Wednesday 21 June 2017

Book Review: THE GOOD WIDOW by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke


Author: Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Publisher:
Lake Union Publishing
Read:
June 2017
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.



Thank you to Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.




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