The Death of Mrs. Westaway
(Contains spoilers)
Now that I have finally read the third Ware book that I purchased, I think, that I have a quite good understanding on Ruth Ware as an author. She uses a lot of inner monologue as the driver of her stories — “If someone can do this, it’s you”, “You can take the money if you want”. There are many occasions, where chapters include just the character’s monologue, which kind of works like a recap or explanation on some things. Ware also writes short chapters, which is ideal for me, because I don’t like to leave chapters unfinished, even if they could be too long to read at a one sitting. On her characters, she uses some similar qualities — all are women in their 20’s or 30’s, their body type is always slim, and they are dark haired, and they or someone they know struggles with substance abuse or possibly with eating disorder. The romantic relationships are always subtle or entirely missing, which I liked. If I want to read about romance, I can easily just pick a book of that theme. I definitely have to read Ware’s first novel, In a Dark, Dark Wood, and her recent, The Turn of the Key, because she is a great writer! I have yet to find another author, from whom I liked various other pieces this much.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway is Ware’s fourth thriller, psychological thriller and suspense novel, and subject of my third Ware review. The book was published in 2018 and said to be her best novel (at least so far). I can agree with that, because I preferred this book over The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Lying Game. The reason might be, that The Death of Mrs. Westaway compounded (and answered) nicely both of my criticisms about the previous books, which were, that the storytelling was kinda uneven. In this book we get to know Hal extremely well, but beside that, there are many meaningful side characters, and precise description of the milieu itself. Overall the writing style suited me better.
This book centralizes on 21-year-old Harriet (Hal) Westaway and geographically on Brighton and seaside town Penzance. I looked pictures from Penzance, and it’s absolutely beautiful out there. It’s one of the most southern cities in the UK, and bordered by Celtic Sea and English Channel. Hal lives alone in Brighton, and her current lifestyle could be described as hand-to-mouth, where she struggles to get her bills paid or even buy food. She followed her mother’s footsteps, and became a fortune teller in West Pier, after her mother was killed in a hit-and-run three years ago. Being an observer, she can guess a lot about a person just by their looks — design bags, worn out shoes, the light mark left by a wedding ring or the shaking hands of a customer who missed their morning drink. She herself doesn’t believe that Tarot cards, of which she makes mostly her interpretations about, possess any supernatural forces. She believes, that the cards can help people to reflect on their own instincts, and more so to make decisions about their lives, that they don’t necessarily have strength to do by themselves. They give the opportunity to ask questions. Because of Hal’s stressful financial situation, she was forced to loan money from people, who now demand ridiculous amount of interest from her. When she gets a letter from attorney, where she is invited to Mrs. Westaway’s funeral and distribution of inheritance, she decides to put her acting skills to the test, because she’s certain, that her own grandmother has passed away long ago.
Okay, so, without any reason, I decided to do Westaway family tree. It has kinda bad quality, because I had to export it millions of times before I got it to the appropriate format. Anyway, as you can see, this book doesn’t contain that many characters — there’s literally three or four others that are even mentioned besides the ones that are shown here. Hal goes to get her heritage in a state of mind, that she is noway related to the Westaway family. As it turns out, her birth mother is Westaway children’s cousin, Maggie. However, the woman that raised her, and who Hal considered to be her mother, is Maud Westaway, Mrs. Westaway’s daughter. It seems simple now, but the book made you kinda second guess yourself along the way. From the beginning, I had this feeling, that Ezra would be more closely related to Hal, than the others. The feeling came from Ezra’s mysterious nature — he is very different from his other siblings, he lives abroad and nobody knows much about his life there. But especially because he wandered around the premises all the time and was absent, when he shouldn’t have. He is more reckless and stubborn, than his other siblings, and he doesn’t do well with rules. Because he was portrayed to be little bit different, kinda a question mark, I knew, that he had a bigger role in the plot line. And yes he had, he was Hal’s biological father. Funny how nobody mentioned how weird it is to be even sexually attracted to your own cousin, not to mention, actually doing something with them.
This book had a lot of similarities to The Woman in Cabin 10. Not just because of the fact, that both main characters were brunette, slim women, and they were called by their nickname, but because in both of them, claustrophobic feeling was very present. In The Woman in Cabin 10, the reason was the way the ship was built, and in The Death of Mrs. Westaway it was the Trespassen house — the small attic, the bars in the window and the locks on the door. In both books, Lo and Hal, were certain that they were being watched, and at the end they were hurt because of that. Lo was kidnapped and held hostage, while Hal had more of mental chains on her, that restricted her doings.
Unlike the two previous Ware books, that I read, I thought, that these characters were much more likable. I think Hal is smart, kind-hearted, humble and righteous, which all are very good qualities to have. She’s not outspoken, but she’s a good listener and observer. I 100% understand why she was willing to take a risk and pretend to be someone else. At first, she desperately needed some money to pay her debts, but secretly, I think she was looking for something bigger than that — a family, warmth, safety, purpose… In my opinion, pretty much every character, expect Ezra and Mrs. Warren, were pleasant enough, that you would happily cheer them on. Even Mrs. Warren showed compassion at the end, which means that some of her intentions were good. Ezra, however, was a character, that I didn’t quite get. His motivations were really weird at times. Should I believe, that a young man, with no history of violence or trouble making, strangles a woman he used to love, just because she asks for some help with raising their child? And, that this same man, kills his own sister, in order to keep his child a secret from the rest of the family. Why? Maud couldn’t have proved, that Ezra killed Maggie, she didn’t have any evidence on that. He could have just moved the corpse, or get Mrs. Warren or Westaway to do that for him, because after all, he was a golden boy. Also, why on earth he lets Hal to collect her heritage, when he knows, that Hal’s birth mother wasn’t Maud? Why doesn’t he just expose her and move on with his own life? Is he afraid, that the more they explore their family tree, the more likely it is for him to get caught?
The book’s ending had, in my opinion, some cheesy horror movie qualities. Like the realization of someone’s true colors, just as they walk into the room, and the panicky pretending, that they don’t know anything they’re not supposed to know. Also, I think, that the way Hal discovers Mrs. Warren’s body, seems common in horror fiction. To me, the final battle place, the pond, was in someway a fan service. I think, that Hal could have ran anywhere else beside the pond. It was Ware’s way of tying the story together, but for me, it didn’t work. It almost seemed too simple, how Ezra just happened to hit his head and became unconscious, when the ice cracked beneath him. That being said, The Death of Mrs. Westaway is currently my favorite book from her, and let see how long that lasts. I would absolutely recommend her novels to anyone who likes to read thrillers and psychological fictions.
4/5
