Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

The Black Widow
The Black Widow
The Black Widow
Audiobook11 hours

The Black Widow

Written by Wendy Corsi Staub

Narrated by Allyson Ryan

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

()

About this audiobook

In a chilling new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub, one woman looking for love online is entangled in a killer's terrifying scheme.

In the moonlight, shovelfuls of earth fall on a wooden crate at the bottom of a deep pit. Soon the hole will be filled and covered over with leaves, erasing all trace of the victim below, waking to the horror of being buried alive.

Newly divorced Gaby Duran isn't really expecting to find her soul mate on a dating site like InTune. She just needs a distraction from pining over her ex-husband, Ben, and the happy marriage they once had. And she's wise enough to know that online, the truth doesn't always match the profile. Almost everyone lies a little—or a lot.

But Gaby quickly discovers there is much more at stake than her lonely heart. Local singles are going missing after making online connections. And a predator is searching again for the perfect match. One who will fulfill every twisted desire . . . or die trying.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateFeb 24, 2015
ISBN9780062384157
Author

Wendy Corsi Staub

USA Today and New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub is the award-winning author of more than seventy novels and has twice been nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. She lives in the New York City suburbs with her husband and their two children.

More audiobooks from Wendy Corsi Staub

Related to The Black Widow

Related audiobooks

Suspense For You

View More

Related articles

Reviews for The Black Widow

Rating: 4.1191806445065176 out of 5 stars
4/5

537 ratings33 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I would have given it four stars simply for the story, which was good enough for four stars, but because it's an audiobook, the narrating can make or break the book, and in my opinion, this one was a 'break' situation. It wasn't even for the actual actress' voice; that was fine. The problem was that she didn't even pause for a beat or two in between points of view. Regardless of the fact that in the physical book there is a big space when the story changes points of view, she just continued reading like there was only a period. It threw me off so many times during the reading, that I had to rewind it a lot of times to understand what was going on. It'd jump from one point of view to the other in a blink, and it was so confusing. Good story, though.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Good but not her best, a little drug out in places. I enjoyed the second half of the book but I wish the wrap up was a little more.....I feel like characters were just dropped and forgotten. However, I still love her and I will be waiting for her release in the Fall!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Decent novel. Not bad. For confused for some time. Ok
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story was good. The narrator made it hard to follow. She'd switch to a new section and new character's story all in the same voice with barely a pause for breath. It made it really hard to figure out what was going on.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Some twists I didn’t see coming….others I thought I would see, I didn’t. In some areas the narrative is a bit too long (when they are both on the beach separately). Ivy was misplaced throughout. Someone who doesn’t know salt can go on margarita glasses does not sound like she would be savvy enough to deduce the facts that she had. She was really a sad character. I liked the female narrator’s voice changes. The male’s was okay but not as defined as hers. Would have liked to know more about the detectives who seemed interesting. Also, Jazz could have been fleshed out a bit more. Finally, a bonus happenstance run-in with Ryan to see what happened to him would have been great - but not necessary. All in all - good book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I liked this book but the narrator really is fabulous!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I thought this was a pretty good listen. It kept me wondering and had a pretty good ending.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The story line and the narration, both kept me from turning off.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Awesome book, great narration. On the edge suspense. The end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I thoroughly enjoyed this story. While it did seem to drag at places - the pacing slowed too much - overall it was a great story and worth listening to the end. The ending was surprising as well, which is always good. I would have liked more police procedural elements to this, as well as the ending not being somewhat rushed, though.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    VERY slow and boring. I barely made it through the entire book

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The author appears to have two purposes in this book: to entertain and to educate. The basic premise is to tell a story about anti-terrorist actions by a group of mainly Israeli operators. It's quite violent, as is of course the actions of terrorists. It appears to be written in the height of the power of ISIS in the 2010s. To some degree it examines human responses to terrorists actions and counter-terrorists actions, by all sides/players. The second purpose is perhaps not so strong in the main section of the book, but the prologue fleshes this out. The book covers displacement of peoples when modern Israel was established, the actions of ISIS locally and internationally (in its effect on people, bombings, destruction of monuments), and also the recruitment of foreign nationals to its cause. The details of surveillance are interesting, but I suspect a tiny bit fanciful at times.It you are into thrillers, this one is worth reading.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very good as usual. Gabriel is now juggling fatherhood and the demands of the Israeli Secret Service.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I haven't been reading the Gabriel Allon books in order, and I am therefore missing a lot of background for this one, which is rather late in the series and refers to many legendary exploits of the hero of which I am unaware. I read The Kill Artist, the first book in the series, and nothing else until this.But of course spy thrillers don't generally need too much background and set up. In this one, Allon is restoring art and inactive, and the world believes he is dead, a ruse that was apparently necessary as part of a previous mission. He is also in line to become Chief of the Office, the Israeli spy agency, at which time it will be announced that he is indeed alive and well. But before that, there is a terrible terrorist attack in Paris, masterminded by a new villain, "Saladin", who is an ISIS operative. In this attack, one of the victims has a history with Allon, and leaves her previously unknown Van Gogh painting to him in her will. French intelligence wants the Legend to help them in the investigation, so Allon works this one last case before ascending to chief.The book then follows the recruitment and training of a French-Israeli Jewish woman of Morrocan extraction who speaks fluent Arabic and is tasked to infiltrate the ISIS network. We then follow her and her handlers as they penetrate the network and try to stop the next big attack, in Washington.Lots of cliche, but of course that's the genre. Silva's books are a little heavier on spycraft and tension, and lighter on gratuitous violence. Great airplane/beach reading, though, a real page-turner.The payoff has plenty of gratuitous violence, of course, and sets us up for the next book. I didn't love the ending, but don't want to say more as I don't want this to be a spoiler review.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Silva's portral of the world's and Israel fight against terrorism is riveting in its detail and frightening in its accuracy in predicting real world events and struggles. The meticulous construction of scenes, events and characters make the reader feel like more like a participant than an observer.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A very quick and exciting read. Reminiscent of Ian Fleming's Bond books...Gideon Allon is a Bondian superhero. He has more dimension, and thinks with more insight, and is not a womanizer. But he has the sadism of Bond and the win at all costs attitude. There is also a tad too much Israeli glorification. In the Allon books, the CIA, MI-6, the French...all are no match for the Mossad and come to Jerusalem with hats in hand desperate for the Jews to solve their intractable problems. However, with those quibbles out of the way, the book is a pleasure. Readers can only wonder whether spies are as brave and altruistic as they seem to be here. The Mossad succeeds in placing an agent at the highest levels of ISIS...again, something that the CIA et al are incapable of doing. The agent finds out information about an upcoming act of terrorism and must get the information back. How? As good as the Israelis are, so is ISIS this year's model of bloodthirsty Nazi. They know no bounds in their cruelty. So clearly this is a black vs. white confrontation, and guess who wins....As a series, Silva still invests his works with juice, and they are fun, full of serious detail and analysis, and somewhat addictive.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Gabriel Allon, part time art restorer, and full time Israeli super spy, is about to be promoted to lead Israel's secret intelligence service. But before taking on this relatively safe desk job, he gets called to the field one more time to save the world from an ISIS terrorist group that deploys women suicide bombers. Fast paced and filled with twists and thrills this was one of those books that is hard to put down. I definitely want to go back and read these books in order -- what a fun ride!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Daniel Silva does it again! Another great Gabriel Allon story.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    In my opinion it is somewhat difficult to get overly excited about works with the same repetitive character, Gabriel Allon. The book takes about 10-15% of the initial story reintroducing the supporting characters and providing their relationship or experience with the main character. The ending then takes about 10% to update the status of the main and supporting characters so as to lay the groundwork for the next adventure. Within this context it is difficult for me to rate the work much higher than 3 1/2 stars. I thought that the primary story reflected in the Black Widow of a French, Jewish, female doctor being indoctrinated to infiltrate ISIS was not only interesting, but timely. The book was also quite informative with regard to the historical confrontation of the Jewish state, Israel, with that of Palestine. Within the context noted above , I enjoyed the book and would recommend it for a quick read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another excellent story in this series. The plots are always a bit frightening because they are so current. This one more so. Especially because I just spent time in Washington DC.