3.5 stars rounded up to 4

The day my husband, Michael, stepped in front of a lorry after being questioned by the police, my world fell apart. He was devoted to me and our six year old daughter. But they'd connected him to the disappearance of a young mother from our tiny village. Now I stand at Michael's funeral, clutching my little girls hand, with tears in my eyes as I insist to our friends that he died an innocent man. Yet the questions have started, and nothing I say will stop them digging for the truth.

Kate, her husband Michael and their daughter Tansy lice in a close-knit village. But when Suzy moves into the village with her young son Aleks, she wants everyone to know all about her life in Poland. Suzy disappears on bonfire night leaving her son behind. But Suzy wasn't the first person to go missing from the village and suddenly Michael is under suspicion.

Filled with strong female characters, suspense and twists, but the pace is slow. At times it's also bogged down with detail. It's told from multiple perspectives. A story of relationships and personal dilemmas.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #Bookouture and the author #KLSlater for my ARC of #TheWidow in exchange for an honest review.

The Widow is a gripping and tense thriller that had me hooked from the very first page. This book was full of twists and turns and kept me guessing until the very end, which I absolutely love in a book. KL Slater is one of my absolute favourite authors and I m already looking forward to her next book.

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. Her husband is hiding a secret - she can tell he is acting a little off lately. Then one day he dies. But he doesn’t just die. He steps in front of a truck. It’s suicide. Then the rumors of what he has done start. And people start coming after her and her daughter. What will she do and how far will she go to protect her family and her late husbands name. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

When you've been married to someone for a long time and had a happy marriage with them, you can feel that you know all of the secrets and everything about them. But what if they suddenly started acting strangely and rumours were appearing about something that they might have done. Before you get a chance to get to the bottom of what's going on, they die. Can you still trust that the person you thought you knew was the same? That everything you believed about them is true? That's what Kate faces.
The widow is full of twists and turns that will leave you guessing until the end. The disappearance of a young polish woman is just the start of the story with plenty more to come out as old secrets start to be uncovered. The whole book is told from multiple points of view, which helps to layer the story as we learn more.
There are heaps of twists in this book. I will admit I had guessed some, but certainly not all by the time I got to the end. This is a gripping read that will have you thinking you've got it solved one minute and then change your mind a second later. Good stuff!
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

Kate and Michael Shaw along with their six year old daughter Tansy lived in the tiny picture box village of Lynwick, the type of place where you couldn't sneeze without the news spreading faster than a wildfire. Michael was the property and land manager at Wadebridge estate which was situated on the outskirts of the village and owned by elderly widow Irene Wadebridge and Kate was a temporary teaching assistant at the village school. The village was a tight knit community and the family lead a happy life but their idyllic world was suddenly turned into a living nightmare when a young mum who lived in one of the cottages on the Wadebridge estate mysteriously disappeared. The police suspected that Michael was involved in the young woman's disappearance and as the investigation progressed even Kate began to have doubts about her husband's innocence. Then one evening after he had just left the police station, tragedy struck and Michael was killed leaving Kate with unanswered questions. Whilst struggling with her grief and trying to do what she thought was best to protect her innocent daughter, Kate finds herself the victim of vicious gossip and conjecture and ostracized by the people who were once so warm and friendly. Had Michael been hiding his true nature behind the mask of a devoted husband and loving father? There is more than one secret hiding within the pages of this gripping thriller, secrets that are both shocking and unexpected and have tree like roots that stretch back into the not too distant past.

The story which occasionally slips back in and and is set in both the UK and Poland is voiced from the perspectives of a number of characters including Kate, Irene and DI Helena Price who is in charge of the investigation into the young woman's disappearance and her colleague DS Brewster. As the story unfolded, I had conflicting about Kate and I struggled to understand why she remained friends with Donna. I know Donna had a tragic backstory and understand that it would have had a detrimental and lasting effect on her as a adult but I honestly thought that she was a very irritating, judgemental and untrustworthy individual. I loved the interactions between the two detectives and how Brewster had a element of Colombo about his character, he might of had a scruffy appearance but he was actually very intelligent. And,as for Irene and her mysterious box,well, let's just say that there was definitely more to that character than met the eye. The character I felt the most sympathy for was Aleks who was the young son of the missing young woman. Not only did he have to cope with not knowing where his mother was but also with being left alone in a strange country with virtual strangers most of whom only appeared to want to offload him as quickly as possible into the hands of social services. The young boy was Polish and throughout the story,the author had included interesting facts and information about the cultural differences between Poland and the UK.

The story included chapters that were set in the past and narrated from the perspective of a Polish man called Jakub who had made the journey over to the UK to make a better life for himself and then mysteriously disappeared. How did his story fit into the events that were unfolding in Kate's life?

K.L.Slater is a very talented author and most definitely one of the queens of the psychological thriller genre. Her books are always extremely well written,addictive reads that draw the reader into her character's fictional world from the first page, keep you captivated and frantically turning the pages. Her plots of her stories cover a wide range of relatable issues and her character's are always well rounded and realistic. I love this author's unputdownable books and The Widow was no exception. A incredible read and very very highly recommended.

Another great book from KL Slater.
Kate is happily married to Michael and is left heartbroken after a tragic accident.
We learn what has been happening before the accident and it seems Michael was hiding things from Kate.
Kate’s closest friend, Donna, is having problems with her husband, Paul, but neither of them could have guessed what he was really up to.
With Suzy missing and another Polish man disappearing without a trace, the Police focus their investigation on Michael and the farm where he worked.
I loved the direction the story took after the dig at the farm and it was good to see a certain character get what was coming to them.
This is a great domestic thriller with plenty of twists and turns to pull you in.
A great read.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of The Widow by K.L. Slater. I enjoyed this book as I have others of this author. There were lots of twists and turns in this story of a small village where Kate and Michael live with their 6 year old daughter. This book kept me guessing and I love that. Entertaining and I would recommend this book.

I love KL Slater, she's definitely one of my favourite author of this genre.

This book didn't disappoint at all, I found myself reading through the night, not able to close my kindle, until the early hour simply because I needed to know how the story was going to evolve!

An added bonus in this story, in my opinion, is the complexity and depth of the characters, it's really hard not to feel what they are feeling.

Absolutely recommended!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bookouture..... I freaking love you!
Thank You! For this outstanding new novel from the master of suspense!

Happy Pub Day!

Mini Review
K.L. Slater does the damn thing again!
This was a story that grabbed me by the throat from the get go and didn't let go.
Every book I’ve read of hers have been thrilling, chilling and exciting right from start to finish.
A sharp psychological thriller!
As the story unfolds, Slater's clever writing had me leaning first one way and then another, but I had no idea exactly where it was all headed until the last few pages.
Riveting and masterfully told.
A story of family, lies and secrets.
KL Slater has absolutely smashed it again!
I devoured this book as it twisted and turned, led me to false conclusions and even shocked me!
Awesome characters, amazing storyline, tense pacing and an ending that left me saying "wow".
The Widow was absolutely a five star read.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This was a slightly different read to what I was expecting as the blurb only covers a small part of the story. Instead I found myself reading two parallel tales of two very different men and the women in their lives. One being Michael and the other being a young Polish man called Jakub and the lengths that those women will go to.

In turn it has you pondering loyalty and whether you would put that before doing what you know is right. How far are we willing to go for those we love? Husbands and children being prioritised over the truth.

I really liked the inclusion of the Polish characters, it was an eye opener to see the choices they make on starting a new life in a different country and the burdens that entails. How difficult it is for a young child to leave a place they know as home and all their friends to find themselves viewed as sullen and shunned by their peers.

As for the crime/thriller element I questioned Michael’s guilt throughout but something kept making me think was that because I liked Kate and wanted him to be innocent. He was also written as such a warm and loving family man that I needed that to be true and I was hoping her best friend’s husband was the guilty culprit instead. He was a man that deserved being found guilty, even if it was just for the crime of being a letch and a slimeball.

Another good book from KL Slater with a conclusion that wrapped everything up but maybe not as you are expecting.

How do you prove someone is innocent when they are dead?

