The Widow by Valerie Keogh
Genre: Psychological thriller, Suspense
Read: 31st October 2022
Published: 1st November 2022
★★★★ 3.5 stars (rounded up)
DESCRIPTION:
Grieving or guilty?
When Allison’s wealthy and charming husband Peter is found dead, she appears distraught, devastated….delighted?
Because despite an apparently picture-perfect marriage, Allison knows it was all built on a bed of lies.
And as the truth regarding Peter’s life and death are revealed, Alison must try to keep her own dark past buried.
Because if Peter was keeping secrets, then his widow is too…
MY THOUGHTS:
This is an intricately complex psychological thriller that has me scratching my head still, even after I've finished it. I'm still wondering what the hell happened...lol
Set in London, THE WIDOW is cleverly plotted with intricate threads that are all woven together to complete the tangled web which has become Allison's life. She has had a sad childhood, a shocking past and a somewhat surprising outcome...one has to wonder, what does the future hold for her?
A loner throughout life, Allison works as a senior accountant in a city firm - boring job and a boring life. Every day is the same. She has no social life, no friends, no family...no one. That is, until one evening at a colleague's birthday she relented and agreed to attend she meets Peter, the handsome, charming wealthy solicitor who actually seems to be interested in her. They go out on a few dates and suddenly after only a couple of months they marry and move into his £3m Victorian house. She wants for nothing as Peter showers her with a new wardrobe and expensive gifts.
After everything she went through as a child, at last Allison has everything she wants. What more could she want? And suddenly, Allison doesn't seem to be as happy as she thought she would be. She is even more shocked when her eccentric friend Portia has noticed that not all is as it should be. But Allison is quick to dismiss her concerns. She is even quicker to rid herself of the disturbing sensation Portia's creepy husband leaves her with...something akin to making her skin crawl.
The day of what is essentially their three month anniversary since their impromptu wedding, Allison intends on meeting up with a women she has befriended online. Jo has followed Allison on Facebook and Instagram and the two women seem to have so much in common...more than either of them think. But that first meeting gives Allison vibes of something she can't quite identify. All she knows is she doesn't want to see Jo again. But Jo has other ideas.
Allison returns home that evening to prepare for their celebrations. She pours the wine, puts on some music and waits for her husband to return home. Six o'clock comes and goes - no Peter. By half six, she's getting impatient and almost angry. Then there is a knock at the door and she opens it to find two police standing there. Peter has been killed in an accident on the tube that afternoon. Allison is speechless.
And it doesn't end there...her seemingly perfect life is about to fall apart.
THE WIDOW is one of those books that keeps you guessing and second guessing throughout. It makes you think you know what's going to happen but then it doesn't. There are some rather big twists that come literally out of nowhere and leave you thinking...what the...?
This is a very different psychological thriller and it certainly wasn't what I expected. Did I enjoy it? Yes, I did. Did it keep me guessing? Yes, it did. And just when you think you know what's going to happen BAM! something out of left field knocks everything out of the ball park and you're left scratching your head wondering where the hell that came from. I loved the interspersed chapters from child Allison's POV as well. It gives the reader some perspective into adult Allison. It's clear she has secrets...a big one especially, and while we can sort of guess what, we don't discover exactly the full picture or the ramifications of it until nearer the end.
I did guess a couple of the twists early on regarding Peter and who Jo was, but that was about all. It seems Allison or Jo weren't the only one hiding secrets...Peter was too. And I didn't see that coming either. Nor the biggest shock of them all.
OK, so the story was a tad far fetched but it was entertaining enough to keep me turning the pages with all its twists and secrets being uncovered. And then, that ending!
I would like to thank #ValerieKeogh, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #TheWidow in exchange for an honest review.
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