Book Review: The Widow by Fiona Barton
By danderma | September 1, 2016
On the cover of this book there is a little sticker stating that reading it will fill the void left behind by the Girl on the Train, or was it Gone Girl? I’m not really sure, but it is being compared to current IT suspenseful crime novel and so I’ve started it with high excpectations. I did enjoy it, it was a good crime with a very gasp-out-loud-surprise kind of twist and a proper ending that lays to rest most of your questions, yet there was something missing from the story that would make it as good as either Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train.
Perhaps its because of the meek widow, who married young and was groomed to be an obedient and controlling dominant of a man posing as a husband? I was frustrated with the widow, couldn’t believe it when she was really and truly surprised when her husband was accused as the monster who abducted a toddler, and couldn’t understand why she allowed the reporter to almost kidnap her as she whisked her away to get the special on a scoop about the monster late husband.
The events of the story weren’t all at the same pace, sometimes it was OK and other times it was just too slow as I wanted to know what really happened. I also am so tired of books that go back and forth between past and present, chapter in and chapter out, but thankfully in this case the back and forth storytelling wasn’t specific to one character. And speaking of characters, almost everyone in the story gets a say in the events of it which is both enjoyable and interesting.
What I’m thankful for is that, even though the crime is heinous you will never stumble into gory disgusting details which frankly I was also dreading. I was also left pondering the state of life of those who are accused of crimes yet are never convicted and how, after the media descends on them and makes sure every one knows what they are accused of doing, how life will continue on for them? What if they are innocent, yet they can never find anyone who’d hire them again? How will they live? Where would they go? Is it really fair? I was really worried for the state of the couple, the widow especially who lost her job along with her husband even though she apparently had nothing to do with it.
Good read? Well, it is, yet not as good as I expected after all the high praise its been getting and I can see on Goodreads that many readers do share the same views as mine. I would recommend it if you wish to read something new, yet I cannot promise you that you’ll like it as much as Gone Girl or the Girl on the Train, maybe you will and maybe you won’t.
