Book Review: "The Widow" by John Grisham

When John Grisham’s novels were first released, I DEVOURED them. I remember going to a signing the week The Pelican Brief came out, and I told him how much I loved it. He said to me, “Larry, I need a little breathing room, maybe don’t read so fast!”

Thanks so much to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for the advance copy of Grisham’s newest book. Billed as his first-ever whodunit, I knew I had to give this one a try.

An attorney in rural Virginia, Simon Latch doesn’t have much in the way of business. It’s mostly wills and bankruptcies, barely enough to make ends meet. His marriage is disintegrating, which is only adding to his tension. He needs a break to fall his way.

When Eleanor “Netty” Barnett, a widow in her 80s, comes to Simon, she wants him to redo her will. Unbeknownst to almost everyone, Netty’s late husband was worth millions, including a stack of shares in major companies. She wants to disown her two stepsons and ensure her money goes anywhere other than them. Simon smells a huge windfall, because the fees for handling her estate will be large. And he may bend the rules just a little bit in preparing her will.

When Netty is hospitalized after an accident, Simon discovers he doesn’t know the real truth about his client or her estate. And before he realizes it, he winds up getting arrested for murder. The only way he can get exonerated is to find the truth himself—before it’s too late.

Grisham is great at creating flawed characters, and Simon is definitely one of those! He’s self-serving and a bit crooked, but by the second half of the book, he started winning me over. There are lots of twists to be had here and I honestly couldn’t figure out how the book would end until it did.

The book will publish 10/21.