MPOV: Black Widow [Jack Parlabane, no.7] (e-ARC)

Note: I have received this e-ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange of my honest review.

A young Diana, over-shadowed by her weak brothers as her father favoured boys, strived to be the best hoping to gain her father's love. In turn, it made her father more bitter towards her. As an adult, she's a successful surgeon and also blogs actively about sexism under this pseudonym, Scalpelgirl. One day, someone seeking revenge has  leaked her true identity. She lost everything and moved on to a smaller town, escaping the wrath of the city.

At Iverness, she met and fell in love with Peter. He was everything Diana had ever wanted hence when he proposed, she quickly agrees. However, life changed after marriage and Peter became more distant. Citing NDA whenever Diana probed, Peter seemed to be working on an e-commerce project which will be a breakthrough apparently. However, the more Peter distanced himself, the more suspicious Diana became. She began going through Peter's laptop whenever he's away and discovered many secrets, unraveling slowly but surely until the truth prevails.

To be honest, the title and the cover were the reasons this book has piqued my interest. However, the story itself was different. I have not read Chris Brookmyre's books before and this happened to be a series! When I found out it's the 7th Jack Parlabane's installment on Goodreads, I was thinking this must be good.

This book has been divided into 3 parts. When I started the first, it was kinda slow for me. It's an introduction of the 3 protagonists in this story, Jack, Diana and Ali. So after breezing through part 1, it's a flashback to before and intermittently to current among the 3 of them in part 2. It was seemingly intriguing here with Diana's marriage crumbling, Peter's suspicious death and Lucy, Peter's sister, listing Jack's help to uncover the truth. Jack is a reporter who's famous for unconventional ways in getting the truth to the news' frontpage. Ali, a policewoman who has responded to Peter's car crash, had a hunch on who's the killer and went all out to nail her.

Part 3 is where everything changed! The story ended differently, which was truly unexpected! I was enthralled as I would never thought it would lead to such ending. Chris is definitely a master story weaver! Though it's the 7th book, the intro did justice and I was able to read on without much 'blank space'. The flow was smooth, going through back and forth, among the 3 protagonists. His prose was straightforward yet able to twist and turn effortlessly. Truly a master story teller. 

I truly recommend this book, a worthy read with much unexpected twist. Unfortunately, I'm currently tied up with many projects in hand, I'll definitely look up the rest of the series once I'm able to :-)

In short, Black Widow is basically a story of sexism, bullying and greed.

Goodreads rating: 4.24
My rating: 4/5

Author: Chris Brookmyre

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press

Published date: November 1st, 2016
Genre: mystery, crime, thriller