The Widow (ARC) Review

Title: The Widow
Author: Fiona Barton
Rating: 3.5/5
Release Date: 2/16/2016


I want it to be on record that this is not one of my typical genres. With that being said, I liked this book. It wasn't exactly what I expected, but it kept me engaged enough that I never really got bored reading it, I just didn't want to read the whole thing in one sitting.
One negative, I didn't pay attention to the dates at the beginning of each chapter when I first started reading, so things got thrown off for a little while and I got confused, but after I realized my mistake, it was a lot easier to follow the story.
I didn't find the main character, Jean Taylor, all that likable. If this was the intended effect, then I applaud it on a job well done. Her character was hard to sympathize with. A wife with a dominant husband that semi-controls what she does. Seems like a big deal, but she doesn't fight back all that much, almost like she doesn't mind him taking over. Not to mention, without giving away big plot pieces, she did a few questionable things that made me a little uneasy with trusting her. There wasn't a single character in the book that I could bring myself to feel sorry for, because, in a way, they all brought a certain degree of torture on themselves.
This book follows the investigation of Bella Elliott, a young girl that was stolen from her front lawn. Bella's mother, Dawn, is distraught and the police jump on the case. After gathering evidence, they are led to Glen Taylor, a seemly simple man with a simple life, who just so happens to be hiding some rather dark secrets. Luckily for Glen, his wife Jean is dead set on his innocence, but is he really innocent? Or is he behind the disappearance of Bella?
It's such a great plot for a mystery book, one that I couldn't instantly guess the ending of in the first hundred pages. I found myself consistently thrown off with new discoveries made as the book progressed until the very last page. If this book had just a little big more action in it, I would been completely sold on it, but I just didn't love it enough to gush over it. Certainly a great book for a mystery lovers! Can you find out what happened to Bella?