American Black Widow

Dangerous Women: True Crime Stories

By: Gregg Olsen

Narrated by: Karen Peakes

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's summary

From the number one New York Times best-selling author of If You Tell comes the chilling, binge-worthy story of Sharon Nelson, the minister’s wife whose two husbands mysteriously ended up dead.

Colorado, 1976. When Reverend Mike Fuller and his beautiful wife, Sharon, arrive in the sleepy town of Rocky Ford, local residents think something’s off about the new couple. The God-fearing minister is gruff and cold, while charismatic Sharon has her husband wrapped around her finger.

It isn’t long before Sharon is charming her husband’s congregation and finds herself in a tryst with local, married optometrist Perry Nelson. After the affair ends both their marriages, Sharon and Perry tie the knot. But shortly afterward, Perry disappears. When his body is shockingly discovered the bottom of a canyon, his death is ruled an accident, allowing grieving widow Sharon to claim his substantial life insurance.

Trying to move on from the tragedy, Sharon soon remarries fireman Glenn Harrelson. But when the charred remains of Glenn’s body are discovered with two bullet holes in his skull, the police can’t help but question if both men dying in such mysterious circumstances is one coincidence too many....

Shocking, sensational, and gripping, this is the true story of the black widow Sharon Nelson, a must-hear tale of greed, sex, and murder in a sleepy Colorado town that will have true crime fans of The Staircase, American Mother, and Making a Murderer hooked from start to finish.

This book was originally published as Confessions of an American Black Widow and Bitch on Wheels.

©2023 Gregg Olsen (P)2023 Thread, an imprint of Storyfire Ltd.

Review

Both the story & performance was very good. Outstanding performance by Karen peaks. I look forward to other audiobooks performed by Karen peaked.

Awful people

This was a fairly interesting story, however it was tiresome to constantly hear what a good, nice, good christian man Perry was. He didnt deserve to die, but this was a man who cheated on his wife repeatedly, beat his teen daughter to please his affair partner, and had no issues with buying stolen firearms, sleeping with married women and firing a loyal employee . He knew he was involved with someone who didn't care who she hurt, and apparently he didn't either. He was only slightly less evil than she was.

Chilling story.

Good coverage of the facts and details, I guess no one will ever understand the behavior, and certainly not the men who couldn’t resist her???

Captivating story

I enjoyed the narration by Karen Peakes. She really draws you into the story and her use of accents and voices helps distinguish the characters. The story was good but the back and forth in the timeline didn’t flow so well for an audible. It made it a little bit confusing and kept making me think I somehow missed a chapter.

Excellent writing!

The story is gripping, and it was a crime that I was familiar with, since I’ve seen it before on a crime show.
It was brilliantly written, and executed.
The performance was flawless, and I enjoyed the narrators voice.
Glad I got the opportunity to listen to American Black Widow.

Spoiler alert: Something that wasn’t addressed in this book— Sharon Nelson died in prison for her crimes!

Just okay!

Definitely hit my favorite Gregg Olsen book. This one was okay but long and slow and deranged out quite a bit. And it was kind of hard to follow keeping up with the story lines that kept jumping.

Tragic must-read black widow story

This is a devastating tale of a dark heart that destroyed many lives. A femme fatale that seemed to be irresistible to the men she chewed up and spit out like bubble gum, those left in her wake had to pick up the pieces she so casually tossed about, seemingly unable to refrain from wreaking havoc in the lives of those unfortunate enough to cross her path. Lives came to an early end at her bidding, and yet her own life was spared, a bitter pill to swallow for the loved ones left behind. Highly recommend this book & any others by this author!

Black Widow

It was pretty interesting especially since it was a true story. It was worth the time. Good but not great.

Wow.

What a story! I kept thinking “how does she get away with all of this?” I guess the answer is that she was brazen, unapologetic, and female. People just couldn’t believe that someone would do what she did. What a crazy TRUE tragedy!

thought provoking

great narrator, well written, difficult to imagine how anyone gets away with such behavior