The BRAND NEW page-turning, unputdownable psychological thriller from Valerie Keogh
By: Valerie Keogh
ISBN: 9781804154656
Publication Date: 11/01/2022
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Narrator: Rose Robinson
Format: e-book and audio
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
Grieving or guilty?
When Allison’s wealthy and charming husband Peter is found dead, she appears distraught, devastated….delighted?
Because despite an apparently picture-perfect marriage, Allison knows it was all built on a bed of lies.
And as the truth regarding Peter’s life and death are revealed, Allison must try to keep her own dark past buried.
Because if Peter was keeping secrets, then his widow is too…
Don't miss the brand-new thriller by Valerie Keogh! Perfect for fans of Sue Watson, Shalini Boland, and K.L. Slater.
My Review
Valerie Keogh's latest, THE WIDOW, is a wicked dangerous game of cat and mouse psychological thriller with unreliable characters and a final evil twist.
Is the widow GRIEVING OR GUILTY?
I enjoyed the audiobook narrated by Rose Robinson for an intense, suspenseful, and fast-paced listening experience for all voices.
Allison was not a very nice child. She was a monster.
She did not have a happy home life and was jealous of everyone around her that seemed to have a perfect life. At nine years old, she took matters into her own hands to get rid of her parents, thinking she would find nice new parents to take their place.
Of course, that did not happen.
Now, struggling with low self-esteem and barely getting by, she has not learned her lesson. She is an accountant working for a B-List firm and has few friends. She wants a big house, designer clothes, and money.
When she meets the older, more glamorous woman with an even older husband she wonders if she could marry a rich man for his money. She loves their home, but then she gets bad vibes around Portia's husband. He seems very controlling.
Then Allison meets Peter. No one knows her dark secrets of the past.
A handsome man, but he is not quite as rich as she hoped, but he has a lovely mansion and is an attorney. They begin dating and soon get married. She envisions having the house and everything she has always wanted.
Then this mysterious woman Jo shows up and wants to befriend her. Jo is strange, and how does this woman know her? She seems to know about her past. But how?
Then Peter has an accident. He is dead. She has always thought about killing him but did she push him, an accident, or suicide? She can play the grieving widow.
She soon learns after his death, Peter had secrets too. The house was not in his name, nor did he have money. She realizes she misses him.
Soon after the death, while she pretends to grieve, Jo shows up. There is blackmail. Then Portia and her husband are involved in a twisted game that makes her untrustworthy.
Will Jo come to her rescue, or will Allison continue to be the same manipulative monster she has always been?
Wow! There were no likable characters here. From greed, obsession, lies, deceit, and murder. Everyone is hiding something.
I stayed glued to my AirPods, desperate to know how the dangerous secrets of three complex, compelling women (and two men) would finally collide—never prepared for the final wicked twist, satisfying ending.
THE WIDOW is my second book by the author—I enjoyed The Lodger and decided to give this one a whirl.
The multi-layered story and the author's deep dive into Allison's mental state keep you in suspense, as well as the secondary characters of Jo, Portia, and Peter. I was drawn in by the front cover and purchased the audiobook.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pub Date: Nov 1, 2022
Nov 2022 Must-Read Books
Praise
"A wonderful book, I can’t rate this one highly enough. If only there were ten stars, it’s that good. Valerie Keogh is a master storyteller, and this is a masterful performance."
—Bestselling author Anita Waller.
"This deliciously twisty story kept me up late at night, desperate to know the outcome. A definite 5 stars."
—Bestselling author Keri Beevis
"Keogh is the queen of compelling narratives and twisty plots."
—Jenny O'Brien
About the Author
Valerie Keogh lives in Wiltshire with her husband and a huge black cat, Fatty Arbuckle. She grew up reading Agatha Christie and initially wrote crime novels - she now writes psychological thrillers.
The Little Lies was shortlisted for the Crime Fiction Lovers Award 2021.
Valerie has a BA in English and an MA in American Literature.
She has recently signed a contract for four new psychological thrillers with Boldwood Books, the first of which, The Lodger, is published August 1st.
Order of publication:
Exit Five from Charing Cross (2014)
Deadly Sleep (2016)
Twisted Power (2016)
Bitter Business (2017)
Wicked Secret (2018)
Secrets Between Us (2018)
The Housewife 2019
The Dublin Murder Mysteries (2020)
The Three Women (2020)
The Perfect Life (2020)
The Little Lies (2020)
The Deadly Truth (2021)
The Lies He Told (2021)
The Couple in the Photograph (2021)
A Taste of Deceit (2022)
The Lodger (2022)
Like Valerie Keogh's facebook page: facebook.com/valeriekeoghnovels
The Lodger
She’s in your home…
Leigh Simons can’t say for sure what made her do it. A moment of madness, perhaps, but when the young, loud and gorgeous waitress at her favorite coffee shop reveals she is homeless, Leigh offers her the empty room in her house.
In your head…
Gina is the perfect lodger; Leigh, lonely and frustrated with her life, becomes infatuated with the woman – her boldness, her zeal. If only Leigh could be more like Gina…
And missing without a trace.
So when Leigh returns from a work trip she’s shocked to find Gina missing. Where could the young woman have gone…and why?
Leigh fears that something terrible has happened - why else would Gina leave her?
But as she sets out to find her missing lodger, what Leigh discovers changes everything she knows about Gina….and her own life, too.
Don't miss the brand-new thriller by Valerie Keogh! Perfect for fans of Sue Watson, Shalini Boland, and K.L. Slater.
