CY@CY Says Welcome to my dreamscape. Where a Lim is also a Ling.
The Widow is lauded as the epitome of a tense read. Accolades such as “the big thriller of the year”, “the most buzzed about book of 2016”, “this year’s The Girl On The Train”, and “a book you’ll drop everything to whip through” have been heaped on this debut novel by Fiona Barton.
The Widow by Fiona Barton
Does the book deserve the accolades? It is a reasonably good read but in my personal opinion, I think it is overhyped. I did not find it as gripping as The Girl On The Train, Gone Girl or the novels by Keigo Higashino.
The story weaves back and forth in time and is told from the points of view of three persons: the widow Jean Taylor, the reporter Kate Waters, and the detective Bob Sparks. This technique where the story unfolds from the narratives of different key characters seems to be working well as evidenced by books such as The Girl on The Train.
The Widow opens in an English university town four years after the alleged abduction and murder of 2-year-old Bella Elliott. The prime suspect remains Glen Taylor, a banker-turned-delivery driver as his truck was seen in the area the day Bella was snatched. Bella has not been found and Taylor was acquitted after an unsuccessful prosecution. Taylor later dies in a traffic accident and speculation over his guilt or innocence takes on a fresh fury and energy. Jean Taylor becomes the target of media coverage and more police inquiries.
Detective Bob Sparkes tries hard to collar Glen Taylor in his dogged attempt to solve the case. Kate Waters is the reporter who manages to get through to Jean Taylor to get an exclusive interview with the widow.
Questions linger in the minds of everyone. How much does Jean really know? Is she in denial or was she in league? Was Glen really the monster others thought him to be? What really happened to little Bella?
This is a tale that reminds us that we can be deceived by others but we can just as easily deceive ourselves. Perception is a two-way street. Whom do you trust? Whom can you trust? And can you trust yourself?