Black Widow: A Jack Parlabane Thriller (Jack Palabane Thrillers, 2) - Hardcover

Brookmyre, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802125735 ISBN 13: 9780802125736

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2016

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.

About this title

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.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

I regard the police officers standing next to me. There are no cuffs on my wrists but I can still feel the cold steel like I can still feel the sting of humiliation that comes with wearing them. It clings to me every second I remain in the dock. There is a burning coal of moral opprobrium in the black pupil of every eye focused on me.
As the trial proceeds, the court will hear how a driven woman acted out of the oldest and sincerest of motives: to be with the man she was destined for. My crime and my actions will seem cold and heinous to everyone else because they can never know what I felt.
I think of all the anger and hate I have gone through since my arrest. It has taken time, but I have come to realise I must make my peace with what I have done. I need to take ownership of it. I need to forgive myself, because nobody else’s forgiveness matters.
In the end, regardless of how my actions are judged, I know that this is about love.

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0802125735
• ISBN 13: 9780802125736
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 432