The Death of Jane Lawrence, by Caitlin Starling

Pub Date: 10/05/2021

Thank you to Macmillan & St Martin’s Press for this amazing book box celebrating Starling’s
instant bestseller and one of the “best books of 2021” (NPR).

The book includes all the elements and feels of a gothic horror. Perfect for those who love an occult romance, magic realism, and journeys that include conjuring magic to get to (and hopefully out of) the depths of hell.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and am thrilled to have received this spectacular box!

The premise of The Death of Jane Lawrence sounded so fascinating. After the death of her parents, Jane Shoringfield is left to depend on the kindness of other family members. Even though she is very intelligent, an employed bookkeeper who loves numbers, she realizes that she needs a man to help her live the life she wants to live.

She settles on Augustine Lawrence, a surgeon. She proposes to him a marriage of convenience, of two like minds working together. She can help in his surgery and he can provide the home and stability that she needs. A working relationship.

Something is immediately off when she learns that she is to never spend the night at Lindridge Hall. Augustine will stay there, but Jane will sleep at the surgery. As she is leaving the hall, trouble on the road forces her back to the Hall and staying there, she soon finds out that things aren’t as they seem.

There are ghostly visions and hints of past secrets.

Then it switches into being mostly about magic. Very dark magic, with rituals and spirits and I don’t know what else. Honestly, I really don’t even know how to describe it. I was so confused for about the last fourth of the book.

It was very well written and the character development was great, I would have liked to see the story stay more gothic and less magical.

The Death of Jane Lawrence started out promising. I loved the creepy atmosphere. I enjoyed the relationship between Jane and Augustine and couldn’t wait to find out what was happening with the house. Unfortunately, the more I read, the less I liked the story.

Well talk about messing with your mind. I'm still trying to process this story; I have so many questions. lol This is very much a gothic horror story, with magic brought into it. The story starts off a little slow but then at the end, it was almost too much for me and my brain to comprehend and I was left with tons of questions and no answers. Overall though I did enjoy the crazy ride though.

Wow, wow, wow! I've read a ton of horror this year. This was one of the best. I'm particularly obsessed with gothic horror, and TDOJL absolutely fit the bill. The main character was interesting and well-balanced for a historical character--appropriate for the time period vs. modern sensibilities. It's always tough to get that *just right*. And wow, this story did NOT hold back when it came to gruesomeness. It was honestly a lot for me to handle (gore isn't really my thing), but I appreciated that the author went all in. Brilliant setup and a wonderfully suspenseful story. The ending confused me a bit, but it's quite possible I read it too fast because I was desperate to know what happened. After discussing with a friend (whom I convinced to read the book, mwahaha), I understand it better. Definitely a novel I'd recommend to anyone who loves gothic horror! As an extra note, I LOVED watching an author event about the book and learning that the (autistic) author wrote aspects of autism into the novel's main character.

4.5 stars!

Thank you St. Martin's Press for providing a free advanced e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This one just wasn't for me. While the gothic setting is creepy and atmospheric, I found myself mostly bored. I didn't care enough about the characters or what would happen to fully enjoy this book. The pacing was off and caused me to really struggle. DNF for me unfortunately.

I thoroughly enjoyed this one - I love a gothic novel and boy does this deliver. This book has everything: magic, math, the occult, a crumbling mansion, the ghost of a first wife, medicine, an alternate version of England. It's all jammed in there.

Other reviewers had problems with pacing; I didn't find it a slow start, but could have used like three more pages in That Chapter to make things a bit clearer. I don't have a head for fantasy and a math-based magic scheme is designed specifically to thwart my understanding of it, so I could have used a little more exposition. But wow if this book doesn't just beg to be read in front of a roaring fireplace as rain pounds the windows.

DNF 60%

2.8 stars

Well, this was going so well until I don't know where it was going anymore.

One thing this story was for sure was atmospheric!

60% of the story I was sure this was going to be at least a 4-star review: The writing is really good! The premise and characters were so promising... but then... a bunch of characters were introduced that didn't seem to add anything to the story and that were taking plot in way too many different directions that didn't seem to go anywhere either.

All kind of things starting happening that were unexpected not in a good "plot twist" way but in a just "I don't know what is happening" way.

I was LOVING the writing and the main characters so... VERY UNFORTUNATE!

Strange book about very strange people. I kept starting and stopping reading it and completely lost track of what was actually going on. I really wanted to read this book but it was so far our of my usual genre I could not get back into it each time I picked it up again.

This book was a perfect Gothic Horror read that kept me guessing throughout. Fans of Rebecca or Crimson Peak will love this book! I will be recommending it to customers looking for something spooky.
I can't wait to read more by this author!

Gothic stories always pique my interest. The Death of Jane Lawrence seems to have roots in the Bluebeard legend (woman marries man who turns out to have some seriously shady secrets) meets classic Gothic troupes (woman goes to remote manor house and all hell breaks loose). In this story, a young woman named Jane decides to enter a marriage of convenience with a doctor named Augustine Lawrence. He agrees on the condition that she never stay at his family home. But of course, she stumbles upon his dark secrets anyway and ends up tangled in a web of things that should never have been meddled in.

My enjoyment was slightly skewed by my expectations. Either the original synopsis didn’t include the bit about this being set in an alternate world, or I totally missed it (both are possible). I didn’t expect to be so thrown by this story being set in an alternate world, but it kept pushing me off track. Every time a detail about the world was mentioned, I frantically wondered if I was supposed to be remembering it or if it was just a random detail. And it really didn’t help that the worldbuilding was so vague. Even with the setting being close to post-WWI England, I never felt a clear mental image of the world. I was also expecting this to be more of a realistic setting with paranormal overtones, but it had a lot more magic, sorcerers, and other Fantasy elements. So again, my expectations were out of line with the story.

