Our House by Louise Candlish (Flash Review)

My Review

I finally decided to jump on the "marriage thriller" bandwagon, although not exactly keen on all the publishing brouhaha initiated by the "Gone Girl" phenomenon—not my cup of tea. I picked OUR HOUSE by Louisa Candlish anyway, drawn as I was by the theme of "house vs. home" in my recent reads (while a 'home' can never be destroyed or stolen, a 'house' can certainly be). The British writer, author of several suspense novels, delivers something that brings the "domestic noir" concept to a whole new disquieting level...definitely a must-read for fans of the sub-genre made popular by Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, and Liane Moriarty. If you are partial to tales of intimate betrayal and characters flawed beyond redemption, you will appreciate this harrowing exploration of the domestic sphere and its darkest corners. All characters here qualify as 'unlikable', but Candelish injects the story with such a 'pathos' that it will be hard not to be moved to a place of compassion as you witness the tragic undoing of a family and the loss of a house that failed in its role of 'nest', protective shelter, and center of gravity for its vulnerable inhabitants. A house...not a home. 3 stars

About the Book

OUR HOUSE

By

Louise Candlish

Published by Berkley on August 7, 2018

Hardcover, 404 pages

Fiction, Mystery, Thriller

Goodreads

Amazon

On a bright January morning in the London suburbs, a family moves into the house they’ve just bought in Trinity Avenue.

Nothing strange about that. Except it is your house. And you didn’t sell it.

When Fiona Lawson comes home to find strangers moving into her house, she's sure there's been a mistake. She and her estranged husband, Bram, have a modern co-parenting arrangement: bird's nest custody, where each parent spends a few nights a week with their two sons at the prized family home to maintain stability for their children. But the system built to protect their family ends up putting them in terrible jeopardy. In a domino effect of crimes and misdemeanors, the nest comes tumbling down.

Now Bram has disappeared and so have Fiona's children. As events spiral well beyond her control, Fiona will discover just how many lies her husband was weaving and how little they truly knew each other. But Bram's not the only one with things to hide, and some secrets are best kept to oneself, safe as houses.