THE WIDOWMAKER by Hannah Morrissey

 

My thoughts

This is the second book by this author. The first being Hello, Transcriber, which I haven't read yet. I hope too.

This story is told by Morgan, a photographer, and Hudson who is a cop. It starts out with Morgan fleeing Chicago and going back home to Black Harbor. 

Morgan is hired to photograph the Reynolds family's Christmas party. They are rich and Morgan could make a lot of money doing this. She was a gift for the mother from her son Bennett. I wondered for a while just who gives another human as a gift but with this story I found out. Not a gift in an ugly way mind you. The gift of the party being photographed. Bennett knew who Morgan was in Chicago though he had not met her until she arrived at their family home. Morgan is greeted with open arms by most of the Reynolds family but there are a couple who have very sinister feelings toward her. 

Morgan had a horrible upbringing. She was left with an aunt who was cruel to her after her mother deserted her. Her dad abandoned her also. Her parents were not married but it seemed they might have loved each other a bit. But did either care about Morgan really? I actually loved how Morgan's aunt died though I think she should have suffered. Maybe she did. Imagination can help here. Morgan is also described in a kind of goth way. The way she dresses and the piercings she has. Or she's just very expressive maybe. She sounded very pretty and tough. I liked her a lot. She was not a whinny type person. She was one that did what she had to to survive. 

Hudson we meet at the scene of his best friend and partner's murder. He is a bit sick about it. Literally. Detective Garrison was gunned down in a connivence store during what appears to be a robbery. Hudson and Garrison had been partners for a long time and Garrison was like a father to Hudson. He was determined to bring justice for Garrison's family. Of course he could not work on the case and was put on a cold case, what happened to Hudson Reynolds.. Did he just up and leave or was he dead? 

Hudson has, what I found to be, a horrible family. His mother seems to hate that he's a good guy while his brother is the towns biggest drug dealer. Go figure right. Hudson has a history also but not a bad one. He has suffered a couple of losses that are so sad. I felt for him and really liked him. He is described as a bit on the nerdy side. Not that he's not tough but he's not described as your typical buffed up big headed cop. He wants to know who killed Garrison. He wants to know what happened to Reynolds. He won't stop until there is closure. 

Hudson and Morgan meet the night his partner is killed. She was a witness in a way. She saw something that will help bring justice for Garrison. Maybe even bring justice for things that happened to her as a child. 

There are things in this book about child sexual abuse and just abuse that are not vivid but you get the gest of it. You know what happened. In a way there was a little bit of justice at The Ruin. Just a bit though. I'll never understand how a family member can let these things happen to anyone much less a little child but it does happen. Grownups can be so cruel. Sick grownups. Ugly grownups. Horrible ones. There is also the cop killing. He put his life on the line every single day and right before his retirement he was killed. I felt so bad for him and his family. I did like finding out what his final three words meant. It helped.

This book gives closure with most of what is going on. I did wish it had more about the Reynolds and whether they got to know Morgan better. Or how they felt about what she did to survive. Or what they felt about a family member or members doing things. I also wish the very ending would have told me whether someone arrived. My guess is yes. And only good things happened after that. 

This book has some emotion in it. It's sad in lots of places. It's about murder, child abuse, child sexual abuse, family secrets, acceptance maybe. Closure possibly. Closure for two families anyway. Also and by far not least adoption. How one family took in a child that needed a lot of care and patience. I liked this family, especially the grandpa.

Thank you #NetGalley, #HannahMorrissey, #StMartinsPress #Minatourbooks for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

4 stars and I recommend it. It will keep you wondering for sure.

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 Black Harbor mystery, The Widowmaker.

Ever since business mogul Clive Reynolds disappeared twenty years ago, the name "Reynolds" has become synonymous with "murder" and "mystery." And now, lured by a cryptic note, down-on-her-luck photographer Morgan Mori returns home to Black Harbor and into the web of their family secrets and double lives. The same night she photographs the Reynolds holiday get-together, Morgan becomes witness to a homicide of a cop that triggers the discovery of a long-buried clue.

This could finally be the thing to crack open the chilling cold case, and Investigator Ryan Hudson has a chance to prove himself as lead detective. If only he could stop letting his need to solve his partner's recent murder distract him. But as Morgan exposes her own dark demons, could her sordid history be the key to unlocking more than one mystery?