‘The Widow’ by Helene Flood

Published by Quercus,
10 October 2024. 
ISBN: 978-1-52940607-8 (HB)

This is the third in Helene Flood's trilogy of stand alone thrillers.  The Therapist, The Lover are the previous books, and all the books have different narrators but are linked by the same police characters.  The author is Norwegian and the translator is Alison McCullough.  

This is a domestic tale about the death of a man and the immediate effect this death has on his wife Eva - the narrator - and their three grown children with supporting characters in the form of neighbours, friends and the Police.  It is in a very original format - jumping from the past and the present in practically every chapter and keeps one gripped at every turn.  It is both scary and fascinating and always believable. 

Evy is shocked by the sudden and unexpected death of her husband Erling in a cycling incident but almost immediately she is confronted by strange happenings in their home, unexplained doors left open and possessions missing and most worrying the autopsy on her husband Erling's body showed no signs of the medications he was taking that might have prevented the fatal heart attack.  Eva has been drinking heavily and her memory is patchy but she becomes convinced that her husband's death was not an accident. 

Slowly the characters of Eva, the children and Erling are revealed.  No one is perfect and each character is potentially dangerous.  The chilling and twisty tale reveals a shock to the whole family when Erling's Will is read and the following events involving family and friends are both compelling and irresistible to the reader.  A thoroughly enjoyable Scandi thriller and I absolutely loved it!
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Reviewer: Toni Russell

Helene Flood is a psychologist who obtained her doctoral degree on violence, revictimization and trauma-related shame and guilt in 2016. She now works as a psychologist and researcher at the National Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress. The Therapist is her first adult novel. It has been sold in 27 counties and film rights have been bought by Anonymous Content. Her second novel, The Lover, will be published in English in 2022. She lives in Oslo with her husband and two children.

Toni Russell is a retired teacher who has lived in London all her life and loves the city.  She says, ‘I enjoy museums, galleries and the theatre but probably my favourite pastime is reading.  I found myself reading detective fiction almost for the first time during lockdown and have particularly enjoyed old fashioned detective fiction rather than the nordic noir variety.  I am a member of a book club at the local library and have previously attended literature classes at our local Adult Education Centre.  I am married with three children and five grandchildren