Our story begins with a failed armed robbery. Three of the four-man team responsible, Harry, Joe and Terry, perish in the act leaving three widows, Dolly, Linda and Shirley. Dolly gains access to Harry's lockup and there finds all his secrets in his ledgers. Amongst which are the plans for the botched heist. Dolly recruits the other two widows and together they set off to finish what their men couldn't.
Well, that's it in a nutshell. But the book is so much more than three women and a shotgun! For starters there are four of them as they follow the original plan to the letter. And then there's the whole empowerment thing which was handled very well indeed. There's also a side order of trust issues and a generous dollop of secrets, lies and duplicitous behaviour. All served up with a large glass of humour and a shot of slapstick! But all of that really needs to be discovered as the author intends as she leads her characters (and indeed the reader) a merry dance spinning things one way and then another as the story unwinds to the final act.
I really loved reading this book. Before last year I had never read a book by her. I had however seen plenty of her stories adapted for television, as indeed I believe this one also was back in the 80s. I am still not sure whether I watched the Widows series on TV, parts of this book were familiar but not familiar enough to be sure. Maybe I just heard about it, I don't know. To be honest, that really doesn't matter. So, last year, to coincide with the televising of the new Tennision series on TV, I took the plunge and started that series; which I can also heartily recommend. So when I saw this was being republished, I thought I'd also give it a go as I do like the way she writes.
The characters were completely brilliant and their interaction was very well written. I loved the way that the author took these four completely different women and brought them together for one common goal. I loved the scenes they shared as the fought and bickered and misinterpreted instructions! What stood out for me was the way that the widows changed through the book. How the situations they were put into shaped them and, by the end of the book, they were very different people. I do love a good character driven book. The rest of the cast was also well drawn and although the majority of the extras didn't play too big a part in the book volume wise, the additions they made were integral to the plot.
Pacing was up and down for me which did affect my overall enjoyment but only a little. The story did however get on with itself on the whole throughout the book. The amount of descriptive text was in keeping with the story being told without intruding too much.
I loved the 80s setting. Throwback to my own childhood aside, I loved the way that they had to pop to the phone box to make a call! The prices of certain things was also quite shocking, as well as some of the attitudes and actions that are certainly not around in this day and age; the good old days indeed?!
Although the majority is concluded in this first book, this is a series opener and, as such, it is OK for certain threads to remain open. With these in mind, I really can't wait for book two. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Wow! A whiff of nostalgia! Having read the book and seen the tv series previously still found it a fascinating and enthralling story. Lynda La Plante at her best! Can’t wait to catch up with Jane Tennyson in The Prime Suspect series to be released shortly.

I really enjoyed this and really rooted for Dolly and the girls (although I don't agree with what they did but I guess there wouldn't have been a story otherwise!) It started off a bit slow but I was soon gripped and i think it will make a fantastic film.

An updated of the original released in the 1980s. Updated to coincide with a movie that is being released. Love this from Lynda Last Plante.

This was a gripping read. Well written, with believable characters and very suspenseful. There were some loose threads left at the end that I wish were answered but otherwise I really enjoyed it.

Harry Rawlins and his gang are killed while doing there latest robbery, how will Harrys wife Dolly cope??

When Dolly is threatened by the Fisher brother for Harrys ledgers (which contains lots of names and dates etc) Dolly realises she needs to find the ledgers and find out what's in them.

when Dolly does find the ledgers she finds out a lot more about Harry, that she had no clue about, also plans for a future heist, will Dolly risk everything to do the heist with Linda and Shirley the other widows from the gang or will she sell the ledgers for the highest price??

Great storyline with a compelling story.

Well written and descriptive as always by Lynda La Plante and a really easy flowing story.

Thank you for the opportunity to read Widows. Lynda La Plante is one of my favourite authors but I just didn’t like the style of this book. I don’t know if it is because it was written in the 80s or that it is a bit too descriptive of inanimate objects but I didn’t feel it was as enjoyable as Lynda’s thrillers like Tennison.

Thank you for providing me with a copy of this book. I hadn't realised this was a sort of update, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to reading more by the author

I Enjoyed reading this book it has a gripping story line