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3.29 AVERAGE
3.29 AVERAGE
3.5
This book didn't have the twist I was looking for, and it petered out toward the end, but overall it kept me engaged. I enjoyed the switches in time and viewpoint.
This book didn't have the twist I was looking for, and it petered out toward the end, but overall it kept me engaged. I enjoyed the switches in time and viewpoint.
This book messed with my mind, but seemed to drag a few times and leave things unfinished.
An ok read. Some irritations around the voice of the widow and the characterisation of Sparkes, in particular the non characterisation of his wife Eileen who came across as passive as Jeanie. But enough mystery to keep turning the pages.
The first half was great, the second half dragged for me and I guessed most everything. I was dissapointed in the ending. Also I knew this was a series about the journalist Kate Waters, but she was in it so little I was surprised.
Popsugar Challange: A story featuring one of the seven deadly sins. Lust and Envy
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Kidnapping
I think the story started out well but about halfway through the book I began to lose interest. Jean is just too dull of a character. I think if the story had been told from the detectives point of view with just glimpses from Jeans POV it would have been better.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Strong beginning and then it just gets super boring. The whole middle could have been taken out and the story would have been s lot better. The different narrators wasn't that useful of a technique in this case, either. Third person could have been used just as effectively. I was so bored I started looking for the ending about halfway through. Just in case you feel the same, the ending is spoiled below :)
The end: Glen took and killed- maybe accidentally maybe not- Bella. Jean found out the Monday before she pushed and killed- maybe accidentally maybe not- Glen.
The end: Glen took and killed- maybe accidentally maybe not- Bella. Jean found out the Monday before she pushed and killed- maybe accidentally maybe not- Glen.
I loved Barton’s other book, The Child; This one was incredibly disappointing though. Anti-climactic and no real twists and turns. Ending was obvious from the get go and don’t even get me started on the Character of Jeanie! So annoying and boring it was hard to read about her. Like a robot wife. Not to mention they make her sound incredibly old fashioned and daft, only to learn two thirds through the book that she’s not even 40! I’m sorry I have a hard time believing a women in her late 30’s doesn’t know how a computer works. Or that in 2010 (when the book takes place) that she wouldn’t have a mind of her own or any kind of voice. It’s not 1920 it’s 2010.
The author also had a whole mess of other plot points that were pointless and could have been taken out completely. Conversations that didn’t need to be had, characters that didn’t need to be there and boy did it draaaaaag on forever.
I enjoyed the writing style but they story was poorly constructed and needed to be downsized by a lot.
The author also had a whole mess of other plot points that were pointless and could have been taken out completely. Conversations that didn’t need to be had, characters that didn’t need to be there and boy did it draaaaaag on forever.
I enjoyed the writing style but they story was poorly constructed and needed to be downsized by a lot.
Many thanks to Ben at Transworld for my ARC of The Widow by Fiona Barton.
I have been seeing this book pop up in tweets and on bloggers pages for the past couple of months so I was dying to get my hands on a copy to see what all the fuss was about. The lovely Ben Willis at Transworld Books kindly sent me out a copy to read and review. Needless to say I was like a child upon receiving it!
Goodreads description:
We've all seen him: the man - the monster - staring from the front page of every newspaper, accused of a terrible crime.
But what about her: the woman who grips his arm on the courtroom stairs – the wife who stands by him?
Jean Taylor’s life was blissfully ordinary. Nice house, nice husband. Glen was all she’d ever wanted: her Prince Charming.
Until he became that man accused, that monster on the front page. Jean was married to a man everyone thought capable of unimaginable evil.
But now Glen is dead and she’s alone for the first time, free to tell her story on her own terms.
Jean Taylor is going to tell us what she knows.
The Widow is a a great book. It's extremely psychological with intimate insights into the mind of the widow, the detective, the reporter, the mother and the husband told through alternating chapters. The aforementioned widow becomes one early on in the book,with her husband being hit and killed by a bus. Prior to this, her husband Glen, had been accused of a terrible crime.
A little girl goes missing from her front garden while her mother is inside. Glen is accused of kidnapping Bella Elliott and The Widow tells the story of events after, and later on in the book, prior to the abduction.
The Widow is by no means an on the edge of your seat thriller. It is a slow burner, with information slowly being revealed in each chapter. It's at times painful to read some of the details of the case. No parent ever wants to imagine anything happening to their child.
The widow herself, Jean, is hard to like as a character. I found her to be very hard to empathise with. If that's even possible in the situation she is in. Jean is clearly an emotionally weak person in the earlier half of the book, but towards the climax of the story she seems to find her inner voice.
I'm not one for spoilers,but with a book like this it's difficult not to see what happens at the end!
I have to say, I really enjoyed The Widow. Fiona Barton has a lovely writing style and it's very easy to follow. I'm glad I got a chance to read this book before January 2016 as with the hype surrounding it, I'm sure I wouldn't have gotten near it!
My thanks again to Ben Willis and Fiona Barton for my copy of The Widow!
4 stars on Goodreads from me!
Happy reading