Death of the Black Widow, James Patterson, J. D. Barker, authors; Ryan Vincent Anderson, Narrator.
Walter O’Brien became a plain clothes detective, at age 28, after spending five years as a uniformed officer. His first case out, he investigates a horrific crime scene. A young, naked woman, who tells Walter her name is Amy Archer, is hiding in a bathroom where it appears that she had been kept handcuffed to the sink. Her violent kidnapper and rapist lies dead on the living room floor. Two more bodies are found in a freezer. They are missing digits on their hands. Walter thinks Amy is the loveliest woman he has ever seen and is completely taken in by her. In his custody, she escapes. Where she touches him, an odd handprint that looks like a burn, remains on his chest. Oddly, afterward, all descriptions of her vary with each witness and so the record is inaccurate.
Six years later, Walter’s path crosses once again with Amy Archer’s. However, Amy Archer is not what other people call her. What is her real name? Why did she run away from him? She is still wanted for questioning in the unsolved murder investigation. Walter is totally smitten with her and pursues her obsessively, each time falling prey to her “charms”.
As bodies seem to be piling up with missing digits on their hands, with strange cancers and who are aged beyond their years, it looks as if their life was taken from them, literally and figuratively. Amy seems connected to many of these murders. Is Amy’s touch deadly? Walter still searches for her, and as the years pass and his obsession with her impacts his career, when her crimes and appearance cannot be verified, he is ridiculed and forced out. Those who witness homicides that she seems to be involved with describe her differently, although violence uniformly accompanies her sightings. Soon, it becomes clear that her appearance is dependent on the beholder’s “perfect” idea of a woman. They become completely entranced with her, and they turn up dead.
It also becomes clear, but is top secret, that she is not like other people. She has the power to control minds, as well. She has caused many deaths over decades, and yet, she does not seem to age. Walter, years later, weak, ill and near death, mounts a trap to catch and destroy her with two other men who believe him and have witnessed her supernatural power. Bullets are useless against her, as is fire, but Walter knows how to destroy her. He just has to convince others of how dangerous she is and to not interfere with his effort. The three men prepare to defeat Lilin, who is something like a siren, a very dangerous creature who can seduce and harm men. The ending of the novel is a bit of a cliffhanger, since a question always remains, how many Lilins are out there? Was his Amy the only one?
The first half of the book, when it is about the search for a violent kidnapper/rapist, killer, it is really engaging, but as it drags on, and it is obvious that who they thought was the villain was really the victim, it leaves the realm of possibility and becomes science fiction that is not so engaging. For me, there were a bit too many kinky sexual encounters and far too many moments of violence. Walter becomes easy prey for this woman of many names and many faces, who has apparently had many consecutive incarnations for generations. It is not known if she acts alone or if she is part of a family, but she is definitely an aberration, and she takes pleasure in taking life from others to strengthen her own. Is she gone or is she still here?