I really enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10, so I had high hopes for this book, and it definitely met my expectations! The dark mansion setting and characters that keep you guessing. Definitely recommend!

A wonderful, yet creepy tale of family and the secrets that can be buried and hidden from those you love. This was an engrossing read and one to check out!

Ruth Ware has a great reputation in the literary world but I have not had the chance to pick up one of her books. So I was highly anticipating this book and hoped that she would not let me down. Happily, I can say it was exactly what I was looking for in a good mystery story with some heightened suspense too.

This story started off with plenty of intrigue and interest. It did take a bit for the windup and the full mystery to show itself. A few bits were a tad predictable but for the most part there are plenty of twists that keep you guessing.

The author is a wonderful storyteller with awesome descriptions and fine detail that keeps the interest high. I felt like I was right there in the story myself many times and just wanted to protect poor Hal. All I could think about was the freezing cold biting through her bones. Ware brings us great imagery and an overall a fabulous story.

While this is my first story by her, I now know I will be looking for other books when I need a bit of creep factor and mystery in my life. Engrossing and not to be missed!

I didn’t love this as much as The Lying Game, it felt slow at times and lacked the suspense I was anticipating. It also really bugged me that the MC went by Hal as a nickname for Harriet. It is what it is, but Hal feels decidedly masculine to me and I kept getting thrown off.

I think this might have been my favorite Ruth Ware offering so far. A modern-day noir filled with a creepy estate and even creepier characters. Good read - it really took you away!

I've been a fan of Ware's since In a Dark, Dark Wood, but The Death of Mrs. Westaway may be my favorite. There was suspense from the first page until the last. A lot of modern Brit thrillers all feel like Girl on the Train copycats or can be really gross, but Westaway reads like a classic Christie novel. Definitly recommend to all thriller fans.

With thanks to NetGalley,com and the author, Ruth Ware, for the advanced reader copy.

"The Death of Mrs. Westaway" is a psychological thriller and a family drama wrapped up into one. Hal, a young tarot card reader in the holiday town of Brighton, is struggling to make ends meet when she receives a letter announcing the death of a grandmother she did not know she had, and a possible bequest. Hoping to turn her circumstances around, she spends much of her remaining cash to travel to a funeral and family home, confident that she can convince people she is who they thinks she is, the long lost granddaughter. As events unfold, the bequest is much larger than anticipated; the Grandmother and her still-living housekeeper much less humane than imagined; the 'new' uncles and family more welcoming than expected. Hal has doubts about her goal, and doubts about her ties to this family. The twists and turns are surprising, the end result somewhat expected. A page turner to the very end, I read it in one day and found it a satisfying read!

Ruth Ware has done it again. This book is a quintessential thriller, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time! The story follows the tale of Hal, a tarot card reader in Brighton as she is notified that she has inherited an estate without ever having known the person. I was absolutely intrigued and as always with Ms. Ware's writing - surprised by the ending as well. Every twist and turn taken was necessary, and the characters were well-described and flawed as any person might be.
Having read other books by this author before, she had a standard to uphold and I can confidently say that she has surpassed her previous books with this one.
Anyone who reads mysteries and thrillers will know that a unique idea is hard to come by but somehow this idea is fresh and new and lends new life to the genre.
Very well-written and extremely thought out, I would highly recommend this book.

I was intrigued by the premise of this book and couldn't wait to get my hands on it. The only character to really have any depth was the main protagonist. All of the other characters were one dimensional which took away from the potential of this being a more engaging mystery. The story was suspenseful at times but just seemed to plod along and go nowhere at certain points. I ultimately found the ending to be anti-climactic and a little disappointing so it ended up being an average read for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a complimentary digital review copy of this book.

Ruth Ware has done it again. The Death of Mrs. Westaway is an un-put-downable tale of family turmoil, long-buried secrets, and deception that will keep you up at night, reading just one more chapter...until you've devoured the whole thing in one sitting. Ware gives us an appealing protagonist, shifty characters, a questionable will, and the de rigeur treacherous housekeeper all wrapped up in a brooding Cornish mansion right out of Agatha Christie. One of the best I've read this year. Highly recommended.

Excellent book. Good premise and believable characters. Recommend this book.

Holy cow, this is a great read. As always, I feel like the middle section of Ware’s books could be trimmed a bit because they tend to be repetitive, but I will totally forgive it this time. Hal is a protagonist that you care about and want to succeed. Thwarted at every turn, she desperately grasps at an improbable straw, hoping to escape the dangers and struggles of her life. She finds herself in a perplexing and ultimately, dangerous situation. Atmospheric, gothic, frightening, and mysterious...this book doesn’t disappoint. Thank you, NetGalley for my advance copy!

Highly recommend! My first of Ware's, but not my last! The characters are so developed you can feel their pain! I loved the way this book just told a story and you moved with it, so many shift and have different points of view, in thrillers, but it was nice reading it as it happened. I think that this is one of the best books I've read this year, which I've read so many amazing ones, that's a hard job to accomplish!

Straight outta the Agatha Christie playbook, but with much better pacing and absent an irritating, sanctimonious detective.

