Jean Taylor’s husband has just been run over by a bus. Yet, she seems relieved. She has tolerated a lot in a married life which revolved around her husband who had unsavory proclivities. He had also been the main suspect in a child abduction case. And now, journalist Kate Waters has bullied her way into Jean’s life for the exclusive story.

Told in multiple POVs and two timelines, this is the first of three in the journalist Kate Waters series; it is the only one I have read so far. It was a fast, engrossing read. Well written and plotted, it is a good study of obsession, perversion, enabling, and contemporary journalism.

TW: Child abduction; pornography

This was a good read. Easily drawn in and kept throughout the entire book! This was a hard one to put down!

Apparently I read this book a long time ago, but I don’t remember. My only notes were that it was not a thriller and not anything like Gone Girl or Girl on a Train. :shrug:

As this novel opens, a man has just been killed; hit by a bus and gone in an instant. Glen Taylor isn't mourned by many however. He had been the main suspect in the disappearance of two year old Bella, the toddler whose story had captured the attention of the nation. Glen had been identified as a person of interest, taken to trial but found not guilty. He and his wife had been vilified in the press, losing jobs and friends.
We are now given the story of Glen's death and Bella's abduction as seen through the eyes of three people; Jean Taylor, Glen's wife, Bob Sykes, the police inspector who still firmly believes in Glen's guilt and Kate Waters, the reporter who is determined to get Jean's story. Along the way, we are taken back and follow the police investigation from start to finish. We track the Taylor's marriage, how Jean fell in love with Glen because he was confident but later found that confidence and the controlling that came with it confining. We learn about the conflicts a reporter faces as they have to decide how far they will go to get a story. Finally, we learn the truth about Bella.

This is the first in the Kate Waters series, which has three books. The switching between viewpoints allows the story to be told in a way that hints at secrets and slowly reveals them. The reader will change their minds several times about what really happened and who was to blame. This was a debut novel and Barton has become successful since writing other stories in this same genre. This book is recommended for mystery readers.

By the middle of the book, you’re satisfactorily muddled as to who is telling the truth: Jeanie Taylor or her husband, Glen? He is a little like the male character in Sleeping with the Enemy, a perfectionist in the extreme. But that does not necessarily mean that he is guilty of kidnapping Bella, a toddler who was playing in a nearby garden and disappeared while her mother was briefly occupied within their home.

Perhaps it is Jean who kidnapped the child. Even though she is meek, and almost childlike herself, she so longs for a baby of her own that it’s conceivable she could carry off someone else’s. As the journalist who interviews her says:

She’s smarter than she makes out. Puts on her little house wifely act – you know, standing by her man – but there’s all sorts going on in her head. Difficult for her because I think she believed he was innocent at one stage, but something changed. Something changed in their relationship.

There is a slow revelation of each character’s personality and the dynamics they have with one another. I like not knowing who to believe, husband or wife. I like wondering how it will all turn out.

But, this is such a tragic book to me. To me, psychological thrillers are a fascinating genre, but not when they include small children in the plot. The Widow turned from being a compelling book about a couple’s marriage dynamics to a horror story that I could barely finish.

That, however, is just my opinion. I passed The Widow to the teacher who works with talented and gifted children in our school, only to find out that she liked it better than Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train. When I asked her why, she said it was because she didn’t feel manipulated, and that is certainly a valid point. No one likes to feel that the author has jerked them through a myriad of events just to create a plot that is suspenseful. With that I can agree; Fiona Barton writes her story without any arbitrary twists that end up being more annoying than convincing. And, she leaves us with plenty to think about after its conclusio

It took me a really long time to slog through this book. I wanted to like it. There was a lot of hype behind it. The writing is fine. But it's not a thriller. Nothing exciting happens. I wasn't on the edge of my seat madly flipping pages to see what would happen next. I didn't like any of the characters or care about them at all. This just did nothing for me.

The Widow is Fiona’s debut book. I started reading with no expectations only hope that I would love this book. I didn’t love it, but I liked it a whole lot.

I had a hard time attaching myself to any of the characters. The characters were not likable. Jean was just a shadow. She did what she was told by whoever told her without voicing any questions. She asked questions in her head but didn’t follow through on any of them. Glen was plain old creepy. A man who watches child porn and like naughty pictures of children is never a good guy. Then there is Dawn, the mother of the child who was kidnapped. She was just stupid. Who leaves a 2 year old alone in their front yard? Sure, she felt bad about her being gone and was devastated. But I just couldn’t relate or feel very much sympathy for her. The police were even scarier; they tried to put the effort in. It just seems they came up short at every clue. If it had been my child I would have been screaming in frustration at the lack of hard work by the police.

All of that being said I could not put the book down and am glad that I picked up The Widow to read. I was never quite sure who the kidnapper was. The guesses kept coming and I picked up on many clues, but they could have led to any number of characters. I enjoyed that. I liked the not knowing. It kept me reading and needing to know all the answers to my questions. I still have questions and doubts as to the ending of the story.

