A decent domestic noir that had a slow pace, strong plot, readable language and plenty of suspense.
I wasn’t really a fan of any of the characters which was a shame as that’s part of a good story for me, but the whole house swap idea was intriguing.
As secrets are unveiled, Caroline’s life stars to unravel and her relationship struggles onward, will everything come to a head?
All is not what it seems.
Plenty of twists and turns kept me interested in this thriller and I was dying to find out the whole truth by the end.
Well worth a read.

I looked forward to reading this book after being recommended it by a friend. The storyline chops and changes from past to present. It was repetitive in some areas. but in saying that it still held my interest.. Thankyou for the opportunity to read it and would definitely recommend it and look forward to reading more of Rebecca Fleet's books.

It just felt like too much hard work reading this book. Characters I didn’t like particularly and too much backwards and forwards to make for a gripping read.

"The House Swap" is a slow paced thriller, told in alternating chapters from the past and present - and someone snooping around in Caroline's life. There is a lot of tension between Caroline and Francis and this week, this house swapping is their attempt to come closer again, mending their relationship. But it's not easy to rebuild something when there is someone trying to destroy it.
I liked the story, it's twist and turns, the feeling of being watched stayed with me for a long time.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK!

This definitely feels like a debut book. It's taking all the typical tropes of the thriller and attempting to weave them in a new pattern. For starters, we don't get introduced to the concept of who the mysterious house swapper could be until about 60% of the way in, which feels like a left-field throw. And even then, it would have made so much more sense for someone else to be the eventual villain. Something about this book just felt a little stale to me. Maybe it's because I read 'The Other Woman' so recently, that the justice-crazed mother trope is just not something I want to keep reading about. It's a solid effort, and definitely addictive to read- I practically hoovered up the second half of this novel- but it felt like such a standard thriller. Nothing that really set it apart from the pack.

A really clever idea, skilfully executed, although I found it hard to be drawn to the characters which made it harder to invest in their fate

I was drawn to this novel after reading online the positive reactions from early readers and the intriguing blurb. My expectations were fully met because I was hooked from the first page. The novel is set in 2013 and 2015 and it’s told from three different points of view: mostly Caroline, her husband Francis, and the unknown character that is staying in their house for a week.

Francis and Caroline have been together for fifteen years, married for eight, and they have a young son, Eddie. For the last few years their lives have been hard. Francis has been fighting (with no much conviction) an addiction to pills, so Caroline found comfort in the arms of her colleague Carl, eight years her junior. The affair ended “horribly”, according to her, and Francis stopped taking pills and, two years later, they are still trying to save their marriage, although it seems mostly for their son’s sake. This house swap is their chance to reconnect and to spend more time together without being too expensive, but things are strange from the beginning because the house seems unlived and cold. There aren’t many personal effect of the person who lives there, the person who is now staying in their house. But when Caroline starts to notice a few things that remind her of Carl and their affair, she starts to suspect that this holiday has been planned from someone else who is not her, someone who is now in her house. Is it Carl? If so, why is he contacting her after two years of silence? And what does he want?

The author masterly leads the reader through Caroline’s affair with Carl, her conflicting feelings both towards him and her husband, and her confusion and shock as she starts to figure out that there is something strange going on. I couldn’t put down the book as I wanted to read what really happened that made her affair with Carl end in a horrible way, what she is hiding, and I couldn’t wait to find out who is really the person staying in her house. I was also suspicious of Amber, the girl living next to their holiday house. She was always calling Caroline and knocking on her door and I kept asking myself: why is she so friendly? I was taken by surprise when the truth was revealed.

The novel is slow-paced and character-driven. It’s also a quick read, both because I couldn’t stop reading it but also because the narration flows easily and flawlessly. THE HOUSE SWAP is carefully plotted, brilliantly written, haunting, and immersive and I’d like to thank Poppy Stimpson, Thomas Hill, and Transworld Books for giving me the chance to read this book and to take part in the blog.

Wow. I read this book in 24 hours. It just seems to build and build drawing you deeper in to the characters. Unable to tell where the story is going next. For a debut thriller this author is going to go far. You can’t help but be drawn into the story of Caroline as she swaps her Leeds flat for a terrace in the leafy suburbs of London. How is this a thriller you think? But the back story of Caroline’s marriage and her affair with a younger man only adds to the mystery. My only reason for not giving it 5 stars is the repetitive use of certain phrases.

