REVIEW:

One of the reasons I read is to learn, and in reading Jeff Abbott’s 2021 thriller I learned that a group of widows is called an ambush. Did you know that? Well now you do - the collective noun for widows is in fact “ambush.”

I also learned through reading An Ambush of Widows that a dude can write 20 novels in one of my favorite genres and still not be on my radar. Jeff Abbott’s author bio says a theme of his work is the idea of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary danger and fighting to return to their normal lives. That’s certainly the case here, where the wives of two murdered businessmen try to unravel the mystery of what happened to them while also dodging nefarious characters nipping at their own heels.

Abbott is from Austin, TX, and much of the action takes place in that vibrant city. I really enjoyed the setting and the characters’ complicated relationships. Though there’s nothing necessarily groundbreaking in the story, I had fun trying to guess the who in this whodunnit nonetheless.

My thanks to Grand Central Publishing / Novel Suspects for providing me with a gifted advance copy to review. An Ambush of Widows is now available.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

In New York Times bestselling author Jeff Abbott’s latest novel of riveting psychological suspense, an uneasy alliance forms as two widows delve into their husbands’ deadly and dangerous secrets — as they try to protect their own.

Henry North is a down-on-his-luck cybersecurity expert from New Orleans. Adam Zhang is the cofounder of one of Austin’s most successful venture capitalist firms. These two men didn’t know each other. They had never met. Yet they died together, violently, in a place neither had any business being.

When Henry doesn’t return from a business trip, his wife, Kirsten, panics — and then gets an anonymous phone call: “Your husband is dead in Austin.”

Flora Zhang knew her husband was keeping secrets. She suspected an affair, but she had decided she could forgive him for his weakness — until her husband ended up dead. And with no explanation for her husband’s murder, the police begin to suspect her.

Together, these two widows will face a powerful foe determined to write a false narrative about the murders. In doing so, neither Flora nor Kirsten will remain the women the world thought they were.