The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Fantastic read!
The Death of Mrs. Westaway may be Ruth Ware’s best book yet! For anybody who has read The Woman in Cabin 10 or In a Dark, Dark Wood, that is saying a lot! Ruth Ware absolutely outdid herself with this book!
The Death of Mrs. Westaway begins with Hal, a tarot card reader struggling to stay afloat financially (okay that’s an understatement…. She’s actually about to have all of her bones broken by a loan shark), receiving a message that her grandmother has passed away and she stands to inherit a significant amount of money. Hal sees an opportunity to pay off her debts, but the only problem is that this woman is not her grandmother. So when Hal decides to play the part of Mrs. Westaway’s granddaughter despite the mix up, she may have bargained for more than she thought.
The best part about this book is how myserious it is. It has a tragic and gothic sense about it that is so unique and different, and Ruth Ware incorporates Hal’s tarot card reading into the plot in a masterful way. The tarot card angle is extremely interesting and gives the book a spooky, chilling quality that is delightful.
And let’s not forget about the narrator, Imogen Church, whose portrayal of the characters was flawless, even down to the creepy loan shark “message sender” with the lisp. The voices she created for each character were so unique that it wasn’t even necessary to clarify which character was speaking throughout the story. She was fabulous!
Finally, if you’re sick of reading the same old thrillers with the same old uninspiring, predictable plot twists, this is the book for you. I’m generally quick to predict story lines and not easily fooled. But, this book totally took me on a ride that I never expected.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes highly recommended, particularly in audiobook!
Home Sweet Houser 
1 thought on “The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware”