Sample 1: Fiction – Mystery/Thriller
Title: The Silent Widow by Tasha Black
Genre: Thriller / Crime
Word Count: ~
200
Tasha Black's The Silent Widow is a taut thriller that grips from the first page and doesn't let go. The novel follows Dr. Lena Voss, a forensic
psychologist, as she gets pulled into a series of strange murders that all seem to be traced back to her own past.
Black’s writing is thin but effective, establishing a taut atmosphere without sacrificing pages for character development. Lena is a well-defined
main character—smart, troubled, and tipsily balanced on the fence between right and wrong. The story itself is a mingling of deduction and
suspense with a thoroughly satisfying resolution.
Yet, several of the secondary characters—chief among them the lead detective—are underdeveloped, and the key twist that turns the plot in a
new direction a little past the halfway point may be the kind of thing genre veterans see coming. Still, the end delivers a gut punch that turns
everything we thought we understood about the story on its head.
An alluring and dangerous read for those who liked Gone Girl and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Judgment: A hair-raising, expertly architected thriller of the mind, featuring a not-so-perfect but truly captivating protagonist.