Book Review: THE HEIGHTS by Louise Candlish

 

Title: THE HEIGHTS

Author:  Louise Candlish

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster UK

Read: May 2021

Expected publication: 2 June 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description:

 

The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among the warehouses of Shad Thames, its roof terrace so discreet you wouldn’t know it existed if you weren't standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that’s when you see a man up there – a man you’d recognize anywhere. He’s older now and his appearance has subtly changed, but it’s definitely him.

Which makes no sense at all since you know he has been dead for over two years.

(I’m leaving it here because it’s better to go into this blindly and the blurb gives too much away!)

 

 

My musings:

 

I love books that present me a real ethical dilemma and make me examine my own moral compass. Justice vs revenge. Justice vs obsession. It can be a fine line. If the justice system fails you, and the threat is still out there, is it ok to take matters into your own hand? These are just some of the themes Candlish explores in her latest novel THE HEIGHTS, and the dilemma kept me awake at night!

 

Candlish knows how to create a nightmare scenario. Whether it’s the loss of your home in OUR HOUSE, or nightmarish neighbours in THOSE PEOPLE, or a parent’s worst nightmare in her latest novel, these are scenarios we can relate to and dread. This could happen to you or me, out of the blue, shattering our world.

 

Ellen Saint has lived a parent’s worst nightmare and she is reflecting on it through an essay in a writers’ workshop after having come face to face with the person who destroyed her world. Her family life was happy until her teenage son Lucas fell under the spell of Kieran, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, a boy who dealt drugs, who led him astray and transformed her happy, bright Lucas into a sullen, rebellious young man she scarcely recognised. Afraid of Kieran herself, Ellen could only stand by helplessly and watch her child self-destruct. Until one night, her very worst fears were confirmed and her life was shattered.

 

It takes a while for the story to get there, and every step of the way was fraught with the kind of tension Candlish creates so effortlessly.  I knew that something terrible was about to happen, and yet had to stand by helplessly, like watching a train plunge off the bridge into the abyss. If I had a chance to derail the train before the disaster, would I do it, even if there was collateral damage? Ellen has failed in averting disaster, and now all she can do is seek justice ... or revenge.

 

As Ellen’s story is nearing its nail-biting conclusion, we start hearing another voice, that of her ex-partner Vic’s, Lucas’ father. But hang on, his story is different from Ellen’s! Who is lying and who is telling the truth? My heart had wept for Ellen and I had trusted her completely, but I was now questioning everything I had read. I love psychological thrillers that confuse and thrill me in equal measure, and Candlish is a master at doing just that. Taking the unreliable narrator theme just one step further than the rest, the final twist came out of nowhere and punched me in the gut so hard it knocked the wind right out of me. WHAAATTTTTT????? I spluttered, having to reread the final pages to see whether I just dreamed up that particular morsel of truth that threw everything else into total chaos.

 

Summary:

 

Domestic thrillers are a dime a dozen these days, and it takes a lot to surprise and wow me, but Candlish has done it again. Readers who are looking for a thriller which a) tells its story in a clever, unique format; b) wrings you out emotionally; c) makes you question your own moral compass and capacity for murder; and d) offers a final reveal so unexpected and shocking that it will sucker-punch you, should definitely pick up THE HEIGHTS and settle in for a night of intense reading. Just make sure you allow plenty of time, because you will not be able to sleep until this mystery is solved. Now, after the final reveal, I am still not sure about some of the grey areas. Did he? Did she? Who was telling the truth?

  

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.