The Death Of Mrs Westaway by Ruth Ware
From the author of ‘The Lying Game’ comes this uncomplicated dumb novel. Harriet is a grifter beholden to no-one. She lives in dire social circumstances and then she receives a letter that will make a monumental difference to her life. So Harriet heads off on a precarious path. This is a tale of mistaken assumptions, an insatiable desire for money, questionable intentions, emotionally challenged morons, malicious secrets and collective overblown hysteria. This was an inelegant tale of naked self-interest, hateful behaviour, ignorance and malice and high drama. This tale of emotionally deregulated people doesn’t have much coherence. One reads this with no great interest.
Best Lines:
“Your mother’s views were dated event then,”
“Planning the cataclysm that was to come.”
“Unleashed this catastrophe on the living.”
“Small threats.”
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The Auctioneer by Joan Samson
This 1975 horror is reprinted and it is a moral quandary that strains to seem credible. An repulsive jackass auctioneer comes to an ass-backwards town and slowly but surely strips the townsfolk of everything. This crap incites anger and hatred and malicious contempt and burning rage. Animal abuse, spousal abuse and child abuse are all shrugged off.
Best Lines:
“Looking for a more honest and decent way of life.”
“A taste for two things - trouble and gossip.”