The Widow by Fiona Barton

This debut novel by Fiona Barton is my favorite kind of thriller. It is not graphic nor is it violent. It is a true psychological thriller that keeps the reader guessing about what really happened until the very end.

The story focuses on Jean, a quiet hairdresser, who is married to Glen Taylor, a banker turned delivery truck driver. Barton gives us plenty of clues to the problems in their marriage. Glen is controlling and Jean is submissive. Jean is desperate for a baby, but after trouble conceiving, Glen refuses to consider “unnatural” in vitro or the prying into their personal lives that adoption would entail. Is he private? Or does he have something to hide? When he stops working in the bank in favor of driving a delivery truck, Jean believes his reasons for the career change: His boss didn’t like him because he was ambitious; he wants to start his own business. When Glen gets a computer that he doesn’t let Jean interact with, she refers to her husband’s new habit as “his nonsense".

The author gives us glimpses into how little Jean knows about her husband, but their relationship is publicly questioned once he becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance of Bella, a little girl abducted from her backyard while her single mother was inside. Is Glen responsible? Is Jean willfully ignorant? An accomplice? A victim herself? Those are the questions that the book’s two other narrators, reporter Kate Waters and detective Bob Sparkes, want answered after Glen dies in a car accident.

{photo credit to The Last Word Book Review]

My Verdict: I found this book to be delightful. Given that this is a book about a missing child, it could easily feel exploitative or sensationalist, but it doesn't. Barton provides no graphic details, and leaves that to our imagination. There are some spots in the novel that are a bit dry, such as the a section on the police investigation through chat rooms used by pedophiles. Glen's trial also feels a bit rushed and as though we are only seeing the edges of it. I found myself wondering, though, if this was intentional.

It seemed like Barton set out to write a story about Jean, the widow. She shows just a glimpse of what’s going on in Jean’s head and then moves on, keeping the deeper question of “what does she know?” a mystery. There are moments when Jean rebels against her passive life in little ways. Other times it’s clear her relationship with Glen has left her deeply emotionally scarred, clinging to the image she had of herself when they were still a young couple full of potential.

Kate Waters, the reporter, is also a predator of sorts and the relationship between she and Jean also serves to further develop Jeans character. The portrayal of Sparkes, the detective feels a bit shallow by comparison. She pretty much follows an old cop archetype—devoted to catching his man even if it puts him at odds with his superiors and his wife. But his character does help the narrative slowly unfold in a way that feels more methodically earned than the big twist that drives Gone Girl.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this psychological thriller. I give this novel 4 stars.