This is Ruth Ware's fourth novel in only a handful of years, so I had some skepticism coming in about whether these are coming too fast for the product to be truly good, especially coming off Ware's last offering, The Lying Game, which was a complete dud.

The book isn't without problems, but I was pleasantly surprised. It lacks the snappiness and good quality solve of The Woman in Cabin 10 (Ware's best work to date), but it far exceeds the mediocre In a Dark, Dark Wood or the sloppy and unlikeable Lying Game.

What Ware does best is pacing. Once you start, you just can't stop. This has been the case in each of her books, even those that ultimately felt like weaker offerings because of plot failings.

Here, the plot is nothing terribly original (lost/fraudulent heir tales are as old as the hills), but Ware has given us a captivating cast of characters, thrilling pace, and a delightfully rendered slow-creep atmosphere that feels almost gothic at times.

The plot is far from perfect (and hard to discuss without spoilers, so I'll try to be vague), but it isn't flawed enough to negate the thrill of reading it. The murderer is pretty easy to peg from the beginning (though the Why of it creeps up slowly), and though the motive for the first of this person's crimes makes perfect sense, the ensuing murders/attempted murder are a little tough to reconcile with the rest of the portrait we've been given for this particular character. Still, it does all technically make sense, and none of it comes completely out of left field, something one can (unfortunately) never take for granted in a mystery.

There are no true twists (the plot point that comes the closest is easily figured out well before the author reveals it), but Ware is so good at keeping the reader on the edge of their seat from start to finish that it doesn't much matter.

Unfortunately, there is a frustrating thread left dangling at the end of the novel regarding a very important plot point that left me very disappointed, particularly because it would have been an easy issue to reconcile. Alas, this type of small miss is perhaps what comes of churning these books out too quickly.

Regardless, I had loads of fun reading this, as one always does with Ware's work, and the plot as a whole holds up far better here than it does in some of her other novels.

Thank you to Netgalley, Ruth Ware, and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books Gallery/Scout Press for the privilege to read this pre-pub.

This was a wonderful neo-gothic story of family secrets, Tarot readings, mistaken identities and more. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, much more so than the last two from Ruth Ware. This was an intriguing, fast read, holding my attention and keeping me reading page after page. Although some of the mysteries were too heavily hinted at and revealed themselves, it was definitely a great book, one I will recommend without hesitation.

I like the book enough, but it wasn't a favorite of mine from Ruth Ware. The build up was very slow and the characters were hard to connect with. I will say though that the author does a wonderful job at bringing originality to the genre and I will continue to look forward to her future releases.

Ruth Ware does it again. Hal Westaway is struggling to make ends meet after hit and run death of her mother when a letter arrives informing her of a bequest from her grandmother. But her grandparents died years ago! Her decision to follow up on that letter leads to secrets from the past that can put her in grave danger. This taut, suspenseful novel is hard to put down. Highly recommended.

Having read several books by Ruth Ware, The Death of Mrs. Westaway is my favorite!! I truly enjoyed this book; it's filled with haunting family secrets, intrigue and action. FIVE STARS ALL DAY!!

After her mother's death, Hal is down on her luck with a loan shark on her tail. Having no family around she has no one to turn to for any kind of support, financial or otherwise. Reading tarot cards is just not paying the bills. One day she receives a letter from a probate attorney advising her of an inheritance from the late Mrs. Westaway, allegedly Hal's grandmother. Hal doesn't know who Mrs. Westaway is and while she believes there's a huge mistake, with her financial crisis, she's willing to lie to get her hands on some of that inheritance. And so Hal's intended deception begins, but what she finds instead is a tangled web of deceit in a family with a legacy filled with hidden secrets and intrigue that began before Hal's existence.

I am so grateful that Netgalley, Ruth Ware, Gallery, Threshold, Pocketbooks and Gallery/Scout Press gave me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. The opinions outlined above are all my own.

I'm torn over this book. I have read all of Ruth Ware's novels, and I find her extremely talented. She's a master at creating moody, foreboding atmospheres, and that was one of my favorite things about this book. I guess my biggest complaint about this novel is that I felt it was a little slow. While I, like so many other readers, appreciate a slow burn with a big payoff, I felt this was just a touch too slow with too little of a payoff. Ware is an amazing author, and was able to hold my attention even when I was ready to put it down and start another book. I will say that I didn't see the EXACT ending coming, but I had a pretty good idea that the book would end the way it did. If you're looking for a fast paced thriller, this is not the book for you. Its much better suited for readers who like taut, tightly wound novels that slowly unfold. I'd give of 3.5 stars, but judging by the other reviews, I am in the minority. I see this book being another best seller for Ware- but it isn't my favorite novel by her, by far. Last thing- I think this is the type of book that would translate well on screen.

I couldn’t put this book down! Kept me guessing til the very end. At first I didn’t care for the main character, but through the book I started to understand her. I haven’t read Ruth Ware before, definitely going to read her other books after this one! Thanks for the ARC!

Reading Ruth Ware new novel brought me back to when mystery books were truly mystery. No thrills and chills just good solid " who done it " mystery. Similar to Then there were none, or the Spiral Staircase, I enjoyed it very much