Our House
The Sunday Times bestseller everyone's talking about
by Louise Candlish
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date 1 Jun 2018 | Archive Date 12 Mar 2018
Simon and Schuster UK Fiction | Simon & Schuster UK
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Description
'If 2018 brings a better book than Our House I will eat my hat. Addictive, twisty and oh so terrifyingly possible’ Clare Mackintosh, author of I See You
‘Property-porn looks set to become a staple of crime fiction and Our House is an excellent example of this burgeoning subgenre. Husband and wife pass the narrative baton between them in this masterfully plotted, compulsive page-turner' Laura Wilson, Guardian
'Whip-smart, knowing and brilliantly plotted' India Knight
'Taps deep into the British obsession with property' Metro
‘I loved the wonderful hook of Our House, which plays with our modern obsession with property - and the vulnerability that exposes. Louise Candlish is a great writer; she inhaled me into her nightmarish world where everything we think we know is ripped from under our feet’ Fiona Barton, author of The Widow and The Child
FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE.
When Fi Lawson arrives home to find strangers moving into her house, she is plunged into terror and confusion. She and her husband Bram have owned their home on Trinity Avenue for years and have no intention of selling. How can this other family possibly think the house is theirs? And why has Bram disappeared when she needs him most?
FOR RICHER, FOR POORER.
Bram has made a catastrophic mistake and now he is paying. Unable to see his wife, his children or his home, he has nothing left but to settle scores. As the nightmare takes grip, both Bram and Fi try to make sense of the events that led to a devastating crime. What has he hidden from her – and what has she hidden from him? And will either survive the chilling truth – that there are far worse things you can lose than your house?
TILL DEATH US DO PART.
‘I raced through it this weekend. Such a smart idea. Twisty, warped, credible. Brilliantly plotted and compelling. Deserves to be such a hit’ Sarah Vaughan, author of Anatomy of a Scandal
'Our House is one of the best books I have ever read ... FACT’ Isabelle Broom, author of My Map of You
‘Gripping and heartbreaking with an undercurrent of unease running through it’ Louise Jensen, author of The Gift
‘Heart-stopping, toe-curling, breath-taking! Half can’t bear to read/half can’t bear to put it down. It’s marvellous - so tautly plotted and don’t see the twists coming! Will be a smash hit! Veronica Henry, author of The Forever House
‘Finished in two days. Absolutely brilliant. It has bestseller written all over it’ Kate Furnivall, author of The Betrayal
‘What a book! Fast, edge-of-your-seat stuff. Each time I set the book down I had to remind myself to breathe’ broadbeanbooks
'What a sensational book this is, with a plot that unrolls like clockwork, and simmering tension that never lets up. Betrayal, double-crossing and the most delicious sting in the tail... I couldn't put it down' Lucy Diamond, bestselling author of The House of New Beginnings
‘A great read – lots of surprises and an excellent ending’ Cesca Major, author of The Silent Hours
‘Jaw-droppingly brilliant’ Catherine Isaac, author of You Me Everything
‘Oh Louise Candlish, you are a genius! Our House is just brilliant. Scarily believable with the BEST ending I have read in a long time. I devoured it!’ Claire Frost, Fabulous magazine
‘A high-stakes domestic thriller that is utterly absorbing. Twists and turns abound, and Our House will have you locking your doors and checking your windows. Candlish delivers a frightening portrait of one woman’s worst nightmare. Trust no one!’ Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author
Advance Praise
Praise for Louise Candlish's writing:
'My book of the year. Exquisitely written and addictively dark – sheer perfection’ CLARE MACKINTOSH
‘Unapologetically dark, deliciously descriptive and heavy with foreboding, this is a novel that redefines the term “unputdownable”’ Heat
‘A compulsive psychological thriller that will give you the shivers’ Sunday Mirror
‘Tautly plotted and claustrophobic – a psychological drama with edge’ Good Housekeeping
‘SO GOOD’ INDIA KNIGHT
‘Utterly superb’ LISA JEWELL
‘A clever, claustrophobic thriller’ The Sun
‘A tense, unsettling tale about the secrets and lies submerged beneath the smooth surface of a leafy London neighbourhood lido’ TAMMY COHEN
‘An unputdownable thriller’ Glamour
‘A clever, pacy thriller, which echoes Daphne du Maurier and Gillian Flynn, it demands to be read in one sitting’ The Express
‘Totally gripping and truly awesome’ SOPHIE HANNAH
‘Addictive… It will keep you guessing until the very end’ Stylist
‘Absorbing, perceptive and gripping’ Daily Mail
‘Brilliantly obsessive’ Red
‘Subtle, clever and sexy’ Sunday Mirror
‘Tense, twisty and completely addictive’ Good Housekeeping
‘I loved this book. I honestly didn't see the twist coming’ JOJO MOYES
‘A brilliantly told, emotionally charged tale’ DOROTHY KOOMSON
‘A master of her craft’ ROSAMUND LUPTON
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781471168031 |
PRICE | £12.99 (GBP) |
Links
Featured Reviews
When Fi arrives home to a removals van outside her house, she is completely stunned. Trinity Avenue has been her family home for years and now all of their belongings have gone. Following a desperate phone call to her ex-husband Bram, Fi discovers he has disappeared. The more Fi uncovers the more she realises their lives have been turned upside down by a nightmare of their own making. A devastating crime has been committed, but who is responsible? What has Bram hidden from her?
