In the effort to seek out a fan base for a new author
you will often see grand comparisons made to other successful authors or books
as a way to attract attention. This can quickly become a double edged sword; if
the book doesn’t really measure up to the ones it’s being compared to or it isn’t
quite a perfect match, it opens the door to what may amount to unnecessary
criticism.
Such may be the case for the initial fiction outing
from veteran British journalist Fiona Barton. Barton’s first foray into
fiction, The Widow was proclaimed to
be “for fans of Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train,” and while the
book is certainly at times a dark, haunting read, I kept expecting the twists
and turn that the other two delivered, but they never materialized.
Barton has certainly crafted a well written tale and
enjoyable read, but I found the use of multiple points of view; the widow, the
detective and the reporter, bouncing around different time frames a bit
disconcerting. I found myself flipping back and forth to get a grasp on where I
was in both time and space.
While Barton baited the hooks along the way which kept
me humming along in the story, I was left hanging as the story arrived at it’s
almost obvious conclusion; the evil doer was really never in doubt.
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