Michael was being accused of being involved in the disappearance of a young woman. This wasn't this first time he was questioned about someone who disappeared from close to where he worked.

He's been questioned by the police ... and condemned by the residents.

His wife is the only one who believed in him.

There are many twists and turns in this search for the truth. Some people lie .. secrets remain buried ..

and then bodies are found ...

Was he the monster everyone thought he was?

This is a well-written, compelling thriller. The plot is complex with stand-out characters. The ending was quite surprising ... and totally unexpected.

Many thanks to the author / Bookouture / Netgalley for the digital copy of this psychological thriller. Read and reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

What a great book! This starts off fast and stays strong throughout. I loved the atmosphere in this book. The author did a phenomenal job of making you feel like you were in the story. There were plot twists and turns galore. It was fast paced and suspenseful throughout. The characters were well done. A great read start to finish. Highly recommend

Intriguing and nice plot. I really love the writing style. I'll definitely read her other books as well.

Many thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley!

I love Kim Slater’s psychological thrillers as she has a knack of writing an absorbing book, placing unexpected twists in it and crafting characters who are not only believable, but ones you could see yourself hanging out with. I’d previously enjoyed The Marriage about a woman who married her son’s killer and knew that I’d be hooked and my jaw would be on the floor with Slater’s latest.

This story is set in an English country village in Nottinghamshire in 2019 with flashbacks to a city in Poland. What I loved most was that despite the seeming give away in the title, I couldn’t figure out who the particular widow was until more than 75% of the way through! Was it who I thought it was or was I being fooled? Slater’s titles always leave me digging for clues.

When three unrelated people disappear, the villagers become uneasy and doubts take root causing tense relations. Slater has highlighted what happens when family morals and loyalties clash causing people to react from a place of fear, guilt or anger. The author crafted a devoted mother and wife, Kate Shaw, who has known her husband for nearly 20 years as a loving, caring man. When he dies, the villagers want to tarnish his image and brand him as a monster. Will Kate allow her past and her concern for her daughter’s future to determine her reaction to the slander or will she continue to fight for her husband’s character?

This book encourages readers to take inventory of their beliefs and consider what they’d do in similar circumstances. I was glad for the reminder that appearances can be deceiving.

I was gifted this advance copy by KL Slater, Bookouture and NetGalley and was under no obligation to provide a review.

I really enjoyed this title. I liked the twists and turns and the writing style is nice and smooth. The story flows well and kept my attention. Thank you for the opportunity to read this title. I will be recommending this one to friends.

EXCERPT: Helena stared at the row of cottages as they approached their vehicle. They were all empty now, the only movement being yellow police tape that fluttered in the light breeze, the breadth of fields serving as a barren backdrop to their damp, dark stone and shadowy vacant windows.

She shivered and got into the passenger seat of the car. She was a pragmatic woman, who unswervingly based all her theories and assumptions on fact. But she'd bet a year's salary that something bad had happened in this place.

She felt it in the chill on her face, in the eerie silence of the land.

She could swear she felt it in her very bones.

ABOUT 'THE WIDOW': My husband was not a monster. No matter what they say…

The day my husband, Michael, stepped in front of a lorry after being questioned by the police, my world fell apart. He was devoted to me and our six-year-old daughter. But they’d connected him to the disappearance of a young mother from our tiny village.

Now I stand at Michael’s funeral, clutching my little girl’s hand, with tears in my eyes as I insist to all our friends that he died an innocent man. Yet the questions have started, and nothing I say will stop them digging for the truth.

But none of them can read the secrets in my heart, or know about the phone I found hidden in his toolbox…

I’m determined that my daughter will not remember her father as a monster. I will erase any hint of wrongdoing in this house whatever the cost.

Because to keep my daughter safe, the last thing I need is for people to start looking at me…

MY THOUGHTS: This was a fast read for me, as Slater's books mostly are. The Widow is a fast-paced story centred around two families in the small village of Lynwick, Nottinghamshire.

I love books set in small places where people mostly know or know of one another. Closed, insular communities where people care for one another. Until something goes wrong...