'Our House' is a real treat in that this is a highly original and explosive plot. The beauty and terror of the plot lies in the realistic nature and the thought that I had the entire way through that this could happen in real life. The events that unfold are terrifyingly simple and happen right under the characters noses. Once Candlish gets the plot underway we then follow Fi as she desperately tries to reclaim her home and learn how events led Fi and Bram to where they are now. I promise you once you start reading this, you will be completely hooked.
As well as adoring the plot I loved how Candlish tells this story. We have Fi telling her perspective through a podcast named The Victim and we have Bram detailing his account through a letter. This enables the reader to get two different takes on events and learn how the events arose. Candlish does not allow you a moment's breath, when you think you have one think worked out there is another twist. Which brings me onto the plot twists, of which there are many. Some are very obvious and some less so, the obvious ones although a little disappointing, they ensure the plot works and I would not want it any other way so in a way these work perfectly.
A novel such as 'Our House' would not work without the right cast of characters, Fi, Bram and company definitely are the right characters. Again, like the plot, their brilliance lies in their ordinariness. They are likeable, normal people whose lives are inexplicably changed. As you will see it is a culmination of small mistakes over the years that have led them to where they are, again this brings me back to the terror of this novel lying in the realistic possibility of this happening.
'Our House' is a terrifyingly good thriller. I was pulled into the story and devoured this in no time at all. This novel is realistic, entertaining and shocking.
Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.
At first I thought this book was going to be slow to read but what a mistake that was!! I was soon hooked on the characters and storyline and spent a few late nights just reading one more chapter.
I'm new to Louise Candlish's books but will definitely be reading more ! Great writing and a very different storyline make this an addictive book.
The two main characters in the plot are Fi and Bram who are separated are still sharing a house and coparenting their two young sons.
Fi arrives home to find a new couple has moved into her home . Unbeknown to her her husband Bram has been involved in a complex blackmail plot and this is just one of the consequences which evolves from it.
There are numerous twists and turns in the book and the writer portrays the story with insight and believability. Just when I thought I'd worked out the plot something unfolded which changed my mind! Brilliant storyline and the ending is magnificent .
I would recommend this book to everyone. It had me thinking about it even after finishing the last page. The sure sign of a excellent read.
Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for my chance to read this fantastic book.
Imagine coming home one day to find strangers moving into your house completely out of the blue – strangers who say they’ve bought it for two million pounds (it’s a nice house!) and have all the paperwork to prove as much. Furthermore, your husband – separated, but still very much involved in parenting - has apparently dropped off the face of the earth at the same time.
That’s what happens to Fiona Lawson right at the beginning of Our House, and much of the rest of the novel recounts how this situation came about, with the testimony of both Fi – telling her story on a popular podcast called The Victim - and husband Bram, who is writing it all down after the event. Interspersed with this are “present day” snippets describing what happened next. To say more would spoil the experience of watching a complex story unfold – but I think it’s safe to say there is much more to this situation than meets the eye...
Our House is a really enthralling and intriguing read – although we know the ending from the start (almost – there are definitely some twists in the tale), there is an appalling fascination in following how things got to that point. The characters are vividly drawn, particularly Bram, who I could visualise very clearly (I realised towards the end that I was actually picturing someone I knew many years ago!). He’s a flawed but also very human character who finds himself caught up in a situation he can’t control. The author does a great job of building up the menace, and a sense of inexorably looming disaster pervades the story.
I’ve read several books by Louise Candlish now and enjoyed them all tremendously – this was no exception. It’s an original, compulsively readable and very well constructed story which will keep you reading and leave you thinking.
Many thanks to the publishers and to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review.