Randy Susan Meyers Writes the Woman Behind the Criminal in ‘The Widow of Wall Street’

The Widow of Wall Street by Randy Susan Meyers

Inspired by the 2008 Bernie Madoff scandal, author Randy Susan Meyers takes us on an emotional journey inside a fictional Wall Street investment firm to witness how a Ponzi scheme could actually play out and the destruction of lives it could leave in its wake. The Widow of Wall Street begins when Phoebe is visiting her incarcerated husband, Jake, in jail.

We then start at the beginning, when the couple meets as teenagers, and follow their relationship as they get married, raise children and grow a successful business and a nonprofit. Phoebe is a hardworking mother of two and a trusting wife of her high school sweetheart. Jake dreamed of financial success and dedicated himself to have the means to provide the conveniences and luxuries wealth brings. Throughout his career he was focused, put in long hours and provided well for Phoebe, their children, and others close to him. When he was charged with fraud upon the discovery of the Ponzi scheme he developed, Phoebe’s life was in shambles. So many trusting friends and colleagues lost their fortunes, businesses lost funding and families lost their nest eggs. Did Phoebe know what her husband was doing all those years?

I thoroughly enjoyed The Widow Of Wall Street. With her thoughtful, well-developed characters, Randy Susan Meyers recreated the tragedy of the real life scandal from the perspective of the woman behind the criminal.

I felt Phoebe’s devastation as her life crumbled; the happiness she embodied was built on lies and Jake’s crime caused her to lose her husband, her money, family, friends, home, and her identity, essentially her entire life as it once was. She trusted him, hoped he was doing the right thing, and had been content in her life enough to choose not to inquire about things she wasn’t sure she really wanted to know about…finances and other women.

This is a cautionary tale as well as a story of love, trust, success, failure, betrayal and destruction. For some, the need for success becomes a compulsion and morality can fall by the wayside. Relationships, emotions and commitment can cloud logic and truth and unfortunately the ripple effect is devastating. With suspenseful storytelling and insight into the illusion of what seemed like a storybook marriage, Randy Susan Meyers definitely delivered; I highly recommend this book!

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