Book Review: The Widow of Wall Street

THE WIDOW OF WALL STREET | Randy Susan Meyers
04.11.2017 (paperback release 06.26.2018) | Atria Books
Rating: 3/5 stars

Phoebe meets Jake when she is fifteen years old. Her parents wildly disapprove of the relationship because Jake is older than Phoebe, they want Phoebe to make a life of her own before marrying, and at the end of the day her mother just doesn’t like Jake. Nothing will stop the two from being together and soon they are married. Jake wants to prove to the world that he is better than his parents failures and aims high in the brokerage arena. He starts out small with Phoebe’s uncle, but his dreams will not be shoved aside. Jake will stop at nothing to have fame and an endless supply of money.

Phoebe never hated her husband more than when she visited him in prison.

The Pierce’s have everything. Phoebe is the doting wife, willing to stand by Jake’s side and do whatever it takes to help him achieve his dreams. She has attended endless evenings out, solicited for clients to join Jake’s side business known as The Club, raised two perfect children, and kept a physique any woman would be jealous of, all to ensure Jakes happiness. Jake has created a financial dynasty and Phoebe trusts him endlessly. That trust is rock solid until the market starts to crash and suddenly Jake’s web of lies and deceit is coming undone. It comes out that for years Jake has been running a Ponzi scheme, taking money from those who have invested with him and ultimately losing everything. The world begins to obsess over The Pierce family and suddenly their lives are centerstage in the media. How did Phoebe’s life come to this and now that Jake is locked away in Prison, what will she do?

Jake swore that no singular moment has marked the beginning of his thievery, but he was lying. Everything began somewhere. He hadn’t slipped into his Byzantine plot. His had been no banana peel of a crime.

THE WIDOW OF WALL STREET is a glance into the lives of the Pierce family, who stood by the patriarch, Jake, as he took the world by storm with his financial success by running a Ponzi scheme unbeknownst to those around him. I absolutely loved the beginning of this book. I loved getting to know fifteen year old Phoebe and watching her grow up, be surprised by the world, and then create her own plan to get what she wanted. The story started to get a bit boring for me in the middle as the Pierce’s lives played out. I enjoyed the parts where Jake reminded me a bit of Don Draper in his wily ways, but the story of Phoebe’s life and Jake’s ambition didn’t hold my attention. Of course, I was immediately sucked back in when things went south for the Pierce’s. I don’t think that my feelings of boredom are any reflection on the book itself, but stem solely from the fact that I typically read thrillers, so my mind is always looking for that high when reading. What Meyers’ has created in THE WIDOW OF WALL STREET is a fascinating look in to a family come undone and how they face the dark truths of their past and present to create a life that feels whole again. This book certainly packs the drama and I wouldn’t hesitate recommending it to fans of literary fiction.

A special thank you to GetRedPR and Atria Books for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.