I just finished reading the house sitter and here is my honest review.


Lydia and Seth really land on their feet when a wealthy widow comes to Libby's place of work and offers her a job as her live-in caretaker.

Everything goes smoothly until Iris, who is losing her memory, gets angry and throws them both out on the streets. Later that night a call is made by Iris to the police. Someone was in her home… the dispatcher hears gunshots but when the police arrive, there is no body but a lot of blood.

With little to go on, the police focus their attention on the couple…. Could they have hurt the lovely lady who took them in or is something more sinister going on here?

I didn't figure this book out, not even a little! I absolutely loved the plot. So well thought out.

I love how brilliant Iris is in this book. So amazing. If things could have been different, her and Lydia could have been good friends.
Seth is a despicable human being! I don't know how anyone can treat people the way he does.

It's so clever the way the author ties everything together and keeps you guessing until the very end. It ticked all the boxes for me, for what a psychological thriller should have.

If you love a book that will get your heart thumping, this is the one for you!

4.5 stars! Just because I think the title doesn't fit the book.

Thank you Netgalley and bookouture for my ARC.

Iris, a widow that lives alone and needs companionship and someone to take care of her, Lydia and Seth, her newly founded caretakers and the police investigators. These are the main characters in the story.

Told in dual timelines, we get thrown in a world that is as confusing at the beginning as it’s intriguing.

I was really invested in the story and wanted to know where this will take us because there were so many questions and actions that I didn’t see where everything will tie up in the end.

I felt bad for Iris because she had clear signs of early dementia and she didn’t always know who to trust or what to do next was heartbreaking.

She’s the only character that I got close to in this story, though. Neither Lydia nor Seth made me trust them from the first time they have been introduced.

The ending was really unexpected and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read an intriguing domestic thriller .

Very grateful to the publisher for my review w

I wanted a fast-paced psychological thriller about tension brewing between two women in a domestic setting like the synopsis suggests, but this book wasn't it. It's more like a police procedural involving a very incompetent rookie cop who is consistently defiant and can't seem to follow instructions. Maureen felt like an extra and we could have done without her POV.

The story also moved at a snail's pace. Despite being just shy of 300 pages, it took me days to plow through and I had to force myself to keep going. I'm glad I finished the book though as the twist was worth it and I never saw it coming. Unfortunately, I really disliked the ending. Lydia is not likeable enough for me to root for her.

I knew from the description that the eponymous house sitters would be very dislikable but they actually made this book hard to read. I found myself so drawn in to their despicable behaviour that I had no real interest in the rest of the story.

This is perfectly suited to anyone who isn’t chain reading thrillers! Or anyone that has had a book break.

Having previously read and enjoyed Ellery A. Kane's Rockwell & Decker series, I was delighted to be selected as an early reader of her new release, The House Sitter. While it's currently presented as a standalone mystery-thriller, the seeds are sown in the final chapters for a new series featuring Maureen Shaw and her now-retired police superior Walter Greer.

A dramatic prologue foreshadows what is to come - a terrified elderly woman phones 911, reporting that there is an intruder in her Pacific Heights (San Francisco) home. The operator advises the woman to hide and wait for help to arrive, but hears a scream, then two gunshots before the line goes dead...

From that point, the narrative shifts back and forth between "Before" and "After" the dramatic 911 call.

Almost-70-year-old widow Iris Duncan gets chatting to a put-upon young waitress, Lydia McKay, at an Oakland diner, and it's not long before she's offered Lydia and her husband, Seth, employment as live-in caretakers at her palatial Pacific Heights property. Lydia and Seth's relationship is strained, and they have differing attitudes to the opportunities offered by their association with wealthy Iris. There are references to dark secrets in Lydia's past, involving an overbearing father and abusive "uncle". Seth is a gambling addict, frequently disappearing for hours to the horse-racing track whenever he has access to cash. Iris's behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic - is she entering the early stages of a dementia-related illness, or is her confusion caused by something else entirely? As readers, we're privy to the fact that there's financial manipulation and gaslighting going on - but who's really pulling the strings?

