The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish

 

Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife Beth in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he’s not the most extrovert guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he’s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour.
 
That’s until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site that’s been disused for decades and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now he’s always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread . . .
 
As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alex’s twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil.
 
And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed.
 
It still isn’t.

Louise Candlish is back to play mind games in her latest Psychological thriller The Only Suspect. With the storyline being told through alternating chapters from the past and present by Rick and Alex it keeps the reader on their toes as the scene is set to a murder we know has happened but have no idea who the victim is or the events leading up to it. Jump to the present day the council have given the go ahead for a new nature trail behind Alex’s house but he is anything but thrilled as it seems his past could be coming back to haunt him.

The author has such an incredibly skilled way of planting big clues in plain sight and yet there are still no warning bells that set suspicions off until you have already had your face slapped with a shocking revelation that you had no idea was coming, you then look back to see all the arrows pointing at this and it seems so obvious. THEN you feel like you are in safe territory and that your eyes are well and truly open and BAM she is back to hit you again with another shocker!

This is a highly skilled storyline that covers deception, love. friendships and murder that will have you captivated from start to finish with no safe place to put this book down as you will be questioning if you have missed something! If you’re looking for a totally unpredictable read with well-developed characters and twists and turns at every corner then you can’t go wrong with The Only Suspect.

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The Heights by Louise Candlish

He thinks he’s safe up there. But he’ll never be safe from you. 
 
The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among the warehouses of Tower Bridge, 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.  You know this for a fact.  

Because you’re the one who killed him.  It’s time to confess what we did up there.
 

Louise Candlish is back with her new novel The Heights and I wasted no time in jumping straight excited to see what the author was going to have hidden up her sleeve for us this time around.

 

The book is split up into 4 parts and is told from two of our main characters Viv and Ellen’s points of view which is a very clever way to write this novel as we get to build a picture of the situation and just as we think we have sussed everything out the storyline then turns to the other characters point of view and gives a different perspective which makes us question everything that we have learnt so far! Each of the characters were well developed and Ellen sure is a devoted mum, no one can question that but how far is too far when it comes to having your children’s backs? My opinion on Vic chopped and changed throughout the book depending on if we were seeing his actions through Ellen's eyes or hearing Vic's thoughts on things which all kept me on y toes.

This one was a little more of a slow burner compared to the authors previous novels but the unexpected revelations we have come to expect and love from her I am pleased to say are hiding within this storyline. I do love a book that is set around areas where I grew up so this book captured my interest early on as places like Crystal Palace, Beckenham and Bromley were all visited in this novel it makes me feel more familiar and connected with the storyline.

This wicked thriller is full of hatred, betrayal and revenge.

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Our House by Louise Candlish

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 had seen so many reviews, comments and beautiful displays for Our House by Louise Candlish I was very intrigued by the book wondering what everyone loved about it but it isn’t a book I would typically pick up however a very trusting book friend of mine assured me I would love it so I started it straight away.

When Fi arrives home she is bewildered and terrified to find someone moving into her family home. There has to be some mistake but she is unable to get hold of husband Bram to get to the bottom of this horrendous mistake.

Bram has made a catastrophic mistake that he can’t find his way out of and now he is set to hurt those around him. 

Having finished reading this book I can certainly see why there is so much talk about it. This is the first book that has had an ending that has had such an impact that I was actually shouting NOOOOOoOoO at the book and flapping my page around! 

The storyline was so addictive thanks to the authors tightly woven plot which pulled me in and kept me gripped by the continual events that found Bram digging himself a bigger hole that looked like he would never be able to dig himself back out of. 

I have picked up two books by this author previously and have struggled to settle into them so never finished them but there was no way I was going to put this book down it was too intense. The pace does slow a little in the middle of the book but I feel that this served a great purpose in making my attention waver slightly resulting in the last part of the book having such an impact.

I loved the subtle twists which I didn’t see coming although there were other that I could see from early on in the book particularly one involving a love interest but I have read a lot of crime thrillers recently so I seem to be looking deeply into clues and possibilities more than I usually would so other readers may find more twists reveal themselves along the way.

This is certainly one of the best crime thrillers I have read this year and the most frustrating and impactful ending I can remember reading in a long time.

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The Swimming Pool by Louise Candlish

It's summer when Elm Hill lido opens, having stood empty for years. For Natalie Steele - wife, mother, teacher - it offers freedom from the tightly controlled routines of work and family. Especially when it leads her to Lara Channing, a charismatic former actress with a lavish bohemian lifestyle, who seems all too happy to invite Natalie into her elite circle. 

Soon Natalie is spending long days at the pool, socializing with new friends and basking in a popularity she didn't know she'd been missing. Real life, and the person she used to be, begins to feel very far away. 

But is such a change in fortunes too good to be true? Why are dark memories of a summer long ago now threatening to surface? And, without realizing, could Natalie have been swept dangerously out of her depth?

When I saw the cover for Swimming Pool by Louise Candish I headed straight to Amazon to read the synopsis and it immediately had me intrigued and after reading some rave reviews by reviewers who have similar taste to me I couldn’t wait to read it but unfortunately I did struggle with the structure of this book.

The storyline as you can imagine revolves around a swimming pool, Elm Hill Lido which has recently just been reopened with the help of Lara Channing and she soon becomes the woman who everyone wants to be associated with.

The swimming pool reopening isn’t good news for everyone though especially Natalie and her daughter Molly who has an extreme phobia of the water but despite her daughters phobia Natalie can’t stay away as she has been dazzled by Lara and wants to be a part of her social circle.

The storyline moves between different time frames and although I have read plenty of books that are written in dual time frames for some reason I found myself constantly losing my way and having to look back to see what time frame I was in as it would jump back to when our protagonist was young then back to the present day then back to a few weeks before and the back to present day again and I just couldn’t get to grips with this but I haven’t seen this mentioned in other reviews so it is obviously just something that personally I couldn’t get to grips with.

There was still something about the storyline that still kept me intrigued and determined to continue reading and I think that was the suspense and also the sinister feel to the storyline. Our protagonist Natalie is not a character people will warm to, she craved acceptance and status, she was frustrating and childish but I was very curious about her character.

I was very suspicious of the friendship between Natalie and Lara but as the storyline moved along I found I was suspicious of quite a number of characters as they all had something about them that was a little off and I couldn’t work out what their intentions were.

I did find the storyline unpredictable I did think I had worked out what was going to be revealed but I had drifted down the wrong path. Despite my struggles with the structure of the book I did still enjoy the storyline and it would have easily been a 4 star read for me but the structure did effect the flow of the book for me so this is the reason I have given the book a 3 star rating but I still recommend you to pick up this book as you may not have the same trouble I had keeping up with the time frames.

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