It' has been quite a while since I read a book in which every single character was despicable in their own unique way. Dirty Laundry has unreliable, unlikeable characters in spades. Will recommend to neighborhood suspense-drama fans with the caveat that there is no one to root for in this book!

I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought I would from the blurb. It is a really slow, slow-burner as a thriller but an interesting look at female friendships. Of all the characters, Mishti is the most likeable though I wished she would start standing up for herself much sooner.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

A Darker Turn in New Motherhood

In this debut novel, Disha Bose, created diverse, young mothers. The main characters are Ciara, a beautiful woman who I would call the Influencer. She resembles the Mean Girl that we all know in one façade or another. Ciara is beautiful, toned and a master of using social media to cajole and retain her leadership. She is sexually attractive using men at her will.

Mishti, Ciara’s questionable best friend, is the product of an arranged marriage. She is from Calcutta and married a handsome, cold professional doctor. She is more profound and smarter than her husband or other women realize.

And then there’s Lauren who grew up in a dysfunctional home and lived amongst her peers as a the girl no one wanted as a friend. Lauren is the most complex. She has three children and lives with the father of these children.

The narrative, not always flawlessly, switches from one narrator to another. Bose’s writing is sometimes disjointed and left me questioning the characters’ morality and allegiances. The children are interesting and the author provides sharp differences among the three boys and three girls. Including the diversity of the children enhances the story.

Although the setting is in Ireland, the story is universal for most women. The action takes place in one single month. The males are significant but none as strong as the women. There is a murder, an excellent climax and we have no doubt the difference among the characters are important to the climax and Bose’s literary choreography.

My gratitude to Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine Books. All opinions expressed are my own.

Right from the beginning, the story set me on edge. Nothing about Ciara's life seems ideal and starting off with a struggle with her child and then looking for a fight with her husband didn't help matters. Even after reading the entire book, I still do not understand why these women put up with the men without having killed one of them. Other than Mishti, the excuses were rather thin. I felt like the whole book's purpose was to aggravate the reader instead of build suspense. If that was the goal, it was successful. But it isn't why I read a book.

What happens when the mean girl in a small Irish village is murdered? That's the question here because Ciara, who seems to have it all is also the queen bee who is rotten to the other women until....Mista has her issues- she's in an unhappy marriage, as does Lauren, and both of them were tormented by Ciara. But is there someone else out there as well? This moves between perspectives and while it's extremely trope-y, it's a nice debut that did keep me turning the pages. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC, I'd like to see more from Bose.

I got 60% into this book and have decided not to finish it. It’s not necessarily a bad book, it just isn’t for me. Here’s a breakdown of what I liked and didn’t like as much:

LIKES
-The setting of a small Irish village was great. Everybody knows everybody, and everyone’s “dirty laundry” eventually comes out.
-The story follows three female protagonists who are all extremely different, but dealing with similar domestic problems. I liked seeing both the contrasts and similarities of their lives.

DISLIKES
-Every character is so unlikable. The main reason I decided to stop reading was that I just did not care what happened to any of them. I felt irritated with nearly every character, and wasn’t inspired to live on their POVs any longer.
-Parts felt really repetitive. I started feeling like I was going in a circle with these characters without getting much plot out of them. By 60%, I need a little bit more to go off.

I think this could be a great book for the right reader - if you enjoy slow domestic tales with a hint of suspense, this could be a good pick for you!

Big thank to the publisher for providing me with a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review

This book was no different from the suburban Instagram families it criticized: hateable, lacking substance and cleverly hidden behind a pretty cover. The book dragged on and on for the first 60 percent. If the "influencer" trope were new, perhaps a reader would find it interesting. I, however, was bored and just nodding along to plot lines that have been written and rewritten dozens of times. We get it: some women marry for money; some women marry from unrequited love; and some women marry abusers out of self-hatred. This was a forced read for me. Finally, as we all know already, nothing is what it seems on Instagram or Facebook. This book, sadly, falls into that category.

Sometimes murder happens to the most deserving of people. An Irish village of adult mean girls and mothers just trying to survive their days comes to a head and the fun is in trying to figure out exactly what happened. Like a fish on a hook Bose reeled me in and let me loose time and again until all the details came together. A well done mystery that has you cheering, but not necessarily for who you’d think.

I'm not the biggest fan of this one. I kept waiting and waiting for this book to get good, got through it pretty fast because I was hoping that something interesting was going to happen, and then it was very underwhelming.

Basically the first 60% of the book was fluff that could’ve been eliminated and I found myself almost bored. Once the story did finally pick up, it was completely rushed into the last 10% of the book which, is a big pet peeve of mine when reading. And then there wasn't really a resolution either.

I love a good neighborhood/domestic drama but this was lacking. The one plus side was I liked the description - it gave me a vivid image of the characters and their surroundings without being too fluffy.

I'd also say there was barely any thrill or mystery, this was just fiction pretty much. Overall forgettable and when the ending came around I didn't really care what happened to any characters, it was anti-climactic and I just wanted it to be over.


