The Arsenic Eater's Wife

First DNF of 2024. Made it 25% into it and I'm done—between the awful husband, the wife's self harm, etc. not interested in trying to push on through. It took me a /week/ to get this far. That should've told me something before now.

I love books that are based on true events! This one already hooked me just with that!

Constance is on trial for murdering her husband. A man who routinely swallows arsenic but he has now died from it and all signs point to Constance.

She loses her home, custody of her kids and now her liberty. She spends her time stewing in jai trying to work out who put here there.

I did not like Constance. She is the worst kind of morally grey character and you spend your time being able to see how she could have done it and not just because everyone in her home was pointing their fingers.

The pace was a bit of a mess, one minute it was racing then it literally felt like the book wasn't moving forward. It was well written and had some beautiful prose flowing through it and I massively enjoyed the audio.

If you like historical fictions based on real events... try this one

4 stars

Netgalley read.

All in all I liked it, but…

Slow start and at one point I was thinking it would take a paranormal turn but didn’t (that could have been fun). Then 70% into the story the best character showed up, a black man who was given a new life away from the streets and he spends it dealing out justice, Mr. Topp (um where is his book?)

This book is a little long and never really gripped me properly. It could have been tighter, more focused, turned it up a little more.