Hardcover, 339 pages
Published April 11th 2017 by Atria Books
What’s real in a marriage built on sand and how do you abandon a man you’ve loved since the age of fifteen?
Phoebe sees the fire in Jake Pierce’s belly from the moment they meet as teenagers in Brooklyn. Eventually he creates a financial dynasty and she trusts him without hesitation—unaware his hunger for success hides a dark talent for deception.
When Phoebe learns—along with the rest of the world—that her husband’s triumphs are the result of an elaborate Ponzi scheme her world unravels. Lies underpin her life and marriage. As Jake’s crime is uncovered, the world obsesses about Phoebe. Did she know her life was fabricated by fraud? Did she partner with her husband in hustling billions from pensioners, charities, and CEOs? Was she his accomplice in stealing from their family and neighbors?
Debate rages as to whether love and loyalty blinded her to his crimes or if she chose to live in denial. While Jake is trapped in the web of his own deceit, Phoebe is faced with an unbearable choice. Her children refuse to see her if she remains at their father’s side, but abandoning Jake, a man she’s known since childhood, feels cruel and impossible.
From Brooklyn to Greenwich to Manhattan, from penthouse to prison, with tragic consequences rippling well beyond Wall Street, The Widow of Wall Street exposes a woman struggling to redefine her life and marriage as everything she thought she knew crumbles around her.
Phoebe sees the fire in Jake Pierce’s belly from the moment they meet as teenagers in Brooklyn. Eventually he creates a financial dynasty and she trusts him without hesitation—unaware his hunger for success hides a dark talent for deception.
When Phoebe learns—along with the rest of the world—that her husband’s triumphs are the result of an elaborate Ponzi scheme her world unravels. Lies underpin her life and marriage. As Jake’s crime is uncovered, the world obsesses about Phoebe. Did she know her life was fabricated by fraud? Did she partner with her husband in hustling billions from pensioners, charities, and CEOs? Was she his accomplice in stealing from their family and neighbors?
Debate rages as to whether love and loyalty blinded her to his crimes or if she chose to live in denial. While Jake is trapped in the web of his own deceit, Phoebe is faced with an unbearable choice. Her children refuse to see her if she remains at their father’s side, but abandoning Jake, a man she’s known since childhood, feels cruel and impossible.
From Brooklyn to Greenwich to Manhattan, from penthouse to prison, with tragic consequences rippling well beyond Wall Street, The Widow of Wall Street exposes a woman struggling to redefine her life and marriage as everything she thought she knew crumbles around her.
My Thoughts…
I was not sure what to expect with a Ponzi Wall Street money scheme story. This is not my normal reading material, usually, I would pass on it but since Randy Susan Meyers wrote the book and I am a fan of hers I gave it a try and love it. I was in a reading funk and it got me right out of it. I devoured each page, couldn’t stop reading and felt connected to the characters. I needed Phoebe to stand up for herself and do what was right for her. The children were a small part of the story but I love that they were strong, smart, and willing to protect themselves. I wanted Jake to realize he messed up and admit it.
Randy Susan Meyers takes the young love of two 15-year-olds and shows how it can grow stronger as they marry, have kids, and grow old together. Phoebe and Jake wanted it all from a young age. They wanted true love, successful careers, amazing kids, and a life together. While they got it all there was also secrets, darkness, and trouble in their relationship.
This is a love story, the story of a man wanting to have it all and share it all with his family. But it is also a look at the trouble that money can cause. Once Jake got a taste of money he just wanted more and more. He was always thinking he’d catch up, have enough, be happy enough but it just never happen and he got caught. Jake was portrayed as a guy who didn’t start out to be shady, he wanted to be successful and provide for his family and then it just snowballed on him. Yet, he never admitted he was wrong. He never accepted that he messed up and because of that he never let his wife go. He expected her to stand by him and to go down with him.
Phoebe was wonderful. She stood by her man, took the brunt of the world outside of prison, and stayed strong. I want to believe that was love but I really think it was because she didn’t know who she was without Jake. She was always Jake’s girlfriend or Jake’s wife. She didn’t know how to be Phoebe. I enjoyed seeing her becoming strong, becoming self-sufficient and figuring out how to be without the man who gave her everything.
The Wall Street Widow is a story about money, greed, love, betrayal and so much more. I loved the entire story from beginning to end. Pick up your copy immediately.
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