⭐⭐⭐⭐
I read Mad Mabel almost cover to cover on a cross-country flight and it really was the perfect companion; an entertaining combination of intrigue, character development, and reflection on how people come to be who they are.
Eighty-one-year-old Elsie Fitzpatrick has lived a quiet life on Kelly Lane for decades, though recently a single mother and her daughter have moved in and young Persephone has taken an interest in her neighbor. But after Elsie discovers the body of an elderly neighbor (whom she describes as her "nemesis"), people start taking an interest in her past and quickly discover that Elsie is actually "Mad Mabel," a figure connected to a number of deaths, infamous enough to be covered in schools.
Author Sally Hepworth jumps between the present and the backstory in a way that feels natural; the two stories build on each other. I see this book tagged as "Mystery" and "Thriller," but that's not how I'd describe it (though it seems like that's a lot of what Hepworth writes); it's truly a character study that somewhat leads to a meditation on how people become who they are...and how others' and our own perceptions of ourselves influence our lives. It's a drama.
The core of the story is Elsie/Mabel's relationships, with her parents, with her schoolmates, with her neighbors. With others. There's a lot of plot, but the book rests very solidly on its characters. Did I gasp a couple of times at reveals? I did. Did my heart break over and over? It did. Did I want to put this book down? I did not.
I did feel at times that Hepworth tried a touch too hard to be clever with certain plot points and the whole "Elsie thinks she's a crank nobody likes, but she's actually good inside!" trope, and I found it hard to believe that Elsie would be so flippant with the police in the present, given her past. Still, these are nitpicks. Definitely recommend.
Thank you to the St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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