The Widower’s Wife

In this chilling cat-and-mouse tale from Holahan (Dark Turns), insurance investigator Ryan Monahan suspects that Tom Bacon is one of those liars “who weaved falsehoods into the very fabric of their lives until they wore their fictions like fine-knit sweaters.” At the very least, Ryan knows that Tom has something to hide regarding his 31-year-old wife, Ana Bacon, who fell off a cruise ship one night near the Bahamas. Witnesses said that Tom was at the pool at the time, nowhere near his wife when she went over. The ship’s security cameras recorded Ana’s plunge into the ocean, but her body was never recovered. Flashbacks to a few months before the cruise reveal that Tom, who recently lost his job, persuaded Ana, an administrator at a hedge fund, to take out a large life insurance policy. Ryan keeps digging away at inconsistencies in Tom’s story while a surprise twist raises the suspense. It takes a while until all the threads are unraveled, but Holahan keeps the action going. Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch. (Aug.)