Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
In The Good Widow by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke, we are introduced to Elementary school teacher, Jacks Morales. Married for eight years, it is with dismay and horror she learns that while on a business trip to Kansas her husband is killed in a fatal car accident. When the policeman come to her door to explain, she believes she has misunderstood the information, as they keep telling her the accident occurred in Hawaii. And further, they shared the news that he was not alone.
After being assured that the information the police had given her was correct, she finds herself blindsided by the horrifying events. While Hawaii is somewhere they had always talked about traveling to, her husband was always too busy with all the trips he was making for his company. Now she wonders just how many of the trips were real and if the agenda was more often to travel to Hawaii with another woman.
While angry, she is also grieving, and it is then she meets Nick, the fiancé of the woman that died with her husband on that fateful trip. Unable to pull herself together, Nick gets her to agree to go to Hawaii so they can follow the clues to the truth. Even when her friends try to tell her she is making a mistake, she takes a leap of faith to try and find answers that make sense. She doesn’t really know Nick, but he too seems quite devastated by the loss of his own loved one.
As they follow an ever confusing path to what is listed as an accident, Jacks slowly comes to the realization that more is at stake than she ever realized. Nothing is as it seems and now even the reason for her husband’s death is suspect. Can she discover clues to the underlying threat she is beginning to feel, before her life too spins out of control?
Fenton and Steinke team up to give you a mystery that has teeth. Their characters are very real and the feelings run deep, giving you the impression that they are actual people, someone that could be in your own life. The story is haunting, both fascinating and littered with bits of terror. Jacks gains a wonderful sense of her own power, and it keeps you enthralled as the story moves forward.
If you enjoy mystery and growth, friendships and family, you will find this work will keep you reading to the very end.
This would make great read for a reading group or book club, full of interesting plot lines and direction to help develop questions as well as dialogue and debate.
