The Widow by Fiona Barton

Everyone wants the story. What did she know? Glen Taylor, the prime suspect in a child abduction case gone cold, has been dead a week and his reclusive widow Jean Taylor is finally ready to talk. At least to Kate Waters, the cunning journalist who gets Jean to open up (to a point) and maybe with some luck to Detective Bob Sparkes, the lead investigator on a four-year-old case he can’t let go. But can we trust what Jean says? Who is manipulating whom? And where is Bella Elliot, the two-year-old taken from her front garden one afternoon when her mother left her on her own for “just a few minutes”? 

Told from the perspective of the widow, her husband, the journalist, the detective, and Bella’s mother, The Widow is a suspenseful tale of an unspeakable crime and the dynamics of a marriage fraught with secrets. I read the book in a couple of sittings and was so engrossed at one point that I nearly missed my bus stop. It’ll have you questioning what you believe to be true until the final pages and even after. I don’t know if The Widow (both the book and the character) tells us the whole story, but it’s a satisfying read and a thrilling debut novel.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada, who sent me an advance copy of The Widow. All opinions are my own.