THURSDAY NIGHT WIDOWS begins and ends with death. Death of three men. Death of a community.

The bodies of three of the prominent men of the gated community, The Cascade, are found dead in the swimming pool at one of their homes. The Cascade is the place to live, where the realities and frictions of life are shut out. This is a protected and secretive community. A community of many secrets. Deadly secrets.

In THURSDAY NIGHT WIDOWS, Claudia Pineiro gives both a suspenseful crime novel and a portrait into the lives of Argentina's upper middle class during the economic crisis at the turn of the century. It is both sad and intriguing, and in some ways, a looking glass into what has been occurring in America over the last couple of years, with families living beyond their means only to be caught up in the credit crisis and the sure yet still surprising economic fallout.

There are many characters who help to tell this story. At times, I found it difficult to know whose point of view I was in, especially when the person narrating was not directly involved in the action unfolding in a particular scene. Still, once the story snagged my attention, I had to keep turning pages, curious as to what really happened in that swimming pool on that Thursday evening as much as I was to learn what would become of these people who knew the lives they were living were part illusion but continued as if the veil would never be lifted.

I loved Ms. Pineiro's voice, as translated by Miranda France, and would be interested in reading more of her work. THURSDAY NIGHT WIDOWS is a good, suspenseful read.