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reads_eats_explores's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
The Widow of Weeping Pines is one bizarre read, centring on the protagonist Betty Lou Abbott, known to everyone as Betts.
Betts is a therapist and struggling writer with plenty of rather complex issues, which is evident from the first sentence, “Sometimes I wish my husband would die. Do you ever feel that?”.
Betts moved to the small coastal town of Weeping Willows from New York with her husband Jack, who decided after being a successful doctor he wanted to retire and move back to where he grew up. But Betts doesn’t like the small town, and the locals don’t much like her - hardly surprising when you start to get to know her! To keep herself busy and bide her time, she opens up her own therapist's office in her basement, albeit illegally.
Then Jack goes and has a heart attack and dies; Betts inherits a significant estate and becomes engaged to another man. She becomes obsessed with the thought that one of her patients, a famous writer, is having an affair with her fiance.
Enter into the mix the local detective, Stahl, who has plenty of demons to excise and an unhealthy obsession with Betts.
The short novel is told in the first person, mainly by Betts, and with a couple of chapters penned by Detective Nicholas Stahl.
The first chapter drew me in, the next couple of chapters were equally intriguing, it was unsettling but intriguing reading and made it quite clear that Betts was to be an unreliable narrator. But the book went downhill from there and fast; the ending was, well, simply ridiculous.
This is my first time reading McKinney; sorry to say, I doubt I’ll be choosing to read any more of their work. 2⭐️
Thank you, NetGalley and HH Tisevich, for the review copy in return for an honest review.
Betts is a therapist and struggling writer with plenty of rather complex issues, which is evident from the first sentence, “Sometimes I wish my husband would die. Do you ever feel that?”.
Betts moved to the small coastal town of Weeping Willows from New York with her husband Jack, who decided after being a successful doctor he wanted to retire and move back to where he grew up. But Betts doesn’t like the small town, and the locals don’t much like her - hardly surprising when you start to get to know her! To keep herself busy and bide her time, she opens up her own therapist's office in her basement, albeit illegally.
Then Jack goes and has a heart attack and dies; Betts inherits a significant estate and becomes engaged to another man. She becomes obsessed with the thought that one of her patients, a famous writer, is having an affair with her fiance.
Enter into the mix the local detective, Stahl, who has plenty of demons to excise and an unhealthy obsession with Betts.
The short novel is told in the first person, mainly by Betts, and with a couple of chapters penned by Detective Nicholas Stahl.
The first chapter drew me in, the next couple of chapters were equally intriguing, it was unsettling but intriguing reading and made it quite clear that Betts was to be an unreliable narrator. But the book went downhill from there and fast; the ending was, well, simply ridiculous.
This is my first time reading McKinney; sorry to say, I doubt I’ll be choosing to read any more of their work. 2⭐️
Thank you, NetGalley and HH Tisevich, for the review copy in return for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual content, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Infertility, Infidelity, and Stalking