Reviews with content warning for Death - The Wife Upstairs

Pretty typical of the genre, with the twist of being a modern-day telling of one of my favorite books, Jane Eyre, but without the hopefulness, wisdom, and decency of it’s source material.

Content Warnings

grace33's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

minimicropup's review against another edition

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dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

🇺🇸 Set in an affluent neighbourhood of small-town Alabama, USA

POV: The perspectives are intertwined between the lives of a dog walker striving for stability and the complex history of a client’s previous spouse. The multi-layered narrative weaves first-person perspectives from our dog-walker and diary entries from the spouse, along with third-person accounts of the spouse’s past from former friends.

Mood Reading Match Up:

-A twist on the ‘I’m gonna steal your life’ trope with multi-perspective intrigue.

-Psychological thriller full of lies, morally grey characters, and deceptive appearances.

-Playing-hard-to-get, whirlwind, manipulative romantic suspense

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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕

✏️ Writing: The writing style was fluid and easy to follow, balancing simple storytelling with strategic repetition to build suspense, which drew me back in before setting up the unexpected twists.

🫥 Characters: Jane, the protagonist, is a blend of street smarts and naivete. Her chapters were engaging enough to keep me from skimming, revealing a character shaped by her past yet hopeful for a better future.

🗺️ Worldbuilding: The setting isn’t overly descriptive but is brought to life with small, significant details. The luxurious yet generic rich environment is peppered with enough specifics to make scenes vivid for imaginative readers without overwhelming those who prefer more straightforward descriptions.

🔥 Fuel: The narrative is driven by Jane’s manipulative undertones, so I was often questioning her motives and past. A twist early in the book added depth to the story, revealing complexities in the characters’ lives and relationships.

🐢🐇 Pacing: Steady and well-timed, the story’s pace kept me engaged, with perspective shifts and reveals occurring just as my interest was starting to wane.

🎬 Scenes: The use of italics for Bea’s past perspective added a dreamlike quality to those sections, enhancing the overall atmosphere and plot development. There is an open-ended conclusion so prepare to interpret the outcome in your own way.

🤔 Random Thoughts: I like how the author effectively used diary entries and different perspectives to delve deeper into each character. I think it was a skillfully crafted thriller that offered a neat twist on what has become a classic (possibly even overdone) domestic suspense trope.

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Content Heads-Up: Loss of a spouse. Confinement. Possible false accusations. Financial insecurity. Building fire/fire injury. Manipulation and back-stabbing. Infidelity. Alcohol use/alcoholism (self-medicating).

Rep: Features White American and ambiguously described characters.

Format: Paperback

“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨”

Content Warnings

dev921's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

Content Warnings

yarisbooksandbevs's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I went back and forth with my feeling on this book and ultimately I think I liked it. I did read Jane Eyre a long time ago and I remember enjoying so I do come in with that background (I could see how some people who have not read Jane Eyre might not enjoy this. They are parallels with this having a modern twist). I always thought Bertha was done dirty in the original so I was excited for this read. That being said this book was not what I expected but it wasn’t bad.

I have to admit I did find Jane to be quite annoying from the beginning. She was complaining a lot and it was rough (I did remember that in the original). She got better as the book went on and you start to root for her some. She’s smart, brave, and tenacious and just had a string of horrible things happen to her which kind of explain how she is currently. I like the parallels between Bea and Jane.

I was a bit bummed at first that Bea was actually the villain I wanted justice for Bertha but I’m not mad with the way it ended. I like that Jane and Bertha got better in this novel than the original and it did feel like the right ending.

This definitely wasn’t a bad read just not what I was expecting. For the most part I enjoyed it and I loved the way Hawkins modernized the world and characters of Jane Eyre. It fit.

Content Warnings

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

4.5

The pacing was great with many twists! It’s a great retelling of Jane Eyre, I haven’t read the whole novel (although I am this month), but I know the gist of the story and still recognized similarities! However it’s not completely the same which made it better in my opinion.

I really enjoyed the switching POVs! This was a quick, easy read. I wasn’t completely satisfied with the ending and felt there were a couple of plot holes but overall an entertaining domestic/gothic thriller!

Content Warnings

chloeve's review against another edition

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dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

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