Over all this is a good debut novel and I look forward to more from Fiona. I recommend checking out The Widow.

The Widow by Fiona Barton is a psychological thriller with several points-of-views and full of unexpected twists and turns. A story that will keep you guessing until the very end. The Widow, Jean Taylor, has been keeping quiet. But what happens when her husband dies? Can she now speak freely and what will be the cost?

Readers will be taken on a journey with the widow, a cop and journalist to start. Who was her husband? Why did she stay? Does she know more? Take the journey and find out!

Happy reading!

I thought this book was really well done. I have had this book for several years but never got around to reading for one reason or another. When I noticed that a copy of the audiobook was available and it featured a large cast of narrators, I decided it was time to see what this book was all about. I was hooked by the story right away and there were times that I didn't want to put it down. I really did enjoy this book in the end.

This is a book that jumps around in time a bit with several different points of view. I think that the way the book was set up helped to add to the mystery. From the start of the book, I had an idea of where things might go but I was never quite sure. This is a rather sad book in a lot of ways largely because the story felt so realistic and a crime against a small child is at its core. How many little boys and girls go missing every year without a lot to go on? It happens all too often based on what I see on my local news. I wanted a happy ending in this book (don't I always?) but I got a more realistic one instead.

Much of this story is told from Jean's point of view. We hear from her both during her marriage to Glen and after his death. I wasn't quite sure if she was hiding something or covering for her husband. Was she the clueless wife, was she involved, was he an innocent man? I can't really say that I really liked Jean but I did feel somewhat sympathetic to her at times. Then there's the reporter who was probably one of the more likable characters in the book. She wants the story but is pretty competent in her quest to find answers. The detective was determined to solve this case. It was the one that kept him up at night and he was willing to do what needed to be done to get some resolution. We do hear from Bella's mother and Glen and while those points of view are short they are powerful.

There are quite a few narrators that lend their voices to this audiobook and I thought that they all did a great job with the story. The bulk of the work fell on just a few narrators since most of the story was told from their character's point of view. I found all of the narrators to be easy to listen to and I believe that their performances added to my enjoyment of the story.

I would recommend this book to fans of mystery thrillers. I think that this story felt very authentic and the way the story was presented kept me guessing. I wouldn't hesitate to read more of this author's work in the future.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Berkley Publishing Group via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library.

There’s a well-known saying that “Behind every successful man is a great woman.” A lesser-known, but just as important, saying is “Behind every psychopath is a woman who says she had no idea.” John Wayne Gacy, the BTK Killer, and Robert Lee Yates all committed their crimes while married and leading seemingly normal lives. After the horror and relief that followed these killers finally being caught, their wives became the center of attention. What did she know? When did she know it? How could she not know she was married to a psychopath?

I started reading this book and it didn't catch my attention for a bit but sadly I ended up DNF this book. Sorry for the late review.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance digital copy of this book in exchange for my review. I forgot I had it on my shelf and actually purchased it from Amazon!!

This book was both intriguing and horrifying. It was compared to Gone Girl and Girl on a Train, which is what caught my eye, but it really isn't. It is more of a straigtforward crime novel in which the police are not able to successfully prosecute the offender. The story is centered on one missing child and the investigation of that crime. The arrest and trial, and subsequent acquittal, of "the widow"'s husband is the central theme.

I was glad that Jean Taylor was finally able to get out from under the influence of her overbearing husband, and not surprised how she managed to do it. I figured that part out pretty quickly.

It was not a quick read, some of the dialog could have been edited and nothing lost. In the long run, this is not a book that will stay with me.

Supposedly this is a New York Times Bestseller and is hyped as the new "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."

Although I haven't read The Girl on the Train just yet, I didn't get even a sip of the psychological suspense that Gillian Flynn packs in her books, even the so-so ones contain more grit than The Widow unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't awful, but it was kind of boring and slow and I didn't feel like I gained anything from reading it other than being creeped out by pedophilia.

Jean Taylor's husband is suspected for kidnapping a young girl, a crime she and his family couldn't believe he could do. But as the years pass, and the police dig up incriminating circumstantial evidence, Jean starts to wonder...but then Jean doesn't seem all that innocent herself. It's a classic case of who-done-it with a bit of a psychological factor.

Unfortunately, this was a DNF book for me. I may revisit this title at a later date to try once again, but in the meantime, i have chosen not to include coverage on the book on my blog.

The Widow tells a twisting and turning tale of a child gone missing and found dead, the seemingly normal relationship between a husband and wife, and the seemingly accidental death of the husband. Yes, seemingly, because what or how things are is not necessarily how they really are.

I devoured this book, dazzled by what appeared to be true, what might be true, and what, ultimately, we find out and what we don't. The characters are well-developed and seem real - well, real enough, but certainly not quite like anyone I know. The way the suspense and tension build is masterful. I would recommend this book to all of my friends and to anyone who loves a good read.

I look forward to more books by Fiona Barton - she is a gifted writer.