REVIEW: The Woman Before Me by Ruth Dugdall

The Woman Before Me (Cate Austin #1) by Ruth Dugdall

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime Fiction

Read: 20th April 2017

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

★★★ 3 stars

I actually enjoyed this book and kept turning the pages devouring each for more. But it was the ending that I found anti climatic and that let it down. You get the feeling all the way through the book that Rose is innocent only to have but one final tragedy twisted to be even more tragic. The whole tale was sad and tragic but the ending made Rose seem even more twisted. I had hoped she was just a poor grieving mother who'd known no real love in her life, obsessed with trying to hang onto the one person she loved but didn't really love her. It was a sad tale in all. And I can safely say the only person I liked in the whole story was Cate.

I didn't like Rose all that much but I liked her more than Jason who just took her for granted while remaining in love with his ex wife and sleeping with her still, fathering her new son whose murder Rose was imprisoned for. I didn't like Emma, Jason's ex wife and Rose's new friend, who complained about her lot in life when she had everything Rose ever wanted and took it all for granted. And I didn't like Dominic who was just an angry controlling husband who seemed somewhat put out that a baby disrupted his and Emma's life. I may not have liked Rose much, but I felt sorry for her and the hand she'd been dealt. And then the ending ruined that for me...