Full of twists and turns, lies and secrets, The Widow gripped me from the outset. Twenty-four years earlier, Donna's sister Melody went missing and was never seen again. Two years ago a Polish man went missing from the area, never to be seen nor heard from again. And now a woman from the village, a new resident, Suzy, has disappeared leaving behind her small son. Suspicion falls on Kate's husband Michael, and the villagers send Kate to Coventry.

I had no idea where Slater was taking this story. Every time I formed a theory, Slater turned it on its head - very adroitly, too! And I certainly never envisaged the outcome!

There are some wonderful characters in The Widow, all beautifully crafted and realistic. The pick of them for me were the son of the missing woman, Aleks, solitary and wise beyond his years, and the elderly Mrs Wadebridge. I don't think that I would ever play poker against her!

There are a couple of places where the story goes off the boil a little, but it wasn't enough for me to lose interest. Overall an intense and cleverly plotted read with plenty of surprises.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.2

#TheWidow #NetGalley

I: @KLSlaterAuthor @bookouture

T: @KimLSlater @Bookouture

#contemporaryfiction #crime #domesticdram #mystery

THE AUTHOR: For many years, Kim sent her work out to literary agents and collected an impressive stack of rejection slips. At the age of 40 she went back to Nottingham Trent University and now has an MA in Creative Writing.

Before graduating in 2012, she gained literary agent representation and a book deal. As Kim says, ‘it was a fairytale … at the end of a very long road!’

Kim is a full-time writer and lives in Nottinghamshire with her husband.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Bookouture via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Widow by K.L. Slater for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Kate and Michael live in a small village, they are very well known and liked, that is until a young woman called Suzy disappears and Michael is getting the blame.
Tragedy strikes when Michael is killed in an accident, now it’s up to his wife Kate to find out what really happened to Suzy and to find out if her husband had anything to do with it.
I have read all but one of K L Slater’s books so it was inevitable I would request this as soon as I saw it, she has a way of writing that keeps you gripped to the very end. The Widow was another great book.
The plot was brilliant, a few red herrings chucked in there which had me suspecting them only to be proven wrong, but I did suspect that one character wasn’t to be trusted and my gut was right about them.
Kate was a likeable character and everything and everyone was well described so I had a vivid picture of the whole village, homes and the people in it.
Another fantastic book that I would recommend!

Missing persons, possible suicide plus other unexplainable "goings on" , make up the core of this story . Kate finds her life turned upside down with the death of her beloved husband and although, at times, she is a bit annoying due to some of the things she says and does, who is to say that we might not do the same given her situation.
Another great psychological read from KL Slater along with some good twists and turns to keep you turning the pages!
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC to review.

I must confess I had already concluded what the storyline would be like and who were the main culprits but it was a pleasant surprise on the way the book managed to turn the story around and make it an enjoyable one. There are quite a numbe rof twists and plots with each character having a bit of grey in them, Michael the family man whose name gets damaged due to the circumstances leading to his death, his wife Kate, whose is burdened by her findings and believes that her dead husband could be a different person then the one she knew and the others , Donna and Paul, both having an active role in the circumstances that both family are in now.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me an copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased feedback.
4 star, definitely worth a read

Another great psychological thriller from this author. Had me hooked from the first chapter.

Kate and Michael had the perfect loving marriage, or so Kate thought. After Michael is killed by a truck driver she begins to question if she really knew him at all. Could he really have had anything to do with not just one, but two missing people? The villagers clearly believe he is guilty but can Kate look past the evidence which is mounting and protect her daughter from thinking her Daddy was a killer?

Along with the two missing people, there is also an unsolved case from 23 years ago. Could this also be connected to Michael back when he was just a teenager?

Luckily Kate has her best friend Donna for emotional support but she too is going through a difficult time with her cheating husband Paul.

Written from the point of view of several characters, past and present really made the story reveal just enough at a time to see where it was going, but then a twist, and then another. Really gripping, page turning thriller, just how I like it. I wasn’t expecting all those twists at all so well done to the author for keeping me guessing.

Many thanks to netgalley, the publishers and the author for an arc.