When it comes to thrillers, there are several sub-genres: psychological, mystery, horror, etc. I usually go for psychological thrillers, because I like seeing if I can guess the twists, or predict the plot (I’m successful sometimes). The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth is more of a mystery thriller, although there is a touch of psychological in there as well.
The plot is laid out in both flashbacks and current time, as well as alternating viewpoints in the flashbacks. The author handles the switching back and forth with ease, and I never felt lost as to when I was or whose perspective I was reading.
The characters are very well-written. It seemed at the beginning that the story would be more along the lines of The Other Woman by Sandie Jones (new wife wants to bond with the mother-in-law, who is resistant to all attempts), but it quickly became apparent that there is a lot more going on with the two main characters that it initially appears.
Diana (the mother-in-law) is a strong character. The author does an excellent job of allowing the reader to discover her motivations without being smacked in the face with examples. In other words, the reader is allowed to draw conclusions based on events, rather than the author simply stating a character trait. I appreciate when an author does this because it allows me to become more invested in the story.
Lucy (the daughter-in-law) is also more complex than the reader is initially led to believe. The relationship between her and Diana takes many turns as they each discover new things about each other. Through these experiences, the reader also gains understanding of major plot points.
(Because it is a mystery, I’m not going to go any further than that in my analysis. Suffice to say that the plot did have enough twists and turns that I was constantly kept off balance. I loved it).
I did want to add, however, that the author handles the descriptions of a debilitating disease with accuracy and poignancy. My father passed away just about two years ago after a nine year battle with a little-known disease that falls under the Parkinson’s umbrella. It was unnoticeable at first, except for little things: he walked slower, took more time to do simple tasks…things like that.
Eventually, it became more pronounced. His ability to walk went first, then speech became slurred, then eating became a challenge. Eventually, he became completely bedridden, unable to communicate at all, and had to have a feeding tube. It was slow, painful, and difficult to watch. My mother was by his side the entire time.
The author brought all of this back through her descriptions. It was hard to read at times, but that’s because her writing brought real memories and emotions to the surface. It certainly made the book more personal to me, which in turn made me feel more invested in the story.
If you are looking for a well-developed mystery with depth, don’t miss out on this one. My Goodreads review is below.
Expected Release Date: 4/23/2019
The Mother-In-Law by Sally HepworthMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
What a great mystery! This book went in no direction that I expected it to go in and kept me guessing throughout the entire story. But it is more than that; it is also an in-depth character study about the relationships between women, specifically mothers- and daughters-in-law. I thought that Diana was an incredibly complex person, and I loved the way the reader was allowed to figure that out through Diana’s actions (rather than just being told). Without giving away plot points, the situation that materializes with Tom and Diana hit very close to home as I recently went through something similar with my parents (not to the same extent, but close enough that I teared up reading through particular sections). Thank you to the author for addressing that issue with frankness, but understanding. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes contemporary mysteries and non-nonsense writing. This review was voluntarily written based on a pre-release copy provided by NetGalley.
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