Book Review: The Paris Widow | Kimberly S Belle

This is a spoiler-free review of The Paris Widow by Kimberly Belle. If you’re looking for more on how The Paris Widow ends, head over to my spoiler review where I get into the ending and my thoughts on the twists and turns.

What did I think?

I’ve been a fan of Kimberly Belle’s for years, ever since I first read The Marriage Lie. That is the book that hooked me—I can’t resist a book about a missing husband and the lies uncovered after his disappearance. In many ways, The Paris Widow revolves around a similar concept, though it is a unique story. A perfect husband, a deadly accident, and a whole lot of secrets she never knew about the person she was married to… Sounds great, right?

The book opens with a bang—an unknown woman is in line at customs in Nice, France. She’s heading home after a long trip, but the agent clearing her finds something stitched inside her bag. It’s a book, and it’s one she has never seen before. But that doesn’t stop them from arresting her for what they found.

In present day, a married couple Stella and Adam at the tail end of a three-week vacation in Europe. Stella is well-traveled and she knows the best gallettes in the city are at a little café that Adam must try before they head to the airport. After their lunch, Adam realizes he left his glasses behind and sends Stella ahead to their hotel to get their bags. But before they can reunite to head to the airport, there’s an explosion.

In the wake of the explosion, Stella frantically searches for Adam. But it soon becomes clear that he was likely a victim. Over the next few days, Stella prays for news of Adam’s safety. But as the police continue to pepper her with questions, she soon learns that Adam wasn’t the man she thought he was. He’s alleged to be a dealer of rare and stolen antiquities heavily involved with the criminal underworld. Was Adam a victim of the explosion, or the target of it?

The opening prologue is a jaw-dropper, and from that point on I was invested in the story. It seemed likely that the woman in the story is Stella, but we don’t know for sure, nor do we know when that happens. Belle provides enough of a glimpse into Stella and Adam’s blissful marriage to feel the devastation of Adam going missing during the explosion. However, when Stella learns he has been under investigation, everything is thrown into a new light.

Belle is at her best with a mystery involving a central couple. I liked that Adam was missing in the present storyline, and Stella was forced to confront the fact that her husband had a secret life. But how much should she believe? It’s hard to reconcile the version of Adam the police are painting with the man she knows. She can’t help but think about the man who planted tulips because they are her favorite. Was it all a lie?

The book is largely narrated by Stella, though interspersed are brief chapters from Adam’s perspective the three weeks leading up to the bombing. I think the book would have actually been stronger without Adam’s chapters. I found the Adam narrating to us to be kind of boring, where the Adam seen through Stella’s eyes was mysterious and vibrant.

The mystery kept me engaged the whole way through. There were plenty of twists and turns as Stella learned more about her husband. If you’ve read Kimberly Belle before, then you probably know that her big twists tend to come slightly before the end of the book, and that was certainly the case here. She likes to give her characters some sort of closure, and we got that here.

Head over to my spoiler review if you want to know how The Paris Widow ends and what I thought of the ending!

What is The Paris Widow about? (official synopsis)

A dream vacation turns deadly when secrets from the past catch up to a married couple in Paris in this new edge-of-your-seat thriller from USA Today bestselling author, Kimberly Belle.

When Stella met Adam, she thought she had finally found a nice, normal guy—a welcome change from her previous boyfriend and her precarious jetsetter lifestyle with him. But her secure world comes crashing down when Adam goes missing after an explosion in the city square. Unable to reach him, she panics.

As the French police investigate, it’s revealed that Adam was on their radar as a dealer of rare and stolen antiquities with a long roster of criminal clients. Reeling from this news, Stella is determined not to leave Paris until she has the full story. Was Adam a random victim or the target of the explosion? And why is someone following her through the streets of Paris?

An irresistible, fast-paced read set in some of Europe’s most inviting locales, The Paris Widow explores how sinister secrets of the past stay with us—no matter how far we travel.

Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing for my copy. Opinions are my own.