'Dirty Laundry' by Disha Bose is set in a small rich Irish village. However, do not expect cosy yarns as instead this book could easily have been set in Beverley Hills. In it the women are subjugated by their men, either due to them being dependent upon them for money, love, or to make their parents happy. As a result, when the men are busy, their friendship group seethes with long held resentments and rivalries, spearheaded by Ciara, a woman with flawless skin and a substantial social media following. In the closeness of the village things take a turn, and Ciara has a dramatic downfall.

This is a fun read that would appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty. The novel is told from multiple perspectives and moves between the past and the present to explain how events unfolded. Ciara is highly unlikeable, but all of the characters have their flaws. Bose's writing was very engaging.

This is a really good exploration of female friendship and influence culture. The characters are nuanced and believable and the relationships between them are explored in a really compelling way. The whodunnit becomes less important as the story goes on, and yet the end remains satisfying.

"Dirty Laundry" is a great book about 3 families living in a small town in County Cork. The story is mostly about the women, although the husbands/partners also have important roles to play. Aspects of modern culture are laid bare, but also the significance of traditional values. These include the ongoing use of arranged marriages in Indian culture and the importance of the relationship between children and their grandparents (in the old-fashioned way, not merely as free child-care).

The modern trend to become a social influencer is at the heart of the story, demonstrating how easy it is to bend the truth. If somebody seems to be perfect and have a perfect life, take it with a pinch of salt, especially in this day and age.

Highly recommended. Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for the opportunity to review this book.

A group of mothers in a small village are in thrall to Ciara, an influencer. Mishti, her closest friend, has an arranged marriage and a domineering husband. Her neighbour, and rival, Lauren, lives with her partner Sean, in a house inherited from her grandmother. Lauren grew up in the village and was bullied by some of the other girls, who are now part of Ciara's clique. The book tells the backstory of these women, and how their relationships end up with a tragedy. I didn't really enjoy it, none of the characters are nice. It would have been interesting to find out about the aftermath.

WOW!!!!! This is a must read for anyone who enjoys a good book!!
Absolutely loved the characters, the plot- impossible to put it down.
Certainly recommended!

What a wonderful debut! This suburban noir is centred around the lives, loves and marriages of the women in a neighbourhood. There is a lot of toxicity in the friendships, the marriages are unhappy and infidelity is rife. If ever there was a message to avoid social media and affairs with neighbours, this is it! It will have you hooked!

For some reason it took a couple of days to read the first few pages, and I thought I might struggle to finish it, but then I read the rest in a couple of sittings.

A couple of things I loved about this is there's only six main characters, made up of three couples. The chapters are devoted to the women of the couples, and switches between them. There's a suspicious death at the beginning and then the time frame shifts to the weeks leading up to it. There are enough flashbacks to give more backstory to the characters but not so much that it slows down the story. There's a lot of twists and turns throughout and you really are left waiting until the last few pages to know what happened.

I really enjoyed that social media played a part of it and having known some mummy bloggers quite a few years ago I found some of this to be very accurate, the power dynamics, cliques, bullying, faked images of a perfect life and affairs.

I would 100% recommend this book and I think it's perfect book club material and will get everyone glancing at their friend's over tops of the pages wondering what's going on behind closed doors...

This book is fabulous! Definitely a desperate housewife kind of vibe going on with deliciously devious characters. Lies and backstabbing throughout but also insights that give each character authenticity and exposes their vulnerabilities.

Enjoyable read set in Ireland with some feisty women who are not particularly nice. It’s a whodunnit that keeps you guessing.

Lovely to read this thoroughly modern tale with the characters nearly as self-absorbed as themselves (well in some instances at least!)

Set in Ireland we meet Ciara, Mishti and Lauren neighbours, friends and enemies, all with small children and who have bigger personalities than their surroundings allow them to bloom in.

I found the story and the timing that the secrets were revealed absolutely perfectly managed, the realisations that dawn on all the women, and the significant others, felt unforced and natural.

For a story that is far from the life I live, the author had me in the place and moments with her debut novel.

Really enjoyable.Comparison to Desperate Housewives is an accurate one - fun, slightly caricature characters.

dirty laundry took a while to get me invested but once it did, I was pretty hooked. I loved big little lies and this gives me similar vibes, the whole suburban close-knit environment and lifestyle is done really well.

characters are fleshed out to a point where you pretty much dislike everyone (apart from mishti❤️), but I love an unloveable character!!

there were points in the book that felt slightly irrelevant; going off tangent a bit for the sake of giving wider context but didn’t quite feel necessary. that being said, it all added to character development which helped a lot.

overall my rating was 3.75 stars rounded up to 4 for goodreads ⭐️

thank you to netgalley and penguin for this digital copy to review.

Well written characters, who I couldn’t stand at one point or the other. Rich surroundings and locations and a deeper than first expected story.

Ciara is a thoroughly dislikeable person but to the outside world she has it all. A handsome husband, picture perfect home and kids. Her friend Mishti, moved over to Ireland in an arranged mariiage. Her marriage is not a happy one andshe has one daughter.
Next door lives Lauren. A hippy type mother who lives with her partner and three children..

All the people in this book have their flaws and the author does a good job of developing the characters to enable everyone to be a suspect when Ciara is found dead.

This was a great read and I'm sure it would be perfect if turned into a TV spinoff.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to see an ARC

really enjoyed the development of characters. Thought more could have been added to explain each of their histories. Good mystery and you don't really know till the end who dunnit! Thank you netgalley for prereleased copy to read.

A great thriller that reminded me of big little lies. Ciara is a brilliant villain in these story of mothers trying to figure themselves out in the chaos that is comparison to others and insta influencing.
I was hooked from the beginning and loved how it came full circle at the end.
I devoured this read in one sitting.

I wanted something racier and pacier - this feels slow-moving with characters who have been done many times before: the Instagram mum whose real life is chaos, the arranged marriage, the woman in love with a serial cheater of a husband. Lots and lots of screaming kids and nappies and sulking. GREAT cover though!

Firstly I absolutely loved the cover of this book, 10/10, well done. Secondly Dirty Laundry is a fun domestic thriller complete with brilliant characters and lots of gossip. Recommend if you are in the mood for an easy thriller.

“Not everybody fell in love. It wasn’t essential for survival; like breathing, or learning to walk, or digestion. Not every human was destined to experience this thing that nobody could even put into words.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75

This was a really fun, quick read, perfect for fans of Big Little Lies and Desperate Housewives.

In Dirty Laundry we follow 3 women, Ciara, Mishty, and Lauren, as we go back and try to uncover what happened the night that one of the women ends up dead.

I love a cast of unlikeable characters and these characters are insufferable, which made for such a fun reading experience.

This also gives a unique perspective on motherhood and all of the pressures that come with it.

The only reason that this isn’t rated higher is because the ending was a little bit disappointing to me. I loved the rest of the book so much that I was just craving something a bit more punchy.

All in all, really enjoyed my time reading this and will definitely be interested in anything that Disha Bose brings out in the future.

(Thank you to Viking books for sending me an ARC of this book! 💙)

A dark and wry story casting a side eye at the world of modern motherhood and social media. Well written and very engaging with really well drawn characters developed over the story. relatable. A very entertaining story from all the character perspectives. Really enjoyed it.