Meanwhile, virtuoso pianist-turned-rookie cop Maureen Shaw is one of the first responders to the elderly woman's frantic phone call. Her musical background provides the basis for an intriguing motif - Shaw assigns classical "theme tunes" in her mind for each person she meets, her intuition in this regard proving uncannily accurate. Shaw is fighting her own demons - she remains traumatised by a mass shooting she witnessed some years previously, in the course of which both her parents were killed. Testing her superior officer Walter Greer's forbearance, Shaw becomes obsessed with solving Iris Duncan's disappearance and presumed murder. She frequently follows up leads on her own time, trailing suspects and even entering the crime scene without authorisation. In spite of her questionable behaviour and lack of self-restraint, Shaw has a keen investigative sense, uncovering many important clues that she reluctantly passes on to the detectives managing the case.

An action-packed plot, throughout which author Ellery A. Kane skilfully manages the dual timeline and separate narrators, draws us towards a morally ambiguous, yet strangely satisfying ending. There are certain aspects of the plot which require the reader to suspend disbelief a little, but it's a great story exploring pertinent themes around elder abuse, coercive relationships, rising above one's past and the drive to seek retribution for past wrongs. While The House Sitter is separate from Kane's Rockwell & Decker series set in far-northern California, the Crescent Bay State Prison, Olivia Rockwell's workplace as a forensic psychologist, does rate a fleeting cameo appearance.

Ellery A. Kane's characterisations are complex, incorporating the impacts of early trauma, dysfunctional relationships, and multi-faceted personalities. We find ourselves sympathising with characters whose behaviour is, in many respects, morally reprehensible, cheering when they get the better of their foes. Being familiar with this part of San Francisco - that area of Pacific Heights that abuts the woodland of the Presidio - I found the setting evocative and well-utilised by Ellery A. Kane throughout the plot.

I'd recommend The House Sitter as a compulsively-readable title to any reader who enjoys well-maintained suspense, mind-blowing twists and complex characters.

My thanks to the author, Ellery A. Kane, publisher Bookouture and NetGalley (UK) for the opportunity to read and review this engrossing title prior to its release on 14 June 2022.

I really liked The House Sitter. This Psychological Thriller has quite a few twists, some I saw coming and others I didn't. Iris, the elderly widow was a fascinating character. Her Two caretakers, Lydia and Seth are well somewhat mysterious. Officer Maureen character is awesome, bold, fearless and holding in a lot of guilt. I loved the story and all the clues along the way. I have read this Authors books before and I enjoy her writing.
#TheHouseSitter #NetGalley

I give The House Sitter 4 stars for its thrilling read.
I would recommend this book to Thriller Fans.

I really enjoyed The House Sitter. I found it to be totally unputdownable with just the right amount of twists and turns that kept me guessing right up to the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for my ARC.

Iris Duncan will soon be 70 years old. A widow, she has broken her arm trying to clean her gutters.

While at a cafe, she meets Lydia, a waitress. After chatting with her, she offers the girl and her boyfriend, Seth, a job cleaning up her house and yard.

Iris has a large home and is quite wealthy. She is unable to sleep in the bedroom where her husband, Dean, died so she sleeps in a smaller room on the top floor.

Iris seems to have memory problems and doesn’t always remember to take her medication. So, Lydia leaves little post-it notes around the house to remind Iris of things.

Officer Maureen Shaw used to play piano for the San Francisco Symphony. She stopped playing and is now a cop. She and her partner are called to Iris’s house when a female called them and shots were fired. When they arrives, they find the house a mess, shell casings, blood on Iris’s bed and no body. Maureen is determined to find out what happened in that house and find Iris.

We see some truly unsavory characters in this story that turned my stomach. The whole story itself was not at all compelling, but seemed to drag along. I felt that some parts of the story were left hanging. Rather like a low budget whodunit, this did not appeal to me at all. In addition, I would have loved to have seen Seth fed to the lions.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Iris hires Lydia and Seth as her live in helpers, given her age and her forgetfulness Iris believes Lydia and Seth are exactly the help that she needs. However all 3 of them have their secrets and Iris happens to know what Lydia’s and Seth’s are. With Lydia and Seth being none the wiser to Iris they believe they have an easy ride with Iris and that scamming this old lady will be a breeze.

Lydia sees Iris as a close friend and a sort of motherly figure in her life that she never really had. With Iris becoming more and more forgetful Lydia takes charge of more important matters such as Iris’ medication. Lydia believes she is getting closer to Iris but it comes clear throughout the book that Iris seems less keen on her brother Seth.

Then one morning Seth and Iris have a row and Iris kicks Seth out who takes Lydia with him. Lydia wakes up that night to find Seth gone to then find out that Iris is missing with the police believing Iris may have been murdered thanks to the mounting evidence. I thought I knew exactly where this book was going but I couldn’t have been more wrong and for that I loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an advance copy of this cleverly written thriller in exchange for this review. I will be keeping my eye out for more books by Ellery Kane.

