A review by mediaevalmuse
The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

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

3.5

I didn't have any reason for picking up this book other than it was available at the library and I was in a Gothic mood. But once I started reading, I felt like it was hard to stop. So much was happening! It was weird! There's math! Ultimately, I gave this book 3.5 stars because I do think there was a bit too much, but at the end of the day, I had a good time. Maybe this isn't the traditional Gothic one expects, but it was so weird that it's hard to say it isn't memorable.

WRITING: Starling's prose and structure reminded me a lot of the romance genre - at least for the first phase of the book. That's not a bad thing. By setting up a marriage of convenience and then a quick descent into Real Feelings, Starling establishes emotional stakes and makes use of the romance part of Gothic romance.

As the book continues, the prose more or less stays the same but feels less and less like romance. Sentences are still quick and simple, so if that's the kind of style you like, you'll have an easier time with this book.

Personally, I think the atmosphere of the house could have been pushed just a bit more. But more than that, I think Starling could have drawn out the tension to make a more unsettling plot. More on that below.

PLOT: The plot of this book follows Jane, a twenty-something year old woman who decides to marry rather than be a financial burden on her guardians. Jane proposes a marriage of convenience to Dr. Augustine Lawrence, the town surgeon: she will use her math skills to keep records and balance his accounts so that he can focus on being a doctor. As part of their agreement, Augustine mandates that Jane live at the surgical center in town and he live at his family home, Lindridge Hall. Jane is never to spend the night there. The two accept but soon find themselves genuinely attracted to one another. Moreover, Jane finds herself at Lindridge Hall, where something not quite right is happening at night.
I'm a Gothic girlie, and the first section of this book was everything I wanted it to be: marriage to a man with dark secrets, a dilapidated old house, possibly ghosts. I was very excited to figure out what had happened in the past, so the mystery was what kept me reading.

Around the 30-40% mark, the story shifts a bit. We get a lot of info dumped on us that changes the narrative from your traditional Gothic to something more. I wasn't necessarily displeased, but I did wish the shift had come from Jane's own powers of logic and discovery rather than things being revealed by other characters.

The last leg of the book follows Jane through an intense trial (of sorts). Without spoiling anything, I will say that part of me found this section too drawn-out, but part of me liked the psychological weirdness that I think was the point.

Moreover, this book takes place in a 'dark mirror post-war England,' and while I appreciate a bit of alternate history, I don't think the setting added much to this story. There wasn't really a reason for this not to be set in our world, and the 'dark mirror parts didn't necessarily influence the narrative in ways I found significant.

I don't know - I had a great time, but I also felt like there was just a bit too much.

CHARACTERS: Jane, our protagonist, was interesting in that I appreciated the way Starling filtered her thoughts through mathematics and logic. Jane is proficient at these things, and I've read books in the past where character skills don't necessarily have any bearing on their thought patterns or actions. Jane, by contrast, actively uses math and logic to try to understand what is going on around her (and to challenge her own perceptions and feelings), and I found that satisfying.
I also liked how Jane has a sense of agency even through parts of the plot when she is terrified and in over her head. For the last leg of the narrative, Jane's willpower and sense of agency kept me from finding her trials too repetitive or terrorizing. Instead, I admired the way she made decisions for herself and held a singular goal in mind.

Augustine, the surgeon, was also interesting in that Gothic-hero kind of way. I was totally invested in figuring out his secrets and learning if his past was in contrast to his present. As the book went on and his secrets were revealed, I liked how Starling pivoted to thinking about the difference between self-loathing/shame and humility. Jane has a bit of this journey too, but Augustine is the main vehicle, and I liked how it was combined with his supposed ghosts, visions, and obsession with [redacted for spoilers].

Supporting characters were fine, though I do think some of them were used to conveniently provide Jane with the information or materials she needed. I think if Jane had put more things together herself, the narrative would have been more tense and so many random side characters wouldn't have been needed, or else more time could have been spent building up characters with emotional impact (such as the Cunninghams or Jane's mother).

TL;DR: The Death of Jane Lawrence is weird. If you're looking for your typical Gothic novel, you'll only find that for about 30% of this book. After that, it's a wild ride of horror that is all at once fascinating and perhaps trying to do too much. I still had a good time, though. 
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