Thanks NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

This book had my attention right from the first glance at the cover, title and description. And reading a debut author's first book is always exciting. It was very easy to slip into a voyeuristic role and just watch this eclectic cast of mismatched characters exist, interact and implode. I didn't find myself rooting for any of the unlikeable characters, but I did find myself wanting to know what happened next and couldn't put the book down until I'd read their stories through to the end.

I enjoyed the way the story was told from multiple perspectives. I'm not usually a fan of having the big dramatic moment revealed at the beginning and then going backwards to show how that big moment had come to be. It worked for this book though. Bose has potential, for sure!

If there's a moral to this story it's simply that no matter what we think we know, people have plenty of hidden dirty laundry. But this book doesn't seem to be about lessons - it's simply a twisty story for guilty pleasure.

3.5 stars

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC!

Dirty Laundry
by Disha Bose
Pub Date: 04 Apr 2023

Dirty Laundry is a powerful emotional story about three couples and the secrets they have in their lives.

The characters are written well and are very entertaining. Some I liked, some not so much.

If you want to read about a neighborhood and it's "Dirty Laundry" this is the book to read!

I am so glad I had the opportunity to read this book! This author is extremely talented and I can't wait to read more of her books in the future!

Sypnosis: A twisty, domestic suspense debut about a clique of mothers that shatters when one of their own is murdered, bringing chaos to their curated lives.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for the E-ARC.

A great summer read with some 'Real Housewives' / 'Desperate Housewives' vibes, Dirty Laundry will keep you reading right up until the conclusion. Intriguingly enough, the door is left open for a continuation....

Ciara is a huge social media personality and she wants everyone to believe her life is grand. But she has some really big issues that she is not dealing with. Like getting involved with her followers husbands.

Misti is in an arranged marriage and she is not happy and often dreams of her first love. But she is a great mother and wants the best for her child. Then you have Lauren and she has three kids and she is not treated well at all by Ciara. Lauren’s husband is totally worthless except he is good with their children.

Ciara is a bully and never grew up and extremely fake. Ciara ends up dead and and it could be several different people that were involved. I just couldn’t get into this book because it was a little annoying that it was basically about a snobbish immature woman.

I received this ARC from Netgalley for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This is one of those books where 'modern life' comes into play, in not the best way possible. It's Stepford Wives meets Mean Girls, meets Instagram. The reader finds themselves yelling at characters, rolling their eyes, and in general, feeling like they are all unlikeable. But that is part of the magic of the book- you know the main character is dead, part of your doesnt care, but you're curious to see which one 'did the deed', and it keeps you tirning the pages. There is seething commentary weaved in, and it might just make you question some of your mom-relationships! Well played Disha!

this was a mediocre thriller. I find it difficult to find intriguing thrillers now since most of the themes and plots have already been done. I'm looking for more unique plots and this didn't really deliver. It's a run of the mill, standard thriller.

This debut mystery novel is set in a small town in Ireland and is centered around three married women and their families. When one is found dead, the story backtracks in time a few weeks so the reader can see just what led up to her death. I thought that structure was quite effective to build the plot. The well-written characters were either unlikable or found themselves in unfortunate situations, which made for a pretty compelling story. I couldn't put it down! I'll definitely look forward to reading more from Disha Bose!

I received an arc of this debut novel from the author and publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks for the opportunity. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose is an entertaining mystery/thriller. I liked the book because it was unique because the characters are from different cultures and the book is set in Ireland. Ciara is the neighborhood ringleader of the neighborhood and I get that role. I have seen that behavior with some of my friends with littles. Lauren Doyle is Cieara's target most of the time. Misthti is interesting because she is from India and moved to Ireland in an arranged mariage. Misthti could use a backbone and stand up for herself with the ladies in the hood and her husband. However, I was rooting for her because her heart is in the right place.

I think people that are active on social media or are interested in seeing how an influencer works, will enjoy this book. It is also a good look at community where different people are put together based on an address. Everyone could have been the murderer but who is actually guilty does not come out until the end.

Thank you Random House and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Dirty Laundry. I would recommend picking up Dirty Laundry when it is released on April 4th 2023. #NetGalley #DirtyLaundry #DishaBose

I mostly prefer crime thrillers/ more of a mystery type of suspense read to domestic drama but enjoyed this read reminiscent of Big Little Lies.

I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likable but their “dirty laundry” was pretty fascinating to read as it unfolded!

Overall a great debut!

This one let me down a bit. While it had some of the bare bones of domestic thriller, complete with the feelings of isolation and tension that come from a small town (or village, in this case) as well as personal vendettas and romantic affairs, it never really delivered on the suspense it could have created. I thought the characters were done decently well. Some, like Mishti, are very likable while others, like Ciara to a lesser degree but most of all Sean, are just plain awful. It was an interesting enough read to keep me going until the end, but I just felt like... what was the purpose?

This is a solid ⭐️⭐️⭐️for me. While there was nothing I absolutely hated, I felt indifferent the whole time I read it and the ending didn’t feel like an ending at all. I was actually left to wonder what the takeaway was from the book once I got to the end. I knew Ciara was dead and that the book was a set up to who killed her but there was very little suspense built up and quite honestly, it felt like barely a plot to hold together a bunch of mostly unlikeable characters.