She wasn’t as strong of a female main character as I would have liked.īut truly, overall, I really enjoyed the book and I look forward to reading more by this author. It felt like we were told several times that she’s a tough, badass chick, which never really rang true with the way she was written. If I had to pick at anything, I would have to pick at the main character, Hal. From the three uncles to the creepy housekeeper, to the maternal aunt, what are they hiding? With a pervading sense of doom from beginning to end, and a heart pounding climax, this book delivered. Ware paced this novel perfectly, gradually revealing her secrets at the perfect moments to keep the reader guessing right up to the end. With a cast of characters who you’re never really certain of, you will begin to see, like Hal does, that not everything is as it should be here, and these people are hiding secrets that they don’t want to have revealed. Sensing a mixup, but feeling the breath of the loan shark’s enforcer breathing down her neck, she decides to masquerade as the woman’s granddaughter, hoping for a small bequest that would be nothing to these wealthy “relatives” but would mean everything to her. The only problem? Her grandmother was dead before she had ever been born. Then a mysterious letter arrives, informing her that her grandmother has passed away and she has been named in the will. She’s broke, dodging a loan shark, and one step away from complete destitution. You have Hal, a down-on-her-luck orphan peddling fortunes on the Brighton Pier using her mom’s old deck of tarot cards. The gothic thriller was perfect for this time of the year too! I really enjoyed how the story unfolded and how Ms. This was my first Ruth Ware novel, and won’t be my last. 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. 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.

On a day that begins like any other, Hal receives a mysterious letter bequeathing her a substantial inheritance. False promises designed to give the illusion of control and meaning in a world in which the only destiny came from yourself. Touching wood, crossing fingers, counting magpies – they were all lies, all of them.

Genre(s): Fiction, Thriller, Gothic Thrillerīuy on Amazon: Barnes & Noble, Book Depositoryīecause superstition was a trap – that was what she had learned, in the years of plying her trade on the pier.

The death of mrs westaway book review