I feel slightly mean giving this book three stars and I can't quite put my finger on the reason why it just falls short of four stars. I think for me to give a four or five star rating it has to be a page turner and it quite simply was not. I could easily go a day of two without picking it up and I found it quite slow going to begin with too.

Having said that it is a good story and worth a read. I could definitely see it as a drama on television, it might even be better on screen .

The House Swap by Rebecca Fleet was a bit slow for me. The story seemed to drag out, which I know a lot of people like. I did enjoy the story of Caroline and Francis who take the opportunity to House Swap for a week near London - leaving their son with grand parents. Their marriage has been struggling to survive and they see it as a chance to get away and try to repair the cracks. That is until strange things start to happen and Caroline is forever looking over her shoulder.

Thanks to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers, Doubleday for my copy of this book to read in exchange for my honest opinions.

Caroline and Francis are trying to rebuild their marriage, both of them have skeletons in their cupboards, he is fighting a drug addiction and she is trying to forget an affair with a former colleague.  They sign up to a house swap site and are looking forward to a week away from it all to spend some time together while their young son stays with his gran, when a house is made available to them.  They have no idea who it belongs to, which means they don't know who will be staying in their home either.  Whilst there strange things happen that make Caroline think the person whose house it is knows things about her past, and she begins to wonder what could be happening back at her home.  Could all her secrets be about to be revealed?

This story started off a slow burner but gradually picked up speed and soon drew me in, so much so that I found it very difficult to put it down and read it in two days.  It's hard to believe that this is a debut thriller, it's very well written and the author spins a web around the reader that I certainly didn't want to escape from!  I'm looking forward to reading more by this author.  I'd like to thank Random House UK Transworld for the approval and will post my review on Goodreads and Amazon

Quite a creepy story and each time I thought I knew what was going to happen, I was proved wrong. Good writing

Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap and take advantage of the chance to spend a week away from home. They have had a few troubled years where they have both worked hard to save their marriage and now look to build on it. The house they go to is mysterious though and Caroline discovers signs of her life before her husband. The person they have swapped with is a person Caroline would rather remains in her past but they have different ideas.
A story full of suspense and a very promising debut novel.
I would like to thank Net Galley and Random House for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

After the hard time they have gone through in their relationship, Caroline and Francis need a vacation, best without their son Eddie. A house swap seems to be a good idea so they leave Leeds for a week in the suburbs of London. Somehow the house is strange, it looks like nobody actually lives in there, it is absolutely impersonal, almost clinical. But the woman seemed to be nice enough to let her into their own apartment. When Caroline receives a strange message on her cell phone, she is alarmed: did something awake the ghosts of the past? Did her ex affair Carl get in contact again? And who is this strange neighbour Amber who seems to observe them and behaves in a very strange way when she comes to visit them late in the evening. Caroline can sense the danger but she doesn’t know where it is really coming from...

The novel starts at quite some low pace and admittedly I was a bit annoyed because I couldn’t make sense of a lot of things at the beginning. It was obvious that Francis and Caroline had some problems in the past, she had an affair with a colleague, he was addicted to pills, but since this had happened obviously two years before, I didn’t quite understand the relevance of all this for the house swap. And there was this voice talking to Caroline, but it was not clear where it was coming from. I do not really like to be in the dark and not understanding anything.

However, the further you get in the novel and the more you understand, the more thrill you feel and the better the plot gets. Of course you are supposed to run in the completely wrong direction with the assumptions of what is behind all this – eagerly I did – just to learn then that it is not only much more complicated, very cleverly constructed, and also a lot more dangerous for the characters than you would have assumed.

“The House Swap” is a fantastic thriller as soon as you get over the first few pages. It can surprise and offers an especially interesting psychological aspect which is only revealed towards the end.

This book had an intriguing and creepy storyline. I kept thinking I knew where it was going only to find out otherwise. I will be looking out for more books by this author.

When I read the blurb for this story it sounded brilliant! One chapter in I realised I'd been deceived. The House Swap is a story about horrible characters and their horrible lives with a sad attempt at mystery and thriller thrown in but it just falls flat. It's predictable.

