Very dark, bleak, unsettling mystery. A bit too dark and slow for my taste.
Interesting characters with secret pasts. A twist at the end that you might not see coming.
I did not like the format...flipping back and forth between characters and I thought it was a bit long on describing every body stance, thought, room description, etc.
I was given this ARC in exchange for an honest review

I found this book hard to get into. I think it took too long to get to the cold case part/establish Morgan’s character. I like books where the narrator switches between characters but I’m not sure that worked here.

I really enjoyed this one! I felt a bit of apprehension in the first half that the Ruins and everything we didn’t know about they would make the story weird or unrealistic, but it ended up having a really nice twist and added dimension to the plot.

Morgan is a likeable character, as is Hudson. The Reynolds’ family is obviously full of secrets, but it’s not immediately obvious who’s trustworthy and who’s not.

I don’t want to spoil anything, so I won’t say much more, but this one had me captivated, especially in the last half! Excellent read.

I have to say that I am very impressed with this author. She had me guessing until the very end.
Morgan had a very dark and chilling childhood. Her mother left her with her Aunt who basically sold her to perverts and pedophiles, and anyone who enjoyed beating up a child. What saved her was her Aunt dropping dead outside her home. What had been done to Morgan was unimaginable to any sane person. She was put in foster care and later lived with a family, in the same place as the house of horrors.
Morgan witnesses a murder in the corner store. The person murdered was a retired police officer, turned PI., Garrison..
This event brings two cases together, a cold case and the murder of Garrison.
Inspector Ryan Hudson has been assigned the cold case. But the killing of Garrison is personal to him. Garrison was his partner and he needed to find his friends killer.
So begins the cat and mouse game, the more we learn about Morgan, the more we realize the 20 year old cold case of missing person Clive Reynolds, involves Morgan as well. Solving one case will help solve the other.
I look forward to reading more books by this author. Great bookclub read! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book. I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5.

First off, thank you to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for access to read this book before release.

Morgan is back in her home town where it all began. She was "gifted" a skeleton key and a note that pointed her back to her hometown. She is on a mission to figure out what this key opens. After a photoshoot gig and a date, she stops to get gas and the station is robbed where a police officer is shit dead. Hudson is the police officers best friend and he is on a mission to find out who killed his friend, only he is put on a different assignment. Clive Renolds's Porsche is pulled out of a body of water. It has been there for 20 years. No one knows where Clive is or if he's even alive. 3 mysteries to solve....

In the beginning, this book drug on and was a bit confusing, but past the halfway point it started to really make sense and sped up. We get to see Morgan's mystery unravel and Hudson's assignment unravel as well.

My favorite character was the Bart Simpson doll. What a comfort item. Love it.

Read if you like investigative work, Jameson shots, and can't seem to get away from your hometown.

Quite the story : why do people think they are chosen? Really can you not know who is the blame Families are funny because of money jealousy ! Need to live your life

Clive Reynolds disappeared twenty years ago in Black Harbor and his wife was suspected of killing him, but no body was ever found.
Morgan Mori is hired to photograph a Reynolds family Christmas and is surprised that the family is nothing like she imagined. They seem so normal. After the party, Morgan witnesses a cop being gunned down and now his former partner, Ryan Hudson wants to solve his case.
When Hudson is put on the unsolved case of Clive Reynolds after new evidence appears during the investigation of his friend, secrets that have been kept for years will be discovered.
Morgan has some demons in her past that she has tried to keep buried but someone is trying to unravel them. Hudson has a few secrets of his own that could destroy everything he worked for. Will they be able to find the killer and the truth about Clive Reynolds?

I couldn’t put this one down. So many twists and turns. Wow! It’s my first book by this author and I can’t wait to read the next one.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I received a free copy from NetGalley. Forced back to her hometown she must face her past while trying to come up with a new future. Everyone has secrets and no one maybe telling the truth, but how many might lose their lives to protect those secrets and will cold cases be solved if the secrets are found out? Very dark, with some very difficult topics covered (child abuse), this is not a cozy mystery.

Hannah Morrisey has surprised me again with her intense storytelling and twists throughout. I was gasping and pausing in surprise at irregular intervals through the whole book. After Hello, Transcriber, I didn’t think Black Harbor could get any darker but Ms Morrisey proved me wrong. It’s appropriately named, that’s for sure. Great unputdownable read!

My thanks to.Net Galley and St Martin's Press for this advanced copy to review.

