The House Share by Kate Helm had me gripped from the very beginning, with its intriguing premise of community-style living. The idea of strangers sharing a house, each with hidden stories and secrets, made for a compelling setup, and I was drawn into the mystery surrounding each character. As the plot unfolded, I found myself eagerly turning the pages, keen to uncover the truths lurking behind each roommate's facade.

However, despite the promising concept, the execution left me feeling mixed. The story's pacing was notably slow, and at times it felt drawn out, making it a taxing read. What stood out as a significant drawback was the alternating points of view between two main housemates. While multiple perspectives can add depth, here, it became a challenge to keep track of whose voice I was following. I frequently had to backtrack to confirm which character was speaking, disrupting the narrative flow.

While the novel held my attention, these issues somewhat detracted from the experience, making it feel longer and more complex than it needed to be. Nonetheless, the tension and unique premise kept me invested until the end.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK in exchange for an honest review.

The House Share tells the story of Immi and Dex, two young twenty-somethings who move into a strange but financially-enticing houseshare in London. A little like a cult and a little like university, the houseshare promotes communal living and a vested interest in helping each other as a community. And as with both a cult and university living, there is a bit of a darker side with things taking a turn for the dangerous.

The House Share is a book of two halves. For the first 60-70%, I really enjoyed it but then something odd happened. Characters started acting stupidly, one of the narrators vanishes off the page and stops being important, mental health gets emphasised in a weird way. It was so disappointing because while the writing itself was still pretty good, the plot had taken a sharp downturn. In particular, the epilogue is a real slog and suffers from having the perpetrator dramatically reflect on their crimes like a Bond villain. I also can't believe we don't get to hear again from Dex's point of view after

SPOILER WARNING

he finds out he's innocent. That felt like such an oversight to not get his reaction at all.

The final twist of it being a psychological experiment also didn't ring true to me. Why pick those particular people if that was the case? Why is the psychology behind everything so shaky? I am not a clinical psychologist but I do have a doctorate in mental health research and the representation, while not awful, was not super accurate either.

END OF SPOILERS

Overall, there is still a lot to like about this book and in terms of the thriller market, this is one of the better ones. It's a shame the quality wasn't consistent throughout but I do think this author has huge potential and I would be interested if they released another thriller

Overall Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The House Share is a riveting novel that delves deep into the psychological minds of seven strangers living together in a 'co-living' warehouse. It takes elements from thrillers such as The Hunting Party and Our House and wraps them together to form a chilling story about power and manipulation.

Immi is the central protagonist, an unsuspecting new tenant who finds her safe haven turns into a house of terror. Immi has to uncover the truth and battle her housemates to reveal a deadly conspiracy lurking beneath the luxury furnishings.

Tense and thrilling, Kate Helm creates a dangerous and thrilling atmosphere. Every twist and turn had me captivated, as Immi races against the clock to outsmart her opponents.

If you are looking for a chilling page-turner, The House Share is for you! Highly recommend for readers who like gripping and suspenseful mysteries.

A great, thrilling read, which will keep you entertained throughout. A good one sitting read, get the nibbles ready, close the door, and read!

A great thriller, very well-paced and gripping. I loved it and am looking forward to reading more from the author.

This is a well written, fast paced thriller. The atmosphere in this book felt claustrophobic. At times it is a bit far fetched. The characters were well developed but I didn’t like any of them.
A twisty strange book

So utterly gripping. This is one of those books that made me question everything and everyone. I can only be thankful that my house sharing days are over!

The House Share sounded like it would be a good thriller and I had been looking forward to reading it. I found it to be an unusual story. I posh living community (aka house share) with unique features where they want to foster a sense of community. They encourage sharing your past and your troubles. Each new community member is assigned a “buddy” that they meet with each week (anyone getting a cult vibe). There is a reading nook, a workout area, rooftop terrace, and a housekeeper along with high tech security system. The point-of-view alternates between Immi and Dex except at the end when it switches to the guilty party. I admit that I did not like any of the characters in this story. Each one of seven housemates has an annoying fault (loud, brash, bossy, on drugs, and touchy feely). The chapters are choppy, and I never felt the suspense. The point of a thriller is to be kept on the edge of your seat which did not happen for me. I wanted to be scared and intrigued. The big reveal was rushed and anticipated as well as implausible. The House Share does have good descriptions that allow readers to visualize the people and the scenes. There is a significant amount of foul language and cute little animals are harmed. I was thankful that the bed hopping was not described in detail. While The House Share was not for me, I suggest you obtain a sample to see if it suits you.

Really enjoyed this book. A good mystery. Different to other books I have read, will be looking out for more by the author.

Woah! That was something else... definitely creepy, unsettling, and unpredictable and I couldn't get enough of it.

What I do know from reading this is, is that I'm never moving to a converted old factory in Bermondsey to share with strangers in a scheme that really does sound too good to be true!

It is clear that none of the residents are necessarily as they seem and that something more sinister may be at work, but trying to work out what precisely was giving the feeling, well I couldn't put my finger on it.

The narrative is split between Immi and to a lesser extent Dex, the two newbies to The Dye Factory, which is meant to be a community living experience, where you all have your own en-suite studios but huge communal areas with a massively subsidised rent especially given its zone 1 location.