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The Black Widow, Daniel Silva's latest, is a great thriller starring one of my favorite characters in the genre, Gabriel Allon of Israel's secret intelligence service. It's a book I couldn't put down and can't stop thinking about. It also scared the crap out of me. The story begins with an ISIS soft-target terrorist attack in Paris, followed by one in Amsterdam. Word is, America is next and it'll be big. One of the victims in Paris was a woman who Gabriel had encountered in a previous operation as well as several Jews, since the attack had taken place in a center devoted to the study of anti-Semitism. The head of Israel's secret service leveraged Gabriel's previous relationship to the woman to get him to return to active clandestine duty (his death had been 'staged' at the end of a prior operation, so as far as most of the world knew, he was dead). A decision was made to identify a woman that could infiltrate the upper reaches of the ISIS organization to gain intelligence about upcoming attacks. I really don't want to spoil any of the additional action (and this book is chock full of action), but suffice to say that the remainder of the story revolves around the identification of a candidate, her training, her recruitment into ISIS, and the subsequent activities surrounding the attack on American soil. The writing, plot development, tradecraft, and dialogue are all top notch. The pace is fast and there's a good bit of violence involved (which makes sense since, after all, it's ISIS). The last section of the book is the really scary part- suffice to say I hope we have several Gabriel Allons on our side in the 'war against terror'. This is a dynamite book, one of Silva's best, and I highly recommend it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Silva is among my favorite authors; as he is to many other fans. I read the Black Widow and was struck of its similarity to several of his other books: A terrible terrorist deed has occurred. An agent is planted inside the belly of the beast, a woman. The plant is discovered - captured - almost executed but at the last second is rescued. She decides to remain in the spy service in some undetermined capacity. The arch enemy executes another horrible deed and escapes. In other words, the next episode is in the works. Great writing. Exciting. Yet - I am disappointed in Silva. There is really nothing new in this novel. Just a rehashing of many of the same plots and the same characters. I expected something more. I expected something different.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The setting is Paris. The time is now. The book and its theme are sadly very current. Before the book begins, the author explains that he began to write this novel prior to the actual terrorist attacks that took place in Paris in which Jews were targeted. His prescience is not a badge of honor he wished to wear.In the book, three 12-year olds, two boys and a girl, were viciously attacked by Islamic extremists, in an apparent overt act of anti-Semitism. The attackers were heard to chant a statement in Arabic referring to the Caliphate. The rise of these attacks against Jews in recent months, which had been treated lightly by the French government in an attempt to maintain a politically correct environment, avoiding unnecessary incidents within the Muslim community, led to a gathering of prominent Jewish leaders who will attempt, together, to find a solution to the re-emergence of assaults reminiscent of the 1930’s and 40’s and the rise of Hitler.As the meeting begins, there is an enormous explosion that takes the lives of most of the attendees. This bombing is followed by the cold-blooded murder of all those who managed to survive the attack, even those already gravely injured. Then the attackers disappeared into the street, seemingly without a trace. The Isis inspired assault was part of a plan for a series of more and more devastating attacks, some which would soon reach the shores of the United States. The Isis leader wanted to draw America more fully into the conflict between Radical Islam and the rest of the world, hoping that doing so would further the spread of the Caliphate throughout the modern world.Stage left, enter Gabriel Allon, an Israeli who had been rumored to be dead and duly mourned, a master spy who is very much alive and planning to soon come out of his “retirement” to take over the leadership of the Mossad, commonly referred to as “The Office”. Israelis had attended the important meeting of Jewish leaders who fought for the cause of Judaism, and they had been assassinated along with all the others. Israel had been provoked into action by this mass murder and was anxious to find the perpetrators and prevent further violence.At first, the search began quietly, with Israel, France and Jordan working together, but soon, America and England were drawn into the effort, as well, as attacks spread and continued. Would they find the assassins before there was another attack? How many would die in America and abroad before the assassins were brought to justice? How would they capture them when their trail was cold and the moving parts were not necessarily aware of each other? Even those involved within the corps of Isis were eliminated at the drop of a hat if they are thought to be compromised and a leak was possible. Isis is a brutal enemy that must be brought down, but will the forces attempting to defeat them be successful?When it was discovered that a man called “Saladin”, whose true identity was unknown, was leading the current violent effort for radical Islam, all agreed that he must be stopped. An Undercover agent was planted within the organization, against all odds, and she faced grave danger. Would she survive? Will she alone be successful in bringing this Isis cell and Saladin down? The thriller twists and turns as the terror spreads and the investigation becomes more and more dangerous for all involved.The book is narrated really well by George Guidall who always does a good job of keeping the listener engaged with his expressive presentation, however, the book often rambles and becomes confusing, as it travels from country to country and more and more characters enter each scene. Perhaps a print version would be beneficial.