The Heights: From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Our House comes a nail-biting story about a mother's obsession with revenge

Product Information

Hello and welcome! I am the bestselling author of 16 novels - a fact I can't quite believe myself - and my books are published all over the world. My brand-new thriller THE ONLY SUSPECT is out now and described by the Daily Mail as 'a perfect mix of nostalgia and menace'. In the present we have Alex who seems to be coasting along in married bliss with his wife Beth. He lives in Silver Vale, he is not the friendliest of men but makes an effort. The Heights is another brilliant psychological thriller from Louise Candlish. I love a book where we are drip fed the details of the past as the present is happening. It is a really hard book to talk about without spoilers so I am not going to say too much plot wise. This book was just way too long and spiraled many times. It wasn't horrible, because like I said, the twists toward the end were good and the overall story is decent. It just took every so long to get there and I felt like Ellen's perspective was just too heavy. THE NEW CAUTIONARY TALE OF OBSESSION, LOVE, JEALOUSY AND DECEPTION FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF OUR HOUSE AND THE OTHER PASSENGER

Impossible to resist, impossible to predict, impossible to put down... this is an author at the top of her game' Adding to his disquiet, Beth has taken pity on an acquaintance, recently dumped by the man who got her pregnant, driven out of her job, and homeless, and invited her to stay. Alex is not at all convinced that Zara Lloyd’s predicament is genuine, and wonders what her true agenda might be. Or is that just his paranoia talking? Dangerously dark and grippingly tense, this will keep you guessing with its brilliant twists and turns’ HeatA woman glimpses a man on a roof terrace. Strange thing is, she knows he's dead. And she knows because she killed him... From the award-winning author of Our House' * The I * There are lots of twists which set this story up to be an intriguing read, and although it had some holes, the web of the story held true. Jan and I enjoyed our foray into Ellen's madness. There are never any guarantees that once revenge is accomplished that one will feel better. For Ellen, her end seems to make things come round full circle as she exchanges places with the boy she came to abhor.

This was a book that I had trouble putting down, it w=is not one that you want to start late at night as you will want to stay up top keep reading it. I made that mistake, but I finished it off the next morning. This story of revenge, love and fear – and what justice really means – is a sure-fire hit' Fabulous Ellen was inconsolable when Lucas died and she blamed his friend Kieran Watts for not saving him when the car they were in plunged into a lake. But Kieran is now supposed to be dead. So how is it that Ellen sees him on the rooftop of the apartment building called The Heights two and a half years later. It was pure chance that she caught that glimpse and it ripped her life apart all over again. When it comes to mind-blowing twists, award-winning author Louise Candlish knows her stuff -- Woman & Home Ellen’s sections were the most exhausting to read. Supposedly, she’s a nice person, but the reader hardly ever witnesses it. The object of her hate was still legally a minor when her obsession began.Ellen is a hard woman to like. Initially, I could relate to her struggle on how to rein in her teenage son. But after his tragic death, she goes totally off the rails, refusing to accept that her son had any issues of his own. She decides to go after the young man she holds responsible for her son’s death. When she sees him again, after his supposed death, she goes completely bonkers. She is totally obsessed with getting revenge for her son. To be honest, I was surprised that the men in her life continued to stay with her or in touch with her. THE AUTHOR: Before writing fiction, I studied English at University College London and worked as an illustrated book editor and advertising copywriter. Ellen’s newest brief brings her to Shad Thames, an historic parcel of riverside London just to the south east of Tower Bridge. It is while she is chatting to Selena, who is ‘something in finance’, that Ellen spots a young man out on the terrace of the penthouse flat in the adjacent high rise building, The Heights.

The characters follow Louise Candlish signature annoying, unlikeable characters that you could find too irritating to like. I thought they were compelling characters with flaws and conflicts that increased the doubt needed to drive the story forward. Ellen is a flawed and most unpleasant and unlikable person. You’ve heard the saying, “Revenge is a dish best served cold”? In Ellen’s case, no amount of time will cool the burning hot fire of hatred and her desire for revenge. Is Ellen’s hatred clouding her judgement and blinding her to the flaws in her own family? Her sighting of Kiernan sets in motion a series of events that ends in an explosive and surprising ending. MY THOUGHTS: I loved that opening paragraph; it's so full of promise. Unfortunately it's a promise that isn't delivered. No one creates middle-class characters we love to hate quite like Louise Candlish. I'd expected her to do this, and to provide a great sense of place, and twists that would have been rifling through the book to see how they'd been done. What I wasn't expecting was that this thriller of obsessive revenge and intense parental grief would tug at my heartstrings. Smart, addictive, twisting, surprising. Highly recommended' -- Sarah Vaughan, author of Little Disasters This story seemed like it was going to be slow paced but there were so many things that were not as it seemed. It is told over two timelines in the past in the mid 90’s to the present.

Table of Contents

At the beginning, we’re introduced to Ellen Saint having a client meeting at their condo. When she catches a glimpse of next building called the Heights, she cannot believe in her eyes but she sees Kieran Watts who should have been death for two years! He looks thinner with his bleached hair ( originally he’s red head)

I didn't read The Heights; I inhaled it. Louise Candlish's sense of place is second to none and her attention to detail is forensic. She's absolutely at the top of her game." - Lisa Jewell Louise Candlish can always be counted on to deliver on heavy psychological thrillers. And she does here in The Heights. My only concern was the long winding road taken in respect to Ellen. It grew a bit tiresome towards the end. But Candlish cranked up the adrenaline in the last scene and won us over. The Heights proves that we all have hidden fears brought to the surface by someone who deeply recognizes them in an instant.

Summary

Indeed, Lucas falls under Kieran's influence, despite his parents' attempts to prevent it. Kieran has no interest in college or the future at all, for that matter. He is interested only in taking drugs and partying, and Ellen experiences a mother's worst nightmare. She loses all power of persuasion over Lucas who begins using drugs, lets his grades slip, and jeopardizes his admission to college. He’s familiar… too bloody familiar. Ellen knows immediately it is Kieran Watts – she would know him anywhere. But it can’t be, because Kieran is dead. And Ellen should know, because she killed him. Suddenly, her world implodes. Ellen's fixation on Kieran becomes increasingly pronounced as Lucas grows distant and defiant. Both Vic and Justin love Ellen in their own ways and have, over the years, developed mechanisms to copy with Ellen's anxieties and neuroses. They have found that confronting her with facts and logic is counterproductive so, rather, they appear to be supportive of her machinations. In Vic's sardonic first-person narrative, he details the ways in which he manages Ellen, noting that he probably should have drafted a "how to" guide for Justin. Although they are also concerned about Lucas, neither of them are as alarmed by his friendship with Kieran as Ellen is, which she finds utterly exasperating. Justin chastises her for characterizing Kieran as "evil," put off by what he deems to be histrionic behavior on Ellen's part. He believes that Kieran makes Lucas and his friends laugh and poses no real danger to any of them. "What is it going to take for you to start believing me? When something really bad happens, will you believe me then?" Ellen demands. Ellen Saint is meeting with a client when she sees a young man on the roof of a sleek apartment building called The Heights. She thinks she might recognize him. No..she knows she recognizes him. She would remember that face, the face of her nightmares anywhere. But she shouldn’t be seeing this man, across from her on the rooftop of the building over. She shouldn’t be seeing him at all. Because he’s been dead for several years. Ellen knows this for a fact because she’s the one who killed him. So how is it that Kieran Watts, the bane of her existence is still alive?