Preview
  • American Black Widow

  • Dangerous Women: True Crime Stories
  • By: Gregg Olsen
  • Narrated by: Karen Peakes
  • Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (225 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

American Black Widow

By: Gregg Olsen
Narrated by: Karen Peakes
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $24.95

Buy for $24.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

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.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about American Black Widow

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    93
  • 4 Stars
    64
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    23
  • 1 Stars
    13
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    107
  • 4 Stars
    40
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    6
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    84
  • 4 Stars
    47
  • 3 Stars
    26
  • 2 Stars
    18
  • 1 Stars
    11

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Review

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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

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???

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

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!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Well-written and well researched

This was rather complicated case, involving more than 3 families, but authored so well--an excellent job of explaining as well as moving on to next part. Narration, great!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good voice acting, so-so writing.

I like Gregg Olsen's work. This one suffered from some repetitive phrasing and a rather weak ending. I think we heard the books main character described as beautiful or sexy every time she appeared, which was really noticeable after a while. I won't spoil the ending, but the book builds to a climax that really doesn't match the buildup. Some of this was the nature of the story itself (it's a true story so you can't make excitement if it's not there), but it still could have been better written. Karen Peakes' voice acting was very good and fit the story well.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Bit hard to follow

A lot of confusion about timeline. Not a likeable woman. I kept hoping someone would stop her.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Bad narration

For a Gregg Olsen title, I was expecting better. The story was okay but seemed to go on and on. Narration was awful and hard to finish because of it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!