The Wife Upstairs: An addictive psychological crime thriller with a twist - a New York Times bestseller!

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Shortest Summary Ever: Jane is a down-and-out steals-from-her-clients dog walker one day, and the girlfriend of Eddie Rochester, rich bachelor of Thornfield Estates the next. Ah, but there’s a dead wife Bea and her best friend Blanche whose collective demise is haunting the relationship. Everyone in the gossip circle is still buzzing. Thrust into a Real Housewives universe, is Jane ready for what that entails? Is Eddie everything he seems? The story starts with twenty three year old Jane walking a dog in the pouring rain. Jane, a perpetual foster child until she aged out of the system, used to surviving by her wits, thievery, and lying. Her latest job is walking dogs in the rich neighborhood of Thornfield Estates and she's barely making ends meet by stealing from her employers, taking things that they'll never know are missing. Then Jane has a literal "run in" with rich, handsome, eligible widower, Eddie Rochester.

Jane soon figures out that Eddie’s wife, Bea Rochester, is presumed dead. She was in a boating accident six months ago along with Blanche Ingraham, the late wife of Tripp Ingraham (Richard Ingraham the Third) (another one of Jane’s dog-walking clients). Jane also learns that Bea was the “founder of the Southern Manors retail empire”. A week later another one of Jane’s clients, Emily Clarke, asks about Eddie’s new dog, Adele. Emily also says that the circumstances around the boating accident are a bit mysterious. It occurred at Smith Lake, only the two women were on the boat and it was found empty in the middle of the lake. Jane and Emily also talk about how distraught Tripp continues to be over Blanche’s death. Having recently moved to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane takes a job walking dogs in Thornfield Estates, one of the ritziest communities in the area. There, surrounded by gossipy housewives and all the bright, shiny trinkets and toys money can buy, Jane hopes to not be noticed. P.S. For Jane Eyre fans or if you need a primer on the storyline of Jane Eyre before reading this, see Jane Eyes as told through Internet Memes. In terms of the less successful components, I’d say this really isn’t a Southern Gothic novel. Instead, it’s a mystery-thriller, based on Jane Eyre that happens to be set in Alabama. It just didn’t capture that gothic spirit for me. When I think of gothic novels, it evokes in me an image of a sort of breathlessness, taught tension, latent eroticism, simmering passion, cryptic characters, billowing curtains and lurking fears. That’s not this book. Instead, I’d say that tone-wise it reads very much like a standard thriller. oooh, goodreads choice awards finalist for best mystery & thriller 2021! WHAT WILL HAPPEN LET’S FIND OUT!As she and Eddie start a relationship, Jane can't help but be curious about his late-wife, Bea, whose presence is still very much felt in his life. 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?

Jane gets another text from John asking for money. This time, she calls the number of the people who had been trying to find her, but it turns out it’s nothing for her to worry about. It was a private investigator, who was hired by Georgie Smith. George is trying to locate her sister Liz’s daughter, Helen Burns, who ended up in the foster care system. Jane tells the private investigator that John knows nothing and is wasting their time. Then, Jane’s goes to the church where John works, tells him off and then she makes a large donation to the church to ensure that John’s boss won’t want him pissing her off.What happens next is nothing short of brilliant, twisted and completely wild. Talk about turning the freaking tables and stunning this reader to no end! So I smile, tugging at the bottom of my army-green raincoat. “Came prepared,” I tell her, taking Bear’s leash. We’re standing in the front foyer of the Reed home. To my left is a giant framed mirror propped aga In present day, as Jane talks, Bea realizes that Eddie kept her in the room because he still loves her. Then, a fire alarm goes off. Bea starts to head for the door, but she knows that Eddie must have intentionally set off a fire, knowing that the room would not open but that she would go let him out. Bea turns around and runs upstairs into the fire. Part XIII: Jane So I smile, tugging at the bottom of my army-green raincoat. “Came prepared,” I tell her, taking Bear’s leash. We’re standing in the front foyer of the Reed home. To my left is a giant framed mirror propped against the wall, reflecting me, Mrs. Reed, and Bear, already straining toward the door. There’s also a distressed wood table holding a bowl of potpourri as well as a pair of diamond hoop earrings, flung carelessly when Mrs. Reed came in last night from whatever charity function she’d been attending. It's taken me a few days to figure out how to constructively review this book because my initial reaction made me want to toss it in the garbage. But that doesn't help other readers (it would have made me feel a lot better, after having wasted my time with it) but here we go...

Jane Bell is new to Alabama. Living on the outskirts of the posh Thornfield Estates neighborhood, she initially works in a coffee shop, but then takes up dog-walking for the wealthy families within Thornfield.My reaction to this book is a headscratcher for sure, especially in light of how thrilling everyone else found it to be. It entertained me, but I feel like I read a different story and possibly an entirely different genre than everyone else.

Things escalate and Jane and Eddie have a whirlwind romance which culminates with him asking Jane to marry him. But what Jane doesn’t know is that Eddie is keeping a secret – a big secret. And when the truth comes out, the consequences are far more deadly than anyone could ever have imagined…Channeling all the amazing naturally-gothic atmosphere of the American South, The Wife Upstairs puts a modern twist on the beloved Classic, Jane Eyre. All those three POVs : especially Bea and Jane’s ( of course both of them don’t use their real names) breathtakingly twisty! The book description reads : " A delicious twist on a Gothic Classic, Rachel Hawkin's "The Wife Upstairs pairs Southern Charm with atmospheric domestic suspense" and DELICIOUS IT IS!