The Mother-in-Law

How it reads

The Mother-in-Law is thriller (domestic psychological thriller, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in a suburban setting, in the present day, told in the first person by several narrators. Its central concerns are family, secrets and loss and grief. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending resolves happily. At 347 pages it's an ordinary novel's length. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.