly all over the place and I don't want to give anything away. The very last line in the story gave me the chills and made me hope for a second book.

Kirsten and Flora will make women proud to be a female!

Published by Grand Central Publishing on July 6, 2021

The plot of An Ambush of Widows is about 70% believable. That’s probably average for modern crime novels. In one scene, the driver of a moving car tries to shoot a character who is standing inside a restaurant. The shooter just isn’t the kind of person who would be stupid enough to think that (a) the shooting will be successful or (b) the driver of a vehicle in urban traffic is likely to avoid the police after attempting an assassination. More than a few relationships between characters, some of which are kept secret, are difficult to believe. Some of those are too coincidental to be credible. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the story and that’s what counts.

The premise seems simple. A woman in New Orleans gets a call from her husband’s cellphone. The caller advises the woman that her husband has been killed in Austin. Who called her and why? Who killed her husband and why? The woman, Kirsten North, suspects the call is a prank because her husband Henry is in New York. When she can’t reach Henry, she looks at the news in Austin and discovers that there were, in fact, two recent murders in the same Austin warehouse. One of the victims is unidentified. Kirsten immediately flies to Austin to investigate. Most rational wives would call the police before booking the flight on the theory that the police should know about the call immediately. Kirsten’s failure to do so creates the yet another credibility issue.

Henry is, if fact, one of the murder victims. Henry owns a small computer security business. The other victim is Adam Zhang, a wealthy partner in an investment group that develops high tech businesses. Kirsten knows of no connection between the two men. Neither does Flora Zhang, Adam’s wife. Kirsten decides to ferret out that connection with the help of her former foster brother, Zach Couvillon.

The seemingly simple plot will eventually invite the reader to make charts and diagrams as it becomes more complex. Keeping track of the various ways in which characters are connected to each other, often unknowingly, is something of a chore, but that’s not unusual in novels of this nature.

Kirsten’s backstory as a foster child occupies a good chunk of the novel and adds to its complexity. Suffice it to say that her foster dad was not the nice guy Kirsten believed him to be. Kirsten’s teen years include a dramatic episode involving Zach, her foster parents, and Henry (who was her neighbor at that point). The drama eventually shapes the events that follow, although Kirsten doesn’t understand all of the ways in which that will be true.

All of those characters and others — from Adam’s live-in cousin to the incredibly polite homeless man who finds the bodies — play a role and could be murder suspects. Planted evidence adds to the threat that an innocent person will be blamed. The police suspect Kirsten or Flora because the spouse is always guilty, but the reader knows that Kirsten was in New Orleans and couldn’t have killed Henry. Everyone else is fair game. The reveal again tested my willingness to suspend disbelief, but Jeff Abbott doesn’t cross the line between implausibility and impossibility.

As Kirsten plays sleuth, she sneaks around and unearths clues with unlikely success. Those scenes create a bit of tension, but the action only creates a true sense of danger near the novel’s end. Also near the end, a character steals a computer from a house filled with security guards with no explanation of how he accomplished that feat. I felt a bit cheated by that.

While Kirsten benefits from the greatest degree of character development, a contract killer who becomes a key character spends much of his time worrying about getting home in time to be with his wife as she gives birth. I enjoyed the incongruity of an apparent sociopath’s concern about being a good husband. Zach, on the other hand, could have used a bit more character development, given his importance to the story.

The plot is unnecessarily convoluted and depends too much on coincidental or secret relationships. Still, the story held my interest until the action ended. The last several pages are devoted to an expository explanation of how all the loose ends tie together. Some of that seemed a bit contrived. Fortunately, the fun of trying to puzzle out the story’s various mysteries outweighs the novel’s flaws. And the very last chapter, a short one, contains an out of the blue surprise that overcame any reservations I had about the story’s weaknesses.

RECOMMENDED

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wow, amazing excerpt. I can't wait to read the full novel! Thank you NetGalley for the excerpt. 🙌🏻

""ARC Via NetGalley**

I cannot wait to get the full version Of this book!!! I’m seeing some amazing reviews on bookstagram.

Henry North is a down-on-his-luck cybersecurity expert from New Orleans. Wei "Adam" Zhang is the cofounder of one of Austin's most successful venture capitalist firms. These two men didn't know each other. They had never met. Yet they died together, violently, in a place neither had any business being, leaving behind two widows.
Kirsten North is a 30-year-old consultant for the tech sector, when one day, Henry doesn't return from a business trip. Kirsten panics—and then gets an anonymous phone call: Your husband is dead in Austin. When she frantically searches for information, she finds the days-old news about the murdered millionaire and the unknown man found with him..
Waiting for full manuscript to be approved. I loved it.