Dirty Laundry
"Ciara sometimes thought about that day now. Liz knew she was handing over the reins that had steered her son his whole life. She didn't want to give that kind of power to a woman who knew exactly what she was doing."
They say never judge a book by its cover, but more than anything the cover of Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose is what enticed me to request it on NetGalley. In fact, the cover was so alluring that I never even read the description, which is why I was so shocked when this book turned out to be a domestic thriller set in Ireland. Furthermore, I was even more shocked to finish the book and realize I had no idea how the title connected to the plot, or what the cover art was meant to represent beyond the main character’s house. This confusion was pretty representative of my whole reading experience, and left me feeling underwhelmed at the conclusion.
Synopsis:
Ciara Dunphy runs her small Irish town. A gorgeous mother of two, Ciara has set the standard for not just the other moms in her neighborhood, but the world through her mommy-blog Instagram account. As an influencer, her life is perfect: a loving husband, a beautiful home, and well-behaved, adorable children. She’s the go-to for advice, and everyone craves her approval. But when the camera is off, Ciara’s a different story. She resents her children, has been cheating on her husband, and spends thousands on clothes she’ll never wear using money her husband doesn’t know about.
Mishti Guha on the hand is as far out of the limelight as she can be, despite being Ciara’s best friend. An immigrant from India married to man chosen by her parents, Mishti was saved from exclusion when Ciara welcomed her into the mommy and me group with open arms. Now Mishti raises her daughter in a country that’s too cold, too rainy, too white, with a husband who’s never home, and a best friend who seems almost too good to be true. All Mishti wants is what Ciara has––the confidence, the love, the attention––but as her friend continues to slip up, Mishti realizes that there may be more to Ciara underneath the surface.
Then there’s Lauren Doyle, a native to their Irish village and an outcast from day one. Lauren’s as earthy as they come, with long flowing hair, handmade clothes, and three children who run naked in the yard. She may not have the perfect life of her next-door neighbor Ciara, but she has a loving partner, amazing children, and a roof over their heads. Sure, she’d love to be included in the mommy group Ciara has excluded her from, and sure she’d love for her children to have friends at school, and yes, of course she would love for her partner to agree to get married finally, but she’s mostly happy, and that’s enough, right?
But when Ciara is found murdered in her home, the persona she has worked so hard to create for herself crumbles, with secrets, affairs, and dark thoughts escaping through the crack in her skull. Suddenly the entire village seems to have something to gain from her death, including Mishti and Lauren, as well as the three woman’s partners. Will the killer come forward to claim Ciara’s crown, or will the revealed secrets destroy any semblance of normalcy the village once had?
Thoughts:
I went into this book with no expectations, and that may have been my downfall. Although I normally love psychological thrillers, this one fell short for me. Not only did I hate Ciara, but I hated all the characters, even the ones I was supposed to feel sympathy for. There were a lot of scenes I found either unnecessary or unnecessarily graphic, and I couldn’t make myself care about what happened to anyone, regardless of their backstory. A certain points I felt the dialogue was cringy, and none of the twists or reveals wowed me enough to rank higher than three stars. In fact, with each revealed secret I just felt more and more disturbed, and not in the way I usually am with domestic thrillers. By the end I just felt uncomfortable.
However, my biggest complaint would be the title. I understand from the official summary that Dirty Laundry is referring to the characters airing each other’s dirty laundry, but there wasn’t a moment in the book where that clicked. There are hundreds of other titles that would have made sense for this story, and could have been pulled from the text to give readers an ah-ha! moment, but dirty laundry was not one of them.
Overall:
In the end, Dirty Laundry was an underwhelming, average story. Despite my numerous complaints, I didn’t hate the plot, and I did enjoy some of the twists and turns in the last few chapters. However, I could have gone without reading this book and been fine. For fans of Sally Hepworth or Geneva Rose, Disha Bose’s domestic thriller is a debut that falls in line with The Perfect Marriage and The Golden Couple.
My Rating: 3/5
Goodreads Average: 3.64/5
Information:
Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose (Ballantine Books)
Publication Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780593497388