Title: The Good Widow
My
Rating:🌟🌟1/2
Book Description:
The book starts with two police officers knocking on Jacks’
Morales door – and honestly, what is more chilling than the thought that her
world as she knows it is about to end! Her husband James, who she thought was
on a business trip in Kansas, has been killed in a car accident. Except that the
accident didn’t happen in Kansas, but in Maui, and there was a second casualty
– Dylan, a pretty young blonde woman who had been James’ companion on the trip.
As Jacks is trying to wrap her head around the fact that she is now a widow,
she must also come to terms with the unpleasant truth that her husband lied to
her, and cheated on her. Grieving and feeling betrayed, she is at her most
vulnerable when another unexpected visitor arrives: enter Nick, the equally
baffled and grief-stricken fiancé of the woman James had been having an affair
with. Somewhat against her better judgment, Jacks agrees to Nick’s plan to
travel to Maui, to the scene of the accident, to get closure.
My musings:
I love domestic noir novels, and am always intrigued by
writing duos – how do they do it? Who gets to write what? Anyway, spotting The
Good Widow on Goodreads and seeing that it contains both, I just had to read
it! Blame my trigger finger on Netgalley (again).
Personally, the book was a bit of a slow burn for me and I
was struggling at times to understand the characters’ motivation for their
(often questionable) decisions. I fully get the need to find closure, but still
found parts of Jacks’ decision to travel to Maui with her husband’s lover’s jilted
fiancé a bit baffling. But then again – people do strange things, especially when
they are grieving. That aside, it was about at that point in the story that I
felt I needed a bit more motivation to keep me interested. James, the cheating
spouse, sounded like a bit of an arse all around, and to be honest I did not
care much about why he had died. Move on Jacks, sounds like you’ll be better
off without him.
I’m still waiting for the card that says, I’m sorry your husband careened off a cliff with his mistress in a Jeep he couldn’t be bothered to rent for you. I know, because he’s dead, that it’s bad form to write this, but fuck him!
Having arrived at that part of the story, I was wishing for bit more mystery and suspense, a sense of
danger, a sinister undertone or some unexpected action to move the story along.
That said, the book kept me interested enough to keep reading and see if my
suspicions and predication were correct (Miss Marple investigates) – and they
were.
Summary:
In summary, The Good Widow is a slow-burning mystery
following a young widow’s journey in coming to terms with her husband’s death
and betrayal. Even though it contained few surprises for me, it was an easy
read and kept me turning the pages to see whether my theories were right. The
book may appeal to lovers of domestic noir who enjoy an emotional exploration
of marriage, betrayal and grief – but readers who prefer lots of suspense may
find it lacking.
Quotes:
Because I’ve figured out a funny little secret about life: Even if you stay on the sidewalks and pay your bills on time and use hand sanitizer, bad things still happen. Yes, maybe you can cut your odds by playing it safe. By attempting to predict each and every possible pitfall. But your fate will still find you, no matter how much you hide from it.
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