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Gabriel Allon returns, this time to grapple with an ISIS mastermind. ISIS has detonated a massive bomb in Paris; the French government is desperate to eliminate the man responsible before he can strike again.In a tale that seems snatched from the headlines, this powerful tale of intrigue and terror will keep readers on the edge of their seats until the final unforeseen twist that ends the story. Well-developed, believable characters, a sense of imminent danger, and a strong sense of place all combine to create an unputdownable book.Highly recommended.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Couldn't put it down!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Riveting! This book's about ISIS and the pursuit of it by "the office" It's fiction, but the author prefaces the book with a statement about prescient writing. Natalie becomes an embedded mole in ISIS and takes down a network. That the "spy" networks of several countries can work together is incredible beyond belief. It's the last Gabriel Alon book and as have been promised by the last few books, he finally becomes the "Chief" of the "Office". I hope Silva has a few more stories to tell.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have been reading Silva books for a long time and they never disappoint. The Black Widow holds true to form. It's a timely novel that incorporates the ongoing threat of ISIS. Reading Silva is always educational. It is good for a reader to be exposed to a point of view other then then the American point of view. To often we don't understand how world events affect other countries and their governance. Strongly recommend this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book is more of a history/how to book than a novel. I missed the interaction of Allon's entire crew as it has been in the previous books in the series, but once the action starts it is as riveting as Silva's stories usually are.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Excellent book. Also know there will be more.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Academicians like to debate the difference between genre and literary fiction. The former is usually escapist and requires predictable elements. The latter is more equivocal and unpredictable. Literary fiction is not about escaping reality but, instead, explores it. Neil Gaiman probably has one of the best summaries of the debate: “I think that there’s a huge difference between, for example, a novel with spies in it and a spy novel; or a novel with cowboys in it and a cowboy novel.” With some well-constructed genre fiction, this distinction seems artificial, however, since these novels explore important themes and have nuanced characters while also providing a thrilling yarn. Daniel Silva’s THE BLACK WIDOW is such a novel. One of Silva’s repeating themes is Israel as the champion of the Jews. His characters come to Israel from places where Jews are powerless and victimized. Silva’s Israeli characters are the antithesis of that image. Mikhail, one of the stronger characters in the novel represents this theme. “He was a new person, a new Jew. He was an Israeli.” Dr. Natalie Mizrahi is another. Born and educated as a doctor in France, she emigrated to Israel and displays exceptional courage and resourcefulness as a lead character in this novel. Posing as Leila Hadawi, a Palestinian refugee, she is tasked by Israeli intelligence to infiltrate an ISIS-like terrorist network to learn the identity of its mysterious leader, Saladin. Of course, this is genre fiction, so many of the characters are one-dimensional. Saladin is the evil enemy mastermind; Safia Bourihane is the terrorist, who as the “black widow” of the book’s title, has a monomania: to revenge the death of her terrorist lover. Spy networks from Israel, France, Jordan and the US collaborate but, as characters, most lack nuance. In fact, they seem to be present mainly as foils for Gabriel Allon.Natalie Mizrahi and Gabriel Allon are the notable exceptions. These characters are well developed, nuanced and interesting. Natalie is a skilled physician, but expresses doubts about her competence. She is close to her parents, also living in Israel. She is ambivalent about her assignment and doubts her ability to masquerade as a “black widow” in the caliphate. Remarkably, Silva shows moments when her Leila persona so completely takes over her consciousness that the reader wonders if her psyche may be permanently damaged. Of course, Silva has been developing the Gabriel Allon character over multiple novels. Throughout, he resists presenting a superhero. Instead we see a complex man. He is passionate about his work and Israel, but fatalistic about it. Unlike Israel’s leadership, he senses that his cause is, in the final analysis, hopeless. He is both an action figure and an artist, restoring priceless artworks. He despises violence, but has been an assassin. He has lost one family, but found another and is extremely protective of the latter. The writing is detailed and unrelenting leading to a satisfying, yet ambiguous ending. Silva’s many settings are all skillfully evoked. These include Israeli intelligence, which he calls “the Office,” Paris, Washington, Jerusalem and Syria. The locales are so meticulously described that one is tempted to look them up on Google Maps. It is undeniable that Silva writes spy novels. But their literary value is also undeniable. They argue elegantly for less polarity in the literary vs. genre debate.