Audiobook Review – The Arsenic Eater’s Wife by Tonya Mitchell, Narrated by Penelope Rawlins (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Mystery
Length: 10 hours and 23 minutes
Publisher: Dreamscape Media
Release Date: June 25, 2024
ASIN: B0D33T7KW7
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Review copy of Audiobook from NetGalley
Rating: 3/5 stars
“Liverpool, England, 1889: In the shadowy streets, the air is thick with secrets and the line between guilt and innocence blurs. Twenty-six-year-old Constance Sullivan is brought to trial charged with poisoning her husband, William. But William was no ordinary victim…
As Constance’s barrister fights to prove her innocence, a sinister web of deception unravels, exposing the dark underbelly of their seemingly idyllic marriage. One by one, witnesses emerge with incriminating testimony and facts about the dark side of Constance and William’s marriage are revealed. For many, the widow’s guilt seems clear. But is someone holding the key to the whole truth?”
Series Info/Source: This is stand alone book. I got this on audiobook for review through NetGalley.
Thoughts: This was okay. There were some things I liked, but I also had a lot of issues with this book. I almost stopped reading this a couple of times because it was just too predictable, and I just did not care.
The story starts with Constance being arrested for the poisoning and murder of her husband William. As the trial commences, more and more secrets come to light about both Constance and her husband William. The story jumps back and forth between the trial and the events in the past that are being discussed in the trial.
The main issue I had with this book was that all of the characters were jerks to each other and I never enjoy characters like that. Seriously, there are no “good” characters in this book. They all lie, bend the truth, and try to hurt each other. There is so much sneaking, conniving, and cheating that it made my head hurt.
The second issue I had was I thought it should have ended way before it did. For the last third of the book, Constance spends a whole bunch of time confronting people attached to her husband’s household and trying to get them to admit to their actions. Most of the book was fairly predictable, and to have a couple hours (I listened to on audiobook) devoted to the protagonist explaining what happened (like the reader is an idiot) felt really prolonged. This could have been easily summed up in a short epilogue with better effect.
The last third of the book also seemed very out of character. Constance is desperate to see her children, but she delays this to spend a whole bunch of time hunting these other people down in order to get them to talk. There really isn’t a lot of purpose to this either. She kind of tries to blackmail them but doesn’t really have leverage. She isn’t going to get the case reopened either…so I just didn’t really see the point to it all.
Additionally, this is stated as being based on a true story, but there is no afterward on what in here was true and what was fiction, which is a pet peeve of mine. I would have really liked to know some about the true events this is based off of. I did finish this but it was a near thing; I almost stopped reading it multiple times. This book also seems a bit confused on theme, there is a bit about woman’s rights, a bit of romance, and bit of mystery…it’s a bit of a jumble in all and not well balanced.
The audiobook was well done, and I have no complaints about the narration.
My Summary (3/5): Overall I found this somewhat disappointing. The question of whether or not Constance will be found guilty does drive the first 2/3rds of the story but then just when you think the book should end it keeps going…for hours longer. The characters are all horrible people who lie, cheat, and steal…I didn’t really enjoy that at all. I did finish this, but I also had a lot of issues with it. I don’t plan on checking out future books by this author.
