Review: The Widowmaker

Goodreads Synopsis

A wealthy family shrouded in scandal; a detective tasked with solving an impossible cold case; and a woman with a dark past collide in Hannah Morrissey's stunning new Black Harbor mystery, THE WIDOWMAKER.

My Thoughts

As I said in my HELLO, TRANSCRIBER review, I found out WHEN I’M DEAD, one of my Book of the Month (BOTM) books, is the third book in the Black Harbor series. I wanted to read it this month so I decided to check out the first (HELLO, TRANSCRIBER) and second (THE WIDOWMAKER) books from my library.

Even though THE WIDOWMAKER is the second book in the Black Harbor series, it’s not really sequel to HELLO, TRANSCRIBER. Investigator Kole, now Sgt. Kole, does return as a secondary character, but the commonality between the two stories is the setting–Black Harbor, Wisconsin–the most crime-ridden city in the state. And, THE WIDOWMAKER’s told in a dual POV.

I thought the story was captivating and suspenseful. I love Morrissey’s beautifully descriptive prose. Because of the dual POV, it took me a few chapters to understand what was happening. At that point, I zipped right through the story. When I wasn’t listening to the audiobook, I was thinking about the characters and their lives.

THE WIDOWMAKER is a very dark thriller that kept me guessing until the end. It’s very thought-provoking and deals with hard subjects like child abandonment, abuse, and sexual assault.

I liked both of the main characters. I also liked the narrators for the audiobook. They both did a great job bringing Morgan and Investigator Hudson to life. I thought some of the secondary characters were a bit flat and could’ve been fleshed out more. I liked the little Easter eggs pointing to HELLO, TRANSCRIBER when Hudson was interacting with and talking about Sgt. Kole.

Even though I wouldn’t have missed anything by skipping HELLO, TRANSCRIBER and THE WIDOWMAKER, I’m glad I decided to read both of them. I liked getting to know Black Harbor and its people and I’m even more excited to finally read WHEN I’M DEAD.

Have you read THE WIDOWMAKER? If so, what did you think?

Trigger Warning

There is a trigger warning for suicide, suicidal ideation, death of a parent, child abandonment, child abuse, spousal abuse, and sexual assault.