The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins has LOTS of unlikeable characters but I couldn’t help myself when reading – I didn’t want to put the book down because I wanted to know which one was really a murderer! The setting of the novel is present day Alabama. Jane Bell (not her real name) is a dog walker with a secret past… Eddie Rochester is a very wealthy widower (his wife died in a boating accident)… Tripp is a drunk (his wife also died in the boating accident)… John is Jane’s creepy roommate… and there are also the “neighborhood wives” who circle around Jane and Eddie with even more secrets to divulge. There is not really a likeable character in the bunch! But it’s the type of novel where you sometimes like to dislike them – after all, one or more of them is a murderer! There is lots of manipulation in this story – along with lots of jealousy and greed. There is also lots of profanity. (So if you don’t like bad language, steer away from this novel.) Different chapters tell the point of view of different characters, which I don’t always like…but in this book – it worked well.The Wife Upstairs is a fun, easy to read thriller – an intriguing escape from a dreary, cold afternoon in winter! I probably wouldn’t classify it as a “super great” selection, but I did enjoy it and it moved along quickly.
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