It is 2013 and Caroline and Francis (a psychotherapist) are in trouble – well their marriage is. This is not helped by Caroline’s affair with Carl one of her work colleagues and Francis’ predisposition to popping pills and sinking into oblivion even though Caroline is ‘off out’ and he is responsible for the care of their son Eddie. What a charming pair! She is selfish and self-obsessed and revelling in hot sex with Carl at every opportunity. Francis – well he is tuned out.

We then flash forward to 2015 and Caroline and Francis are trying to salvage their marriage – and what better way to do that than by jettison your son to the tender ministrations of his grandmother and having a little holiday in the form of a house swap.

What follows is very interesting and I was intrigued by the descriptions of the house with minimal adornment that seemed to echo the barrenness of the couple’s emotional depths. This is not a gripping thriller with excitement spurring you on to find out what happens. It is more of a slow burn combined with a sense of voyeurism as you witness the developments/destruction of a relationship (but which?). I found it impossible to like Caroline and difficult to sympathise with her position. But Francis – I know addiction is terrible, but I was aghast to think that he was ‘helping’ his patients when it was clear that he just didn’t care. First do no harm, indeed.

That said, I did enjoy the book and have no hesitation in recommending it.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing an ARC via my Kindle in return for an honest review.

Now the thought of strangers staying in my house when I’m not there isn’t one that appeals on any level but for Caroline and therapist husband Francis the house swap gives them an opportunity to take a cheap break in Chiswick, close to London. So they make a folder of important information and leave their Leeds apartment to be enjoyed by a stranger in their absence.

Francis and Caroline leave their young son Eddie with her mother and drive to Chiswick and the boxy house which will become their base for exploring museums and the like in the big city for the next week. As they walk inside the lack of personal possessions is immediately apparent. Who’d live in a house like this?

This is a domestic thriller and as such a portrait of a marriage under an enormous amount of strain. Francis has suffered with an unspecified addiction while Caroline, the breadwinner, cook, bottle washer and parent, eventually snaps and starts a lurid affair with a younger colleague. The affair is hot, as are both Caroline and Carl, her paramour and the sections of the book set in the past are full of sex and the excitement of new passion. Caroline believes the lies she tells herself and her enjoyment of the attention in contrast to her empty marriage is very well done. But all this is in the past, two years before the trip away. So when Caroline notices things that remind her of times passed and she becomes spooked, as you would.

This is a good debut novel although not suitable for those readers who need to like or admire the characters. I would have liked to know more about the background to Francis’s addiction but as The House Swap is mostly told from Caroline’s point of view, we hear her thoughts on him but little of what makes him tick (when he’s not out of it on whatever pills he’s addicted to) In fact the woman who seemed most ‘real’ was the intense neighbour but that is probably because we know Caroline is hiding, from herself as much as Francis.
What The House Swap does really well is to shine a spotlight on how one person’s behaviour can cause a ripple effect, and it does it well. It’s also a lesson in how lack of communication can cause huge issues that can’t be overcome without a level of trust.

Caroline has only just made herself at home before a neighbour introduces herself and becomes a little bit keen to spend time with her which is just odd considering she’s only staying for a week.
There is plenty of intrigue that kept me turning the pages of this novel which is the ideal beach read. After all we all like to peek behind someone else’s curtains, even if the thought of the favour being returned makes us recoil in horror. The plotting is accomplished so even though I could think of various ways the storyline could play out, I wasn’t right in any aspect at all.

I'd like to thank the publishers Transworld who allowed to me read a copy of The House Swap before publication on 3 May 2018. This unbiased review is my thanks to them and Rebecca Fleet for an entertaining read.

First Published UK: 3 May 2018
Publisher:Transworld
No of Pages: 320
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Amazon UK
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House Swap

I requested this book thinking it was going to be an edge of seat nail biting read but unfortunately it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I found the first 50% a bit dull to be honest. The male character Frances had many issues but we were given no reason or backstory for this at all. The second part of the book was better and I thought the ending was pretty good.

I thought this book was very good especially as it was the authors first book. It was written from three different perspectives but easy to follow and flowed from one to the other. It's perhaps not quite the nail biting tingles down the spine psychological thriller that I am used to but I still think it is worthy of 4*