I'm a big fan of this author but this one missed the mark for me. Maureen and Walt were the only characters I liked and I enjoyed their interactions. The mystery was good and I did question from one moment to the next what really happened. The reveal was a little disappointing. So was the end. Overall it's a good book. It wasn't necessarily for me but I think other readers will enjoy it.

The House Sitter is fast-paced, tense, twisty and unpredictable. Wealthy Iris Duncan lives in a large, old house in Pacific Heights, and is in need of a helper/ caretaker. Lydia works in a cafe. Iris meets Lydia, who is more than happy to start helping out and moves in along with Seth, her boyfriend. One night, there is a tussle, a gunshot and an emergency call to the police, but when they arrive, Iris is missing.

This exciting and compelling tale kept me guessing right until the end. I was gripped all the way through and I couldn't put it down, reading it in one fell swoop. Very highly recommended.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from Bookouture via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

#netgalley #thehousesitter publication date 14 June 2022
This is an amazing physcological thriller that had me riveted. I loved it so if you're after physcological thriller with lots of unpredictable twists and turns then I recommend reading this. 4/5 stars

I really enjoyed this one! I listened to the audio version and the felt like that bumped a good book up to a great one. Highly recommend!

Seth and Lydia meet a woman that could use some help around the house, but is it too good to be true? The subtle hints and clues that the author drops throughout the novel kept me constantly wanting to know what was going to happen next. Parts were a little predictable but there were so many twists!

This is a good read.
The book starts with a 911 call from an elderly lady who says there’s an intruder in her house. Gunshots are heard but then the line goes dead.
We then meet Lydia who works in a cafe and is far from happy. She gets talking to Iris and she then invites her to live and work for her, along with her boyfriend, Seth.
We discover Iris was the lady who made the call at the beginning of the book but where is she now?
This is a good read but not quite the gripping thriller I was expecting.
Thanks to Bookouture and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Ellery Kane is the author of The House Sitter. It is a psychological thriller that will keep you riveted to the end. It would be good to have in your collection.

Iris Duncan is a sixty-nine-year-old widow. She inherited a large estate and substantial assets when her husband, Dean, passed away a few years ago because of a heart attack. Iris lives a life filled with secrets, but when she broke her arm, she needed extra help cleaning and maintaining her home. Ideally, a couple who could live with her. How could she even consider this?

Lydia McKay, a twenty-four-year-old college dropout, worked at a diner. When Iris entered for some refreshments, she met Lydia and saw how unhappy she was working there. Iris convinced Lydia and Seth McKay to accept her offer of employment. Two strangers with a history of violence and abuse. This situation only means trouble, but for whom?

Rookie officer Maureen Shaw and training officer Walt Greer, a detective for thirty-five years, were called to the crime scene when Iris called 911. Was it murder, and where is her body?

This novel was fun to read, with lots of twists and turns to keep you hooked. I found the end of this book to be a total surprise. The plot was cleverly planned and easy to follow. The House Sitter was well-edited, and without hesitation, I would recommend this novel to an audience who enjoys psychological thrillers. I rate this book a five out of five stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the opportunity to review this book. Please follow me on my blog: https://627c03ba46e36.site123.me/ NetGalley and Goodreads, where I post my reviews.

⭐️⭐️⭐️
Suspenseful thriller. Iris, an almost 70 year old widow, meets Seth and Lydia and invites them to stay with her, as long as they take care of her house. But when Iris goes missing one night…who is to blame?

Lots of unexpected twists and turns. I enjoyed reading my first Ellery Kane novel and added a few more of her books to my ‘to be read’ pile. Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC.

Wow, this was a really good psychological thriller. I will say that the ending twist I did see coming about halfway through, although I couldn't figure out exactly why it was happening until it was finally revealed. As the book was coming to a close I kept thinking are they really going to leave this loose end and then the final explanation came and tied that up. Although this one wasn't shocking, I still found it very enjoyable and entertaining. I really like the narrator for this as well. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Absolutely suspenseful to the end. Every page you turn, keeps you guessing as to what could possibly happen next. Live in help or live in danger. I was completely hooked from the first page, no stopping.

Listened to the audiobook.
This book was fun! But that's all it was, it wasn't anything new or what I haven't seen before. It's something I've read 100 times.