Black Widow by Chris Brookmyre

In Black Widow, Chris Brookmyre's latest installment in his Jack Parlabane series, the investigative journalist is tasked with unearthing the mysteries behind Diana Jager, reputed surgeon and past feminist blogger, whose husband suspiciously dies in a road accident only six months after their wedding.

By using a multiple narrative comprising the perspectives of Parlabane, police officer Ali Kazmi and Diana Jager herself, Brookmyre incorporates various snapshots of the suspect which work towards building up the intrigue, turning the reader – as all good crime fiction does – into the main detective. The plot line runs like clockwork, showing every small detail to have an eventual significance while confounding the boundary between criminal and victim. As a result, the novel manages to maintain the narrative tension throughout, showing people and events to be more intricate than they initially appear.

Black Widow is a powerful, captivating and brilliantly twisted piece of crime fiction. But it is also more than that, moving beyond genre conventions to provide a feminist exploration of gender inequalities in the workplace and a humorous parody of its own narrative expectations. If the immediate satisfaction of solving a puzzle puts a smile on your face, you will find this thriller to be a thoroughly enjoyable read.