Widow, The

This book has been an interesting read at an interesting time for me, I'm reading it alongside watching the drama series The Fall starring Gillian Anderson and Jamie Dornan and it really has made me stop and question whether it is possible to be married to someone who is carrying out vicious sexual crimes yet have no knowledge of their true nature or actions.

Fiona Barton raises just this question in her book ‘The Widow' where Jean Taylor is mourning the death of her husband Glen in a tragic accident. We learn that Jean was a devoted wife to Glen but that their marriage had been troubled after her husband was accused of the abduction and killing of a 2 year old girl, Bella, from her front garden.

This story is told from several viewpoints, some chapters tell Jean's story whilst others are viewed through the eyes of the investigating detective in the case of Bella's disappearance and others through the eyes of a journalist who has followed the case for years.

The book doesn't leave us any allusions about the true nature of Glen Taylor, he is a man addicted to child pornography, he is difficult to live with and gently controlling his wife through subtle use of language and ongoing reassurances that he is the wronged party and he is being hounded by police.

Jean is a frustrating character to read about, she lacks any real grit, she is the quintessential subjugated wife, she is over eager to please, trusting to a fault and also struggling with a life where she cannot have the one thing she truly craves, a baby of her own. She has no social circle and is isolated in her marriage, she had no one to talk to and this allows her husband to manipulate her to his way of thinking, even persuading her to lie to detectives about his whereabouts when Bella disappeared. I'm afraid Jean isn't a nice character to spend time with, at first her innocence is endearing but by the end of the book I just wanted her to at least be held a little culpable for her husband's actions. Her lies to police allowed him to remain a free man, to not be made to face consequences and ultimately to continue to control her. She is hard work as a reader because you want to sympathise bit her character traits are not admirable and she herself comes across as unstable and with a warped sense of right and wrong.

For all the frustration Jean put me through I feel it testament to the author that she did so, I would hope this was exactly the results she was hoping for, moral conflict alongside human compassion. It isn't the next Gone Girl or Girl on the Train although I imagine it will be a popular read this year.