On the other hand, the details of Lindridge Hall and the events that took place there were vividly described. Starling’s writing was often visceral yet lyrical. The details of the horror elements are where the writing shined. There were moments when I was really engaged in the story. I will go ahead and mention that if medical gore and vivisection gross you out, you’ll want to skip this one. Anyway, the writing was atmospheric most of the time.

There were some stylized elements of the writing that annoyed me a bit. In particular, the way that the supernatural creatures’ dialogue was written was exasperating. It was all plunked down with no quotation marks and no capital letters. It would have been much better if the author had just used italics like most people do when indicating stream-of-consciousness. Refusing to use capital letters was just obnoxious.

The biggest issue I had with The Death of Jane Lawrence was the inconsistency of the characters. Their actions just didn’t make sense. I was all set to root for Jane in the beginning: this solemn, out of place, mathematically-minded woman trying to make the best of her life. Her logical approach to finding a marriage of convenience made sense. What didn’t make sense was how after meeting Augustine TWICE, she suddenly went all instalovey doe-eyed romantic. All of the subsequent events (some of which are far too contrived) depend on that instalove. If Jane had been a flibbertigibbet from the beginning, I would have just rolled with it. Gothic stories are full of breathy heroines making stupendously bad romantic choices after all. But I get a bit peeved when I’m teased with a logical, stalwart female lead whose personality gets practically lobotomized by a single kiss.

I started to really lose patience in the last quarter of the book. I just wanted things to wrap up, but it felt like they dragged on while Jane went over repetitive details. The ending was interesting, but since I didn’t understand Jane’s motivation and didn’t care at all what happened to Augustine, it fizzled out for me. I was interested in the ending but not emotionally invested in it.

Although I had some issues with the story, The Death of Jane Lawrence is still a solid read. If I’d gone into it with different expectations, I might have enjoyed it more. Nevertheless, Starling’s writing is robust, and I look forward to checking out her other works.

Thrilling, atmospheric and scary as hell! The Death of Jane Lawrence was the perfect fall read. Highly recommended!

This was a bit all over the place for me. It was slow and uneventful at times, and then at others, it felt like a crazy nightmare. I would have liked it to have found a better rhythm to really allow me to settle into the story. I liked the gothic atmosphere, but I didn't love the characters.

The cover of this one is what intially put it on my radar and then I found out it’s a gothic horror novel and I was so excited!! This book started off so strong. I was intrigued by Jane, Augustine, the wild surgery in the beginning and of course the creepy house filled with spirits. It’s when that magic starts to be introduced that things took a turn for me. It just got so disjointed and confusing for me. I really wish I would of loved this more but can’t win them all.

This book was interesting, but it did not hook me right away. I would not recommend this book to people who get squeamish at mentions of blood and gore, because the main character is a surgeon's assistant so there is a lot of gore. I liked this book but overall I would not recommend it be read in school because of the graphic nature of it.

This book was not for me. The pacing was off and I did not enjoy the twists and turns that the story took once the main conflict was introduced.

I recommend reading for those who like romance and witchcraft.

What a brilliant storyline and mysterious plot. I was interested throughout. I was on the edge throughout. Beautiful. Well done.

Whew. This book.

This book is something different—in a good way, and yet I think some readers may find it disappointing in its refusal to be what it first appears. It very successfully pulls the rug out from under you about halfway through and just gets progressively weirder (in the oldest sense of the word) as it goes on. Initially, it has the "haunted gothic mansion" thing down pretty pat; it gave me strong The Little Stranger-vibes in the beginning. Then, it completely shifted gears in ways that I won't spoil here. I have been in a deep reading slump and haven't properly finished a book in several months but I gulped this one down in a couple of days, so if nothing else, it is absolutely gripping in its weirdness.

Hmmm, I'm not sure what to say about this one because I had such high hopes and it started out so strong. The tone of general creepiness of the book is a solid <em>Rebecca</em> style. I really liked the descriptions of the house itself and of Jane moving through this new world. Jane, practical and intelligent, marries a seemingly normal man and by mere accident, she finds herself stranded by herself on his country estate. Where all hell breaks loose.

I was there with her, trailing behind, trying to take in my surroundings. I was there with her, falling in love with her husband, even though sometimes he acted strangely. I will admit there is a bit of insta-love here, but it didn't bother me because it obviously was important to the plot for her later actions.

And that cover! Wow. While I appreciated the cover before I read the book, after reading the story I feel like I have a new love of this cover!

I was really excited about the paranormal aspect of the book, adding in real ghosts and spirituality's darker side. Jane was an easy character to get behind, but as the book continued, she almost became a different character. Many times, she had a chance to escape the house but instead she chose to stay to try to figure things out, which I kinda get but the things happening were already so threatening I felt like this was not in her character. I am not talking about the second part of the book when she actually does need to stay but I won't spoil that part.

The other thing is the length. The second part of the story dragged and I found myself just trying to get to the end. If the book had been shorter, I think the overall urgency and intensity would have really picked up the pace.
The Death of Jane Lawrence</em> is not my cup of tea, sadly. But maybe I had high expectations of this genre.

An awesome spooky read for a fall night. I devoured this book by the fireplace with a glass of red wine. It was worth every moment I spent reading it.