A good psychological thriller, well-constructed and full of twists and turns.
Kept me glued to the very last page.
Enjoyable read.

exceptional thriller. Layered, complex, and engrossing. It looks like I've found another potentially really good mystery series. I gather that Black Widow is the 7th book in the Jack Parlabane series, but it definitely works as a standalone. It is a clever, tightly constructed, slow burner of a mystery.

Book 4 of 5 in the Jack Parlabane Thriller collection, this story is about the potent story of a woman who thought she was too late for love, the man who falls for her ambition, and the secret selves that are poised, at any moment, to end everything.

I tried but this book was not for me. I had heard so many good things about this book though so don’t listen to me!

exceptional thriller. Layered, complex, and engrossing. It looks like I've found another potentially really good mystery series. I gather that Black Widow is the 7th book in the Jack Parlabane series, but it definitely works as a standalone. It is a clever, tightly constructed, slow burner of a mystery.

This was an enjoyable read and kept me wanting more. I easily devoured it in one sitting and highly recommend.

This book had me intrigued from the start and held my interest throughout. How easily Diana Jager' life is ruined after personal details are posted on social media. An intriguing plot.

(I received a free copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.)
Diana Jager is clever, strong, and successful, a skilled surgeon and fierce campaigner via her blog about sexism in medicine. Yet it takes only hours for her life to crumble when her personal details are released on the internet as revenge for her writing. Then she meets Peter. He is kind, generous, and knows nothing about her past—the second chance she's been waiting for. Within six months, they are married. Within six more, Peter is dead in a road accident, a nightmare end to their fairy-tale romance. But Peter's sister Lucy doesn't believe in fairy tales, and tasks rogue reporter Jack Parlabane with discovering the dark truth behind the woman the media is calling the Black Widow.
Still on the mend from his own relationship wounds after a turbulent divorce, Jack's investigation into matters of the heart takes him to hidden places no one should ever have to go.


This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. The opening scenes were a bit much for me - lots of characters telling a courtroom story about things and people we knew nothing about. It was an odd choice for an opening.

But once the story really got cracking, it is the hero of the novel, Jack Parlabane, who takes the novel by the scruff of the neck and shakes it for all it is worth. He more than carries the other characters through. Not to say they are boring characters but, apart from Diana Jager, they are all immediately forgettable. They do fill their roles for me, but they never really make their presence felt (if you know what I mean.) Diana was good, but the story really was about Jack...

The other thing worth mentioning is the twists and turns. Always to be expected in this kind of a story, but I got to a point where I thought that all the clues had been laid down early and the supposed "twists" were just trying to hide the outcome. Sadly for me, that didn't work.

Overall, a good gritty Scottish crime novel - but not one that immediately screams "Best book by Brookmyre!"


Paul
ARH

This book caught my eye as it covers a lot of modern day issues with the internet and all the information that is out there, a lot of which we are unaware of. This was a psychological thriller tale at its best!

The Black Widow is what the press call Diana Jager, a well-known, skillful and successful surgeon. She has led a life with some ups and downs: being outed for her past internet blog confronting sexism, which she ran anonymously, until, of course, she wasn't anonymous any more. But her skills and surgical talent remained and she moved on, met a man, fell in love, married, and within six months he was missing, presumed dead. What happened?

This is my first experience with Jack Parlabane, an unusual investigator, asked by a family member of that husband to sort through everything. That's enough facts. I don't want to give away the plot of twists and turns here. Brookmyre really knows how to keep a story going, how to keep multiple layers and actors moving, keep the reader involved and the tension level high. With its alternating viewpoints and the intelligent writing, there is so much to think about right from the start. The use alternating viewpoints is particularly well done here, as is the gradual building up of information on all sides.

I do recommend this book to all who enjoy involved mysteries. Well done. I definitely will have to check out more in this series.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Christopher Brookmyre novels are always a treat to read. This one was less madcap, laugh-out-loud funny than some of his previous works but it was well paced with intriguing characters and a crime (or was it an accident?) being investigated by the police and series lead Jack Parlabane.

The book includes a ripped from the headlines subplot of a woman (the Black Widow of the title) who has faced online harassment, and doxing, to the extent that her career has been compromised.

It's a good entry into the series for newcomers.

This was (gasp) my first Jack Parlabane book (it sure won't be my last). Fast paced and an edge of the seat read.

My first Jack Parlabane and Chris Brookmyre thriller and I enjoyed it immensely..

I liked how the book began and I was intrigued throughout wanting to know how the book ended and all that mystery galore.

The writing and scene setting kept everything interesting. I kept guessing and I was right half of the time but I hadnt seen that end coming until the last minute. Haha. But I didnt really like that end though-thay reveal per say..

Other than that my reading experience was definitely a good one.. I like Thrillers now I guess. I have been reading more of those. 😋

My Rating: 4 stars

Special thanks to Netgalley and Atlantic Monthly Press/Grove Atlantic for this review copy.

Wow. Suspend your expectations for this one. No one is who you think they are (except for the cops) and everything is topsy turvey as your views shift in this very carefully plotted and well written thriller. It's hard to write this review because of spoilers but for me the most important thing is that i wasn't at all who or what I thought. I had not read Brookmyre before so thanks to Grove for the ARC because I might have otherwise missed this. Don't let the blurb have you put this aside- it's one of the most twisty things I've read in a long time. Highly recommend it.

Confusing, boring beginning. Not my cup of tea. Ok, now I have to have a certain length review?