Book Review: Our House | Louise Candlish

A domestic noir novel that will pull you in with the suspense and shock you with every last twist! Wow, I am beyond impressed with the new novel Our House by Louise Candlish! By 30% through this book, I couldn’t have put it down if I tried. I first was introduced to Candlish in her previous book The Sudden Departure of the Frasers. I loved that book, but this one shows a level of growth as a writer that has me positively glowing after reading it. This one took ahold of my life and didn’t release me. When I finally finished it, I couldn’t get over the ending for hours! I was shocked and excited—and I’m even more excited to share this with readers who will get to experience those twists for the first time!

About the Book

Fi and Bram have the perfect house in the perfect neighborhood. It’s the sort of neighborhood where outsiders clamor to get in, and insiders are desperate to stay in. The sort of neighborhood where all of the residents know how lucky they are to live there. And each time someone moves out, they are aware that none of them are truly entitled to that perfect life. They are all just barely able to afford it, and one wrong move could send it all tumbling down.

And for Bram and Fi, that wrong move comes from a marital indiscretion. Determined not to lose their dream home, even if she lost her dream husband, Fi and Bram set up a birds nest arrangement—the kids stay in the home, and Fi and Bram take turns living with them as the custodial parent. It’s the perfect arrangement—the boys get a stable environment, and Fi and Bram get to keep their perfect, just-out-of-reach home.

And then one day, Fi arrives home to see another family moving into her house. Frantic and assuming it is a mistake, Fi finds the nightmare only gets worse. The family claims they purchased the home from her and Bram. When Fi tries to reach Bram, his phone is disconnected. Even worse, the boys never arrived at school. As the details unfold, Fi realizes that she has become the victim of a crime most can only imagine, and the only way to hope to find justice means she’ll tell her story to the world…

Reflection

I loved the story-telling mechanisms that Candlish uses in this book to keep the pace moving and the story fresh. The book begins the day Fi arrives home to see another family moving into her house. Then the book actually moves forward in time, but also into the past. Several weeks after Fi discovers the new family in her house, she is on a podcast called #Victim. In the podcast, Fi recounts her story from the beginning, all the way back when Bram first moved out. Fi hopes to bring awareness to this sort of real estate fraud, and prevent others from falling victim to the crime she fell victim to.

And then we have Bram’s story, written in the form of a letter to an unknown recipient at the same time Fi is on the podcast. They tell the story of their marital break up and the crime itself in perfect pace with one another. In a style that I’ve come to realize is classically Candlish, the story from each person keeps up with the other, and a revelation in one person’s story is then picked up in the other’s. In this way, the plot moves steadily, and little tidbits of information come to light, with spin from each party. And you get the distinct impression neither is telling the full truth.

The only thing better than one unreliable narrator is two unreliable narrators, amirite??

This book is truly a slow-burning, domestic noir masterpiece. I read this one over only a few days, and when I reached the last page I couldn’t even sit still because my mind was buzzing from the final scene! Candlish has a way of dropping hints that the reader completely overlooks. But as each twist is revealed, the hints add up and make you realize you probably should have been able to tell what was going on the whole time. That is how you begin to empathize with the characters. When the same things that fooled them, fool you as well.

Candlish is truly a master of crafting a carefully constructed plot that showcases how easy it is to be tricked into your worst nightmare. I am still buzzing from the final reveal days later! I can’t wait for readers to begin this one and experience all of the twists themselves!

Many thanks to Berkley for sending me an advanced reader copy of this novel to review. I loved it!