“Never believe your own lies.”
When Hal receives an unexpected letter stating that she is set to receive an inheritance, she realizes very quickly that there has been a mistake. But her financial situation and current dangerous circumstances leads her to reconsider ignoring the summons. Her skills at reading people make her a person who just may pull this off, and get away with an inheritance that would change her life and provide security she hasn’t felt in a long time. All too soon she finds herself at the funeral of Mrs. Westaway, and as the supposed long lost granddaughter, she is surrounded by a cast of characters that comprise her long lost family. It becomes clear that there are deeply buried secrets and something sinister at the centre of this inheritance.
The synopsis of The Death of Mrs. Westaway truly intrigued me. It sounded like just my kind of mystery, and even though I had not enjoyed the one other Ruth Ware book I had read previously ( I had really strong feelings about The Woman in Cabin 10), I thought that this one was worth a shot. I can’t say that this novel wowed me in any way, but I really enjoyed reading it. Hal is a sympathetic character and I cared about what would happen with her, so there was a connection I felt to the story throughout. The most notable aspect of the novel by far is the eerie and unsettling atmosphere that the author creates, which was really well done. However, I couldn’t help but feel that there was something missing in terms of the story and the way everything concludes left me underwhelmed. While it is not a novel that will necessarily stick with me, it is definitely one I enjoyed reading.
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