The Widow
3 Stars

Seven years following the murder of her FBI agent husband on Mount Desert Island, Abigail Browning, now a detective with Boston PD, receives an anonymous phone call suggesting that strange things are happening in the quiet island community. With the help of search and rescue expert, Owen Garrison, Abigail stirs up old memories and old ghosts in her determination to expose a dangerous killer. Will she discover the truth before she becomes the next victim?

More of a mystery than romantic suspense.

Nothing much happens for the first 2/3 of the book as various characters are introduced, and their relationships with each other and their connections to Chris Browning are rehashed over and over. The investigation is rather lackluster as neither the local police nor the FBI seem particularly interested in capturing Chris’s killer. Although minor clues are interspersed haphazardly throughout the narrative, the obvious red herring distracts from these and make it difficult to determine the killer’s identity and motive.

Owen and Abigail’s romance is secondary and there is no real foundation to their attraction. Their chemistry is non-existent and they mostly appear to be going through the motions of falling in love without actually doing so. There is a wonderful potential for conflict stemming from Abigail’s unresolved feelings for her murdered husband and the fact that Owen is one of his oldest friends, but this never materializes.

All in all, a good premise but the execution is dull and uninspired. This author is not for me. ( )

Figured out the mysteries about 100 pages before the characters did ... Never a good sign. Thank goodness it was a free book for my Kindle. ( )

Carla Neggers is one of those authors that is able to spin a tale with many characters and have you end the story feeling as if you know everyone. That rates high with me as many authors will bandy people around willy nilly and I feel completely worn out or worse feel as if I need to keep notes so I know whose who. That is not the case here. Two families, lots of police and still I followed it and absolutely loved it! ( )

It wasn't bad writing, but the story was boring to me so I dropped it. ( )

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