A review by myprettypages
Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was a brilliant thriller, not something I’d usually pick up but I’m so glad I did, this kept getting better and better as the story progressed. A novel about a small town where everyone knows everyone’s business, gossip is rife and everyone is willing to air their neighbours’ dirty laundry… 

 

This novel surrounds a woman who’s found dead in her home which then follows the events building up to that moment as we await the reveal. All throughout, secrets are unraveled and affairs are spewed out because like Mary Alice Young once said, “trust is a fragile thing…”. Disha Bose set this novel up perfectly with an instant hooking plot line and a strong willed character who despite everything "needed to show she was in control, even though she wasn’t anymore" as she cleverly plants hints at critical moments to foreshadow the inevitable outcome. 

 

The most intriguing part were the characters, all desperate to prove how better they were compared to each other. Disha flipped typical stereotypes, there was no helpless woman waiting for a white knight, she set up a course of marriages where women were no longer weak in the knees. There was this constant mirage between the way each couple’s marriage appears to their neighbours and then the reality of the fractured relationship and unfaithful partners. Affairs, marriages and friendships are all pushed to a breaking point, playing into the power and affect of paranoia when trust is broken so easily. 

 

I thoroughly enjoyed the tension and anticipation that Bose created, no one is clear when everyone has a motive… What really stood out about this novel for me was the way it ended, everyone is at some fault and with no one taking responsibility, they ironically shared the responsibility and the weight of their shameful secrets which made for a “cruel joke” as the final piece to the puzzle fits into place. I really liked the way all the plot lines were set up and how they tied with each other smoothly. The different perspectives and each person’s version of events made it such an interesting read. The cyclical structure was a clever touch, the novel starting and ending with the moment the body is found at the bottom of the stairway, now with all the secrets exposed to the reader… Everyone and everything is a facade. 

 

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin General for sending me this ARC in exchange for a review.