Morgan Mori is leaving a job photographing The Reynolds Family holiday party,stops at a gas station ,and witnesses an officer being murdered. What she doesn't realize is this murder is linked to a 20 year cold case involving the Reynolds family and a link to Morgans past. With the help.of investigator Ryan Hudson, Morgan is forced to face her past.

I enjoyed this. Lots of twists. Only negative comment is about some torture scenes.

4 stars. This dark thriller was terrific! I did think that the story was a bit stale in the beginning but wow, what an ending! So many twists and turns that I did not expect. Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

The Widowmaker is the second book by Morrisey and unfortunately this one didn't do it for me either. I was confused with the amount of characters to keep up with and I didn't identify with any characters. I usually don't mind coincidences in books because that is what makes the drama, but there were just too many in here for me.
I also felt like the ruins part was too vague for me to truly understand. However, the last 20% was outstanding and I really loved the ending!

This was my first read by this author. I'm a huge fan of murder mysteries. I loved the idea behind this one. The characters were decent. It was ok but there are much better mystery writers out there in my opinion.

This is an excellent book. Full of personifications and other figurative language, the writing is beautiful. The story switches between two main characters until they become entwined with each other. There is a strong plot that will keep you reading late into the night. The characters are fully developed and engaging. I highly recommend!

This book was so good! I want to see more from this author in the future!! I couldn't put this book down. What a page turner!!!

Morgan Mori returns to Black Harbor to unravel the mystery of her past and the secret behind the skelton key she has and ends up witnessing the murder of a cop. This brings her into Ryan Hudson's orbit who is the partner of the cop who's death she witnessed. When her search for her answers and his search for his answers begin to intersect, they are drawn closer together. personally, as well as in their individual searches. The story has many twists down done dark passage ways and not necessarily ones that appeal to me. It moves swiftly and surely to a conclusion for both that I did not seem coming.
Good character development and some very good descriptive interrogation scenes.

Try as I might, I just couldn't get invested in this novel. It felt implausible, and a little forced. From the other reviews I saw, many people enjoyed and were entertained by it. I just couldn't buy in.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review,

I read this book a week ago and it was not remarkable enough for me to remember much more than that I liked it and that the title was pretty much coming out of nowhere. The Widowmaker is a nickname for a fast car that one character owned. It is really not tied to the plot, it could have been any car, but has a catchy name.

The plot was good, with a wealthy family that you just know is too good to be true and a sweet but messed up protagonist. The villain was not too hard to guess, but getting to the finish was good.

I really, really enjoyed reading this book! It was thrilling and crazy and it kept me hooked the entire time!

No sophomore slump for Miss Morrissey. “The Widowmaker” is a great second novel. Morgan Mori endured a horrific childhood, experiencing things no child should ever have to experience. She used her childhood trauma to create a rather unconventional business that allowed her to enact revenge on people with proclivities similar to those who harmed her as a child. However, her business has been burned down and she has been left with a message and key directing her back to childhood hometown of Black Harbor, a place to which she never wanted to return. Back in Black Harbor, Morgan is making a living as a photographer, and she has been hired to take photos at the Christmas party of Eleanor Reynolds and her family. The media tagged Eleanor with the moniker “widow maker” twenty years ago after her husband (Clive) disappeared shortly after a $11 million life insurance policy was taken out on him with her as beneficiary. The police could never prove she was responsible for her husband’s disappearance, but that has not stopped her from becoming one of the most infamous residents of Black Harbor.

The night she photographs the Reynolds’ Christmas party, Morgan is also a witness to the murder of a police officer (Brix Garrison) at a gas station, with the killer stealing her car (and therefore also her camera equipment).

The search for the murder weapon turns up a 1978 Porsche 930 Turbo (which also carried the moniker “widowmaker”) that belonged to Clive Reynolds and went missing when he did. Garrison’s former partner (Inspector Ryan Hudson) is assigned the cold case of Reynold’s disappearance, largely to keep him out of the investigation of the Garrison's death. [Garrison (and Kole (whom readers might remember from "Hello, Transcriber)) were also the first officers on the case when Eleanor Reynolds reported Clive missing.] However, Hudson cannot stay away, and it becomes apparent that Garrison's murder, the cold case, and Morgan Mori may all be connected.

The book contains a number of enjoyable plot twists, with the secrets deeper, darker and more complex than they at first seem. I liked the interactions among the characters, especially Morgan and Hudson. Morgan is quite a colorful character and makes a great protagonist.

I received a copy of the e-book via NetGalley in exchange for a review.