Reviews with content warning for Grief - The Death of Jane Lawrence

Until that point, the book thoroughly held my interest and the pacing felt well-suited to the plot. My interest really dipped during the 80-86% part of the book, but did gradually return after that.

The ending was layered, a bit surprising, and intriguing.

It wasn’t a true happy ending, but it was mostly hopeful.

I felt that the ending redeemed the book overall. The main characters and their relationship were compelling, and I found myself really rooting for them. I especially loved that Jane’s autism is portrayed so lovingly and as the superpower that it is. There isn’t nearly enough autism representation in literature, and the horror genre is no exception, so Jane is a breath of fresh air. (Jane’s autism is alluded to—and not directly described, but the author confirmed this fact!)

I may not revisit this book, but I’d happily read more work from this author!

Content Warnings

yellow_ylugbug's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.0

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emco_0's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

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illuminatedspace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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tkhenry99's review against another edition

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3.25

certainly not the best gothic horror out there, but not bad. jane’s whole “i want to get married to ensure my independence” thing is pretty much immediately abandoned. she literally has one conversation with augustine and suddenly feels like she knows him and falls in love. their relationship wasn’t at all convincing, which made jane’s motivations for all her actions really hard to understand. the entire book takes place over the course of, like, 2-3 weeks? and just couldn’t get behind their relationship at all. the plot twist was pretty cliche, but the ending was alright overall.

Content Warnings

behindpaperbacks's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Death of Jane Lawrence was a captivating, atmospheric horror novel, infused with a sweeping Gothic love story.

The book follows Jane Shoringfield, who proposes a marriage of convenience to the local doctor Augustine Lawrence. By marrying him, she will be able to pursue her work as an accountant and, in return, she will do Dr. Lawrence's books. Reluctantly, he agrees, under one condition: Jane will never stay at night at his estate, Lindridge Hall. When chance does put Jane under Lindridge Hall's crumbling roof, Jane soon realizes something there is very, very wrong and her new husband might not be who she thought he was.

I had a great time reading this book. The atmosphere and themes fit nicely with other Gothic classics such as Rebecca, Jane Eyre, and The Haunting of Hill House (both the books and the Netflix show!), while still being unique. Jane, the main character, is a pragmatic and independent woman, who, at the beginning of the book, simply wants to pursue her career and be independent from her guardians. Yet, she finds herself charmed by Augustine. So much so, she ignores his strange request of her never stepping foot in his estate.

In a lot of ways, the beginning of the book reminded me of Jane Eyre and Rebecca. We have a crumbling mansion, an eerie atmosphere and a wide-eyed heroine falling for an older man she barely knows whose estate hides some dark secrets. I, for one, believe Mr. Rochester doesn't deserve shit. So naturally, I was a bit frustrated at Jane's naivete. Likewise, I found Augustine to be pathetic and Jane deserved far better than him. Thankfully, she realized that too in the course of the book. Jane's perception of Augustine changed as soon as she found out more about his past. I loved that we finally had a Gothic heroine that raged at her love interest, that was horrified at the things her husband hid from her.

Now, I'm a wimp. I get scared by horror very easily. In this instance, I was fine, however. Aspects were spooky and some parts featured a lot of gore, but I wasn't terrified. The author definitely delivered on the atmosphere of dread and the feeling of being haunted. As a Gothic fiction fan, I was having a blast. The gore-y parts during Augustine's operations added some interesting characterization for both Augustine and Jane. A comparison to both Frankenstein and Crimson Peak seems apt.

The ending of the book was where the story took a dive for me. I liked that, in contrast to Rebecca, for example, there was an actual haunting and actual magic here. But the way magic worked here honestly went over my head and I wasn't quite following the ending. With that being said, I still enjoyed the conclusion to the book and will pick up the author's other books for sure!

I gave The Death of Jane Lawrence 4/5 stars and recommend it to fans of Gothic fiction like Jane Eyre and the Netflix show The Haunting of Hill House.

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