The Death of Mrs. Westaway – Book Review

HAL MUST KEEP GOING OR RISK LOSING EVERYTHING…EVEN HER LIFE.

When Harriet Westaway receives an unexpected letter telling her she’s inherited a substantial bequest from her Cornish grandmother, it seems like the answer to her prayers.

There’s just one problem – Hal’s real grandparents died more than twenty years ago.

Hal desperately needs the cash and makes a choice that will change her life for ever. She knows that her skills as a seaside fortune teller could help her con her way to getting the money.

But once Hal embarks on her deception, there is no going back.

This is the fourth book I have read from Ruth Ware. Although it wasn’t as good as Turn of the Key, nevertheless, I actually enjoyed reading this book.

The story starts with Harriet Westaway, known as Hal. Her mother died from a car accident and Hal is struggling financially as she struggles with paying rent and paying dues from loan sharks. Hal then gets an unexpected letter from a lawyer, claiming that she was set to inherit a house, nestled in the Cornish countryside. The house used to belong to her grandmother, Hester Westaway.

But there’s a problem. Hal’s actual grandparents had died some twenty years ago and she felt that it was a mistake. But she sets to go to the mansion and when she reaches, she realizes that there’s no turning back…

It was actually…creepy. I felt like I was reading some kind of gothic thriller with all these magpies and fortune telling and tarot reading. The descriptions of the house itself gave a creepy feeling, and I fely as if I was watching some kind of horror movie on the TV. But I actually enjoyed reading the book, though it was better than One By One or Woman at Cabin 13 but not as good as Turn of the Key, which left me hooked into the book. However, the ending was totally unexpected and thus, I gave this book a four star reading.

The characters in the story itself was creepy–particularly Mrs. Warren. Hal was somewhat a naive but courageous character and it was great seen how she manage to bond with the Westaway siblings, Harding, Abel and Ezra. The snippets of the letters written by a girl named Maggie will give an insight of what the house was like back in 1990’s before Hal was born.

If you have not read any of Ruth Ware’s thrillers, I suggest you read Turn of the Key before reading this one. I have done a review on Turn of the Key. which you can check it out.