Book Review: The Death of Mrs. Westaway

A review of the novel The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is my third novel by Ruth Ware, and, thankfully, I think they’ve gotten better each time! I’m still not sure Ware is one of my favorite suspense/thriller authors, but I’m willing to give others a try! Mrs. Westaway was a simple 4-star read for me as it held my interest and caught me off guard at times, but I wasn’t thoroughly impressed to the point of recommending this novel to everyone.

Brief Synopsis

Hal is a boardwalk tarot card reader who receives a letter in the mail that claims she has received a sizable inheritance from a deceased family member. But once she attends the funeral and begins meeting the other family members, she begins to feel that the letter was sent to her by mistake.

The rest of the novel follows Hal as she pieces together why she received this letter and whether it really was by mistake…or not.

Review

The setting of this story was wonderful! It always felt incredibly ominous like there was someone there up to no good. For many of the scenes, I was able to imagine what it would look like as a movie or TV show. I think the old house setting was especially eerie and really set the stage.

I appreciated the twists and turns throughout the story, and I generally didn’t see them coming. This of course is super important when it comes to my enjoyment of thrillers. I was always wondering what was going to happen next and caught of guard when new insights were revealed.

My main complaint is just the fact that some things were continuously unclear and unresolved in my opinion, and that there were elements of the plot that felt like afterthoughts. Particularly when it comes to the men who were trying to get money from her – I just don’t think it added anything to the plot even if it was supposed to be justification for her actions.

Conclusion

I appreciated the mood of this novel, and the twists were interesting and kept me on my toes. I look forward to trying at least one more Ruth Ware novel, but I do think there are other, better thrillers out there if you’re looking for your next read!