At first it seems like a safe haven for both Immi and Dex who are both trying to shut out things from their past, but then just slightly odd things happen, before it all gets ramped up.

The Dye Factory is a hard place to describe to an outsider, and they try to keep you as a close knit community, but wow I was not expecting what unfolded.

It's a wonderfully addictive story that I couldn't get enough of, as you realise you have no idea who you can trust at all. I did have one half theory and it part of my guess was correct but the rest of it completely took me by surprise, which I love in a book.

I am loving Kate Helm's psychological thrillers and can't wait to see what dark twisted plot she will come up with next.

Thank you to Netgalley and Zaffre for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

The House Share is set in the Dye Factory which is a luxury co-living community with the aim of making living in the city more enjoyable for young single workers. However new resident Immi soon learns that there is more to the Dye Factory than first meets the eye.

The premise of this book sounded really interesting. However, I felt that the story fell a little flat for me. The first portion of the story felt quite slow. A lot of time was spent setting the scene which meant that the mystery portion of the book felt a little rushed. There were also a lot of characters that were introduced which I found difficult to keep up with particularly as some of them weren't that relevant to the plot.

This was an ok read for me but overall I don't think that the story was very memorable.

Brilliant. This was a well written book that I greatly enjoyed and already plan to recommend. Believable characters and an inticing setting. Some parts were perhaps a little lengthy, but maybe because I was impatient to reach the novels conclusion! Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this book a lot. An engrossing thriller, with an original plot. A satisfying sense of tension and dread, keeps you up late reading.

This book had me gripped from the first stage and I loved the premise of the community style living.
I couldn't put it down as I followed the journey of the characters - wondering what their stories were and what was going to happen.
The story was a bit different and I really enjoyed it.

When I first started reading this book I wasn't quite sure where it was going. It is somewhat of a slow build and it took me a while to get into my stride with both the story and the characters. Once I made it past the first few chapters, where Dex and Immi first arrive at the Dye Factory hoping to bag themselves a place as one of the housemates, I found myself being drawn into a world which was crazy, hypnotic, very contrived and almost so unnaturally insular as to be claustrophobic. Beyond the clear secrets that Immi is holding, it is clear the the 'Dyers' the other residents of the house share, are all hiding something but how dark are the secrets and how far will they go to keep them.

This is a very unusual concept for a novel. I'll be honest, having spent time in a halls of residence at University, I'm not sure the communal living thing is an experience I would be keen to repeat. It has its place for sure, and given the escalating price of life in London, I can understand the appeal, but still. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is, and with it's shared living, honesty bars, yoga, resident pets (for mental health, obviously) and weekly app updates, not to mention the whole concept that you must 'give back to the community', and the needing to not only audition for your place but spend a month on probation once you get in, I would be running for the hills, subsidised living or not.

Sadly for both Immi and Dex, The Dye Factory is their last hope. Both need a fresh start, more than their new housemates can understand, and as we slowly get to know them both, the more we realise that they have been somewhat economical with the truth to secure their place. But what are they hiding. In fact what is everyone hiding as none of the residents seems to be one hundred percent honest and each of they has one or more quite significant character flaws. The more time we spend in their company, the more unnerving and, as a result, addictive, the story becomes. I found myself drawn in as much because of that need to know what the dark secret was as much as to see if Immi made it back out the other side unscathed. It's fair to say that was a tall ask of any of the characters.

Kate Helm has done a great job of creating that atmosphere that teeters right on the edge of being a cult but not quite making that full leap. There is a sense that whilst residents are technically free to leave, the game is played so carefully as to make it virtually impossible for them to do so. She has also created some brilliant characters. I didn't warm to any of them, Dex and Immi included, because they all came across as selfish, even when being seemingly altruistic in their actions. They are all individual, each with a distinct voice and character, but I didn't like them. Dex and Immi were perhaps the closest to being likeable, perhaps because they were new to the house, still not quite part of the community. Immi especially struggled to fit in, doing just enough to avoid eviction but ultimately playing them at their own game when it came to her final evaluation on decision day. But at what cost ...?

This was an intriguing novel, a look into a kind of social experiment that goes beautifully wrong. The truth behind the story, the reasons for all of the strange things that happen over the course of the book, was a little surprising and yet strangely fitting, and the author retained that edginess, that sense of some underlying tension and deceit, that sense of everyone, even the reader, being manipulated right to the end. Even the final chapter brought a smile to my face, it was pitched perfectly. If you like a slow burning psychological thriller that is slightly claustrophobic, then this could definitely be the book for you.

This book kept me up all night I couldn’t put it down and read it in a matter of hours. A must read for anyone who has lived in a house share.. Amazing!

This was a really interesting story. It's a thriller, but not an intense, crazy serial killer thriller. I really enjoyed it despite the fact that the ending and the reveal didn't quite match everything leading up to it.

Joining an exclusive house share sounds perfect but predictably things are not straightforward and nothing goes to plan. A well crafted novel with great characters. Recommended.

Oh I loved this one. It’s a little bit Agatha Christie..... seven lives, seven tales.... and a must read.

Absolutely addictive reading, a page turner...

I love books that take an idyllic situation and turn it on its head, and this was exactly that. Creepy and clever and highly recommended.