Review - 'The Death of Mrs. Westaway' by Ruth Ware

The premise of The Death of Mrs. Westaway is interesting enough. Hal receives a letter from a lawyer with the wonderful news that her grandmother left her an inheritance. Except, she's certain the lawyer sent the letter to the wrong person. But she goes anyways and hopes to defraud the family out of some money she desperately needs. Yep, I can be on board with that.

But immediately, I can tell I'm not a fan of the way Hal's character is written. She comes across as confused, slow-witted, and completely unable to speak clearly. Her conversations are full of hemming and hawing, stammering, and waffling. For example, here is a conversation from her side:

“I—you’re welcome,” she managed at last, and took a hesitant step forwards into the room.

“I, well, yes,” Hal said.

“Although I didn’t know, I mean, I didn’t bring—”

“I—no—” she managed faintly.

But, Unc—” She stumbled over the word, unable to make herself articulate it, and began again: “Look, there’s something I must—”

It was so tedious to read, I kept shouting at her in my head to just spit it out already.

She's also jumpy and paranoid, looking at everyone suspiciously even when they've just said some innocuous words.

Why had he said that? It was so uncomfortably close to her own speculations that she had not been able to find a reply—and had only gaped, and then left the room hurriedly, hiding her shock. Did he know something? Had he and [other character] been talking? Hal . . . found herself wondering about how much [the two characters] really knew.

All this, over a completely common saying. My eyes rolled so hard.

I understand that there should be a dark and foreboding feeling throughout, but it seems to be contrived from Hal's paranoia rather than from any actual atmosphere in the house. She also constantly forgets that she's pretending to be someone else and would say things from her real life that she shouldn't, and then feel stricken and berate herself when she does.

In fact, reading this, it struck me that it's exactly same way Ruth Ware wrote her main character Lo in The Woman in Cabin 10. It's beyond frustrating to read such weak and sniveling female characters when they don't have to be. In both cases, they could've been strong and quick-witted without taking anything away from the story, and it would've been better for it.

As for the mystery itself, it was enjoyable enough, though it's predicated on the outlandish notion that no one would figure out there are two people with the same name, even when there are pictures of these people.

I always see a lot of potential in Ruth Ware's premises, but her execution and in particular, her female characters, fall short. I hope she moves away from writing such silly idiots and instead chooses to write strong, kickass females. I'll be waiting.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars