Enter Eddie Rochester. A recent widow who is trying to get over the death of his wife, Bea and her best friend Blanche, both of whom drowned while away on a “Girls Weekend.” Hawkins twists together the suspense and storytelling of Jane Eyre with the atmosphere, tension, and odd characters of a Southern-gothic into a tale of a young woman trying to escape her past...an altogether sinister novel that will make readers of Jennifer McMahon, Ruth Ware, and Donna Tartt shudder." –– Booklist OMG there are thrillers and then there are thrillers that are MY kind of thrillers. This was my favorite type! I love a character that is flawed and one where we get a look into their innermost thoughts....that just happen to be a bit twisted and defiantly snarky...throw in some dark humor and I am in....LOVE!!! And the characters are just as engaging as the story. Which is surprising, since not a single one of them is wholly sympathetic. Not Jane. Not Eddie. Not Bea. But they all possess a certain charm – a flawed relatability, of sorts, that allows us to enjoy them despite their immoral ways. Jane goes to talk to Tripp, who gives his version of what happened at the lake house the weekend when Bea and Blanche went missing. Tripp tells her that Blanche had wanted them to leave the area because she felt like Bea was suffocating her. He explains that things had gotten messy between the four of them (Blanche, Bea, Tripp and Eddie), so Bea had invited Blanche for a weekend away to “hash things out”. However, on that Friday, Tripp was confused when Bea also asked him to join them for the weekend as well, but went with it. After he got there, the three of them ended up getting trashed. When he woke up hungover the next day, Bea and Blanche were gone.

I hear the door close behind me, and wonder what Mrs. Reed will do this morning while I’m off walking her dog. Have another cup of coffee? Chase it with a Xanax? Plan some other charity function?After the detective leaves, Eddie tells Jane that they were just giving him an update on the situation. They found Blanche’s body, but not Bea’s. They also suspect that this was a murder, not an accident. Eddie says that he’s not a suspect, but they still want to question him. He also says they want to question Jane, too, which worries her since she has very purposefully been keeping her past hidden. Once Bea had decided Blanche needed to die as well, she started concocting her plan, inviting Tripp along for the purpose of framing him for it. Unfortunately, Eddie had showed up, which she had not anticipated.

And when we get to the reveals, they seemed weak and underwhelming for a thriller. I don't know if my expectations just weren't set correctly, but I found everything to be so silly and over-the-top, I kept giggling at inappropriate moments. It was so unrealistic and logistically impossible that it was hard to take the story seriously or to care about how everything shakes out. THE WIFE UPSTAIRS...stands on its own as a gothic-tinged thriller, one where bright colors, big hair and perfect manners hide more than a few dark secrets." chances are you’ll fly through 'The Wife Upstairs' both because you’re intrigued by the unfolding story itself and because you’re putting together all the nods to its inspiration, Charlotte Bronte’s 'Jane Eyre.'" –– St. Louis Post-Dispatch The setting: a southern town in Alabama, Thornfield Estates. A place that is full of mansions, with perfectly manicured lawns and where the women are in shape, wearing too much jewelry and scheduling their next Neighborhood Beautification Committee meeting while alcohol runs freely.My sincerest appreciation to Rachel Hawkins and St. Martin’s Press for the physical Advance Review Copy. All opinions included herein are my own. Plain but street smart Jane has aged out of the foster care system and is struggling to make it on her own in a small suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. After a brief stint in a coffee shop, she becomes a dog walker in the upscale, gated community of Thornfield Estates. She supplements her income by stealing jewelry and other small items from her clients. One day while walking through the estates, she meets Eddie Rochester, a rich widower, whose wife recently died in a boating accident. Their insta attraction is complicated because Jane is running from her past and Eddie has secrets of his own. My Thoughts: The book switches from Jane and Bea's perspectives. Jane is narrating, and Bea is writing in journal form.) I was completely blown away by The Wife Upstairs. This is a compulsive, irresistible retelling of Jane Eyre with a modern, noir twist – and wow, does it work." ––Samantha Downing, USA Today bestselling author