Review: 'The Widow' by K.L. Slater

Village life is idyllic, full of sunshine, picnics, parks, and close-knit friends. Oh, and disappearances and gossip of course! Everything you might love about your community can turn in an instant if people become suspicious of you. I must say that The Widow is slightly undercut by its blurb, which is gripping, but also doesn't feel entirely accurate to the book. While I don't mind, this may be annoying for others. Thankfully, The Widow has a lot to offer! Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pub. Date: 11/12/2021
Publisher: Bookouture

My husband was not a monster. No matter what they say… 

The day my husband, Michael, stepped in front of a lorry after being questioned by the police, my world fell apart. He was devoted to me and our six-year-old daughter. But they’d connected him to the disappearance of a young mother from our tiny village.

Now I stand at Michael’s funeral, clutching my little girl’s hand, with tears in my eyes as I insist to all our friends that he died an innocent man. Yet the questions have started, and nothing I say will stop them digging for the truth.

But none of them can read the secrets in my heart, or know about the phone I found hidden in his toolbox…  

I’m determined that my daughter will not remember her father as a monster. I will erase any hint of wrongdoing in this house whatever the cost. 

Because to keep my daughter safe, the last thing I need is for people to start looking at me… 

Kate has everything she hoped for: a loving husband, a darling daughter, and fulfilling friendships. After a difficult childhood she has managed to carve out a space for herself in which she has stability and safety. So of course she'd reach out to the single mum who has just moved into the village and offer her those same things. But everything changes when the young woman goes missing and now Kate has to ask herself how much of her life is real, and if she is ready for what comes next. The Widow makes no secret of some of the trials Kate faces, the title is a pretty big hint, and yet there is much more to ghe novel. The Widow also tells us the tale of Jakub, a Polish man who came to the UK in the hope to establish a good life for himself and, perhaps, win his childhood love back. Going back and forth between them, The Widow also tells a tale of privilege, of who receives attention. I also really appreciated how Slater made sure to give her characters enough time to make their decisions, to ponder their circumstances. Things need to sink in, and too often thrillers will race on to the next "Big Twist" and forget to process what just happened. In The Widow we get a great combination of tight suspense and a character-driven plot.

The Widow is a quick read due to its fast pace, but actually there is a lot going on. K.L. Slater has plotted out this mystery very tightly and because of that there is never a boring moment. I liked the way in which the novel starts off with a moment from about halfway into the book, dropping us directly into the action, but then making us witness the lead-up to it. At times I did feel that there was too much emphasis on female insecurity, on the way we snipe at each other to hide our own fears, in The Widow. I appreciate it's part of the genre and also makes sense, to a certain extent, considering what's happening. But it also makes for moments of unnecessary drama in what is otherwise stable relationships, and is otherwise a dramatic enough book. I started connecting some of the dots (definitely not all of them) about two-thirds into the book, which is a major part of the fun for me. I love it when an author actually sets out breadcrumbs for the reader and follows through. No changing things rapidly at the end to get that twist ending, no undercutting the work you've done in order to shock. Instead you drop enough hints that seem innocuous in the moment but all make sense in the end. I'll definitely be reading more of K.L. Slater's thrillers this year!

I give this novel...

3 Universes!

The Widow is a great thriller, full of deserved twists and with a character-driven plot! K.L. Slater truly lives up to her reputation!