Review - The Death of Mrs. Westaway

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The Death of Mrs. Westaway
by Ruth Ware
release date 5/29/2018
368 pages
Chapter length: short
4 out of 5 stars



According to the publisher:  "On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. She realizes very quickly that the letter was sent to the wrong person—but also that the cold-reading skills she’s honed as a tarot card reader might help her claim the money.

 Soon, Hal finds herself at the funeral of the deceased…where it dawns on her that there is something very, very wrong about this strange situation and the inheritance at the centre of it."


It only took me a few pages to become impressed with this book - the writing is absolutely fabulous!  The author writes with a Gothic creepiness that I can honestly say I have never seen executed so well in a book. Many of the descriptions were so vivid that it gave me goosebumps!

That being said, I have two major criticisms to explain why I did not give this book five stars.

My first issue is with the character development.  While we are given a sharp picture of who the main character, Hal, is, the supporting characters were not that well developed.  It took me close to 200 pages to be able to remember distinctly who was who.

Second, the climax of the story was placed too close to the end of the book for my taste.  The plot twist and it's aftermath make up such a small portion of the book that, when I was done, I didn't feel like I had been given enough information.  All of the buildup was beautifully written, but I would have loved more detail at the end.  

Regardless, this book was really fun to read!  I think you'll definitely enjoy this book if you like horror or suspense.

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