Rating- 8/10
The Mother-in-Law - by Sally Hepworth
A few weeks ago I was gifted an advance review copy of an awesome thriller called The Night Before by the lovely publishing group, St Martin’s Press. They also happened to have this upcoming book that looked totally irresistible and I was able to get an advance review copy of The Mother-in-Law which made me super happy! Annoyingly, it took me a while to get to reading it because I had too many books on my reading list, but I’m so glad I read it because it’s a fun read.
I’d love to say a big thank you to St Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this thrilling read. The Mother-in-Law comes out this week you guys! 23rd April, 2019. Be sure to grab your copy when it comes out. There’s a link provided below. On with the review!
This was an interesting concept for a book which I’m sure a lot of women can relate to. The mysterious behavioral habits of the Mother-in-Law. It’s always a touchy subject, amirite? The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth is based in Australia, was quite fun to read a book based in Oz, anywho, it follows a young couple Ollie and Lucy. Ollie’s Mother Diana is the total opposite of Lucy, Diana is polite, polished, quite wealthy, and keeps Lucy at arms length, which is a shame, because Lucy had wished for a closer relationship with her mother-in-law Diana, which she soon realizes she will never have. Lucy has tried everything to please her, even the fact that she now has grand kids, still doesn’t bring them closer together. Diana is a do it yourself, tough love kind of person and Lucy is frankly the opposite. Fast forward 10 years, Diana is found dead with a suicide note. The police uncover that the death isn’t what it seems to be, there are no symptoms of poison in her autopsy, and also the autopsy reveals signs of suffocation, which doesn’t add up. It seems that everyone is a suspect in this mysterious death. Ollie and his sister Nettie, who hope to have inherited her mother’s wealth, Lucy, and even Ollie’s business partner Eamon. Everyone seems to have some ulterior motive to Diana’s death.
I have to say, this was a fun, entertaining and easy book to read. It’s one of those books that you would whiz right through! The story is also very relate-able if you happen to have a psycho mother-in-law, not that all people do, but I’m sure a few women can relate to this story. It was quite fun to read actually. I liked how the story was told from the perspective of the mother-in-law Diana, and the daughter-in-law’s perspective, Lucy. You got a more rounded story from both their point of views, so that throughout the book, you actually were on both their sides, very cleverly written. In my mind, neither character were the bad guy, but you could see how they would be one through the other person’s eyes. It also was told from a past and present perspective so your sort of working out the story and the clues within the book as you read it. It was a fun way of reading the book and I really enjoyed it. Sally Hepworth really took the time to make sure you would empathize with both Lucy and Diana, it was very well written. There are definitely two sides to every story, and I think that would be the message or lesson that I would take away from this book.
I would recommend this book if you want an easy to read, fast paced suspense book. It was more the story of Diana and Lucy than it was a thriller novel, so mostly a contemporary fiction story, but still was a good read. You will literary zoom right through the pages and it’s very ‘unputdownable’. It is also very well written and quite sweet too. An entertaining read. Totally recommend it for any mystery solving suspense lovers out there. A fun summer read too!
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Domestic Fiction, Suspense
To purchase on Book Depository, CLICK HERE
Reviewed by Chrissy's Books
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To read another review for a book by Sally Hepworth, check out my review below for 'The Good Sister', released in April 2021. Click photo for the review.