Black Widow - (Jack Palabane Thrillers) by Christopher Brookmyre (Hardcover)

About the Book

"First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Little, Brown."

Book Synopsis

Winner of the 2016 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish crime book of the year

From Scottish crime master Christopher Brookmyre, Black Widow tells the potent story of a woman who thought she was too late for love, the man who falls for her ambition, and the secret selves that are poised, at any moment, to end everything.

Diana Jager is clever, strong, and successful, a skilled surgeon and fierce campaigner via her blog about sexism in medicine. Yet it takes only hours for her life to crumble when her personal details are released on the internet as revenge for her writing. Then she meets Peter. He is kind, generous, and knows nothing about her past--the second chance she's been waiting for. Within six months, they are married. Within six more, Peter is dead in a road accident, a nightmare end to their fairy-tale romance. But Peter's sister Lucy doesn't believe in fairy tales, and tasks rogue reporter Jack Parlabane with discovering the dark truth behind the woman the media is calling the Black Widow.

Still on the mend from a turbulent divorce, Jack's investigation into matters of the heart takes him to hidden places no one should ever have to go.

Review Quotes

Praise for Black Widow:

Winner of the 2017 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year

Shortlisted for the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger

Winner of the 2016 McIlvanney Prize for Scottish crime book of the year

"Hair-raising . . . [A] devilishly complicated mystery. Don't even try to guess the outcome."--Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review

"Black Widow is probably the best thing I read last year!"--Diana Gabaldon

"Brookmyre, always excellent at building beguiling narrative puzzles, darts nimbly here among the police, Parlabane, and Diana, making Black Widow . . . a novel that unspools via multiple stories and strands . . . Brookmyre excels at melding the true chills of a psychological thriller with rollicking--if dark--humor. A witty and wild page-turner, Black Widow shines in showcasing this winning combination."--Boston Globe

"A tour de force. It's such an important book, with fantastic characters--a really strong novel . . . It keeps us guessing not just who did it, but why they did it, and cements Chris's place in the pantheon of great crime writers."--Elly Griffiths, Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award judge

"Exceptionally good--a knotty mystery that's . . . one of the most perceptive excavations of a dysfunctional marriage I can remember reading . . . Brookmyre plays a cunning, careful game, allowing Diana to co-narrate so plausibly that we are never sure if she is genuinely empathetic (and therefore unfairly maligned as a psychopath) or just brilliant at emulating emotion for our benefit."--Guardian (UK)

"Intent on leading readers off course in their suspicions, Brookmyre deliberately takes us down a dark and winding road with multiple turnoffs to keep our attention rapt with every increasingly-quick flip of the page . . . A tense and provocative read."--Entertainment Weekly

"Mystery plotting at its highest level, all the disparate strands forming into a web and then into a knot that tightens around victim, detective and reader . . . Top marks."--Spectator (UK)

"Brookymre has always dealt with current issues and trends, and in Black Widow he tackles online harassment and bullying, particularly of women . . . An intelligently entertaining novel from a writer whose work has grown and evolved over the years to make him one of the most interesting of the 'tartan noir' set. Never predictable and always contemporary, Brookmyre has, like his most popular creation, become even more interesting as he's matured."--National (Scotland)

"Readers are in for a wild ride . . . Many thrillers have shocking endings, but Black Widow has a humdinger. Brookmyre takes us from shock to shock . . . immensely satisfying . . . Brookmyre has always been known for writing mind-twisting novels, and this eye-popping book cements his already solid reputation."--Mystery Scene

"Just when you think you've got things straight, Christopher Brookmyre throws you another curveball in his newest book, Black Widow. Brookmyre builds layers of intrigue like a chef crafting a multilayer cake, with each layer providing another tantalizing clue or red herring to keep readers guessing."--BookPage

"A consistently gripping read . . . Full of engaging twists, Brookmyre's latest thriller featuring unconventional journalist Jack Parlabane is as compelling as it is clever."--Kirkus Reviews

"Told in elegant slices, cutting between a courtroom trial and the events surrounding it, the story's characters are compelling and the mystery is evoked with scalpel-like precision by the talented Brookmyre."--Daily Mail (UK)

"It's only as you're racing through the final tense pages, full of betrayal, revenge and shocking revelations, that you realise the brilliance behind the constructions of this utterly compulsive, whipsmart thriller."--Sunday Mirror (UK)

"Enthralling and entertaining."--Daily Express (UK)

"Just when you think the plot can't twist again, it takes a new turn. Even the twists have twists."--McIlvanney Prize judging panel

"A biting satire, nuanced enough to avoid polemic, about the medical profession."--Sunday Telegraph (UK), 4/5 stars

"A smart thriller with a killer twist at the end."--Irish Independent (UK)

"Brookmyre opens the novel with a dramatic court scene, followed by a series of clever twists that challenge the reader to work out who is the victim of an extremely sophisticated crime."--Sunday Times (UK)

"A compelling and memorable tale for readers of Tana French and those who enjoy the British TV show Happy Valley."--Booklist

"Black Widow is a powerful, captivating and brilliantly twisted piece of crime fiction. But it is also more than that, moving beyond genre conventions to provide a feminist exploration of gender inequalities in the workplace and a humorous parody of its own narrative expectation . . . A thoroughly enjoyable read."--The Skinny (UK)

About the Author

Christopher Brookmyre is the author of eighteen previous novels, including his acclaimed and internationally bestselling series featuring Jasmine Sharp and Catherine McLeod. He has won many awards for his work, including the Critics' First Blood Award, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize, and the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award.