Love, Love, Love this book!! Well written thought out plot twists, with an ending that demands a sequel!

Fi (Fiona) is walking up the sidewalk and cannot quite understand what is happening. A troop of movers are bringing furniture into a house, and it looks like a new family is moving into her neighborhood. Not just her neighborhood, her house. As she confronts the couple who are trying to claim that they bought her house, Fi tries desperately to contact her estranged husband, Bram. Although they are separated, they still share the house with the children, only at different times. While one is in the house, the other is at a rented flat, but what has been going on when Bram was last with the children? Fi starts to question everything and everyone she thought she knew as the secrets begin to unravel.

Highly recommended!!

I had very high hopes for this book.... I loved the premise. It started off strong, but as the story unfolded, it seem to drag on. I’m sure that others will love it, but it just wasn’t for me. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Fi Lawson has gone away for the weekend and comes back to find another couple moving into her house. It soon becomes clear that Fi's estranged husband, Bram, has sold the house without her knowledge. The reasons for this unfold through the voices of both Fi and Bram as well as through Fi telling the story on a podcast show. There is a lot of psychological tension that went on a bit too long, but the ending made those slow parts worthwhile. Actual rating 3.5 stars out of 5.

I don't want to say too much about this book, for fear of spoiling something for someone who hasn't read it yet. It is deeply engaging. Some of the twists I saw coming, but I suspect I was meant to, being led skillfully along by the author. It is told from two different perspectives and in multiple formats (a word doc, a podcast, etc.) I enjoyed the variety.

The ending was a little abrupt, but, again, I suspect it was meant to be. I'm not sure how I feel about it, though I think it was masterfully done.

#NetGalley #Our House. Berkeley Publishing Group

This book will definitely keep you on edge. I could not figure out the ending but when the ending arrived wow! Makes you think of Karma in action. I highly recommend this book.!

This was rather an irritating read. I kept thinking it needed to end but it kept going and going.
Yet, I didn't quit reading.
So there is that.

The plot is convoluted yet somehow not only believable but with a sense of inevitability, of destiny. The cruelty we practice on each other, even when most of the time we're trying to help, forms a theme that pervades the story.

I found myself thinking how elegantly O. Henry once created an exquisitely structured short story whose theme and plot shared strong elements with this novel. "Our House" could be so much better if it were half as long and not so cluttered with endless introspection. I can't recommend it highly in its current form, but since I read a pre-release version it's possible that an editor will make massive cuts. I'm afraid it's not likely though.

Our House (2018)
By Louise Candlish
Simon & Schuster, 416 pages.
★★★★

Imagine you are living in your dream house, a large elegant home in an exclusive part of South London where your neighbors brag about soaring house values and are talking millions, not thousands. You have everything you ever wanted—a handsome husband, an interesting professional job, two adorable young boys, a nice car, and a leafy manicured backyard. Then it all goes wrong. It's bad enough when you catch your husband bonking a neighbor in the kids' playhouse and throw him out. It gets worse when you go out of town for a few days, come home, and your furniture is gone, and another family has moved into your house. Apparently it's all perfectly legal, as there's a bill of sale signed by your estranged husband and yourself!

That's the nightmare facing Fiona Lawson in Louise Candlish's domestic noir Our House. She knows she never signed over her home, but Bram (Abraham) is nowhere to be found. Slowly Fiona comes to the realization that she's been a naïve dupe. It wasn't the first time Bram strayed, and what was she thinking when she entered into a "nesting" separation agreement in which she and Bram rented a nearby apartment so that, in the name of stability for the children, they could split custody and live-in dates until the divorce settlement?

Candlish's novel seems as if will be a cookie cutter gullible woman versus deceitful man tale. That's part of it, but this is indeed—as promos tag it— a "twisty mystery." In many ways it's a cautionary tale of the snowballing effects of bad decision-making by both Bram and Fiona. Bram is the mug shot for testosterone poisoning and male rage, and clueless Fiona is the quintessence of a helicopter parent who sacrifices her own desires and commonsense in the name of protecting her children. But, again, if this was all it was, Our House could be relegated to the pulp fiction bin. Louise Candlish is too skilled to stop at the clichéd or obvious.

Before this novel concludes we tread a lot of ground, including peeks into the deep Web, con artistry, blackmail, and even podcasts. Fiona willingly participates in a series called "The Victim" to warn other women of what can happen to them and detail how easily she was duped. This, of course, means she opens herself for comments from both sympathetic listeners and trolls. Collectively they act as a makeshift Greek chorus that judge her every action, presuppose her motives, and cast her as either courageous or an idiot. Listener comments are one of three voices in the novel, which also switches between Fiona's point of view and Bram's, his both in the present and in Word documents.

Our House could be seen as a confirmation of Sir Walter Scott's line, "Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive." Candlish takes it step further and shows how deceit snowballs to the point where each new falsehood is a shovel for a self-dug grave. In such a novel, trust is a moving target and the book's very conclusion rests upon how one decides upon whom and where to place one's trust. I will admit I did see coming the things that transpired.

Candlish creates characters with depth, a touch that extends beyond Fiona and Bram to both secondary and incidental figures. Like all gifted suspense writers, she is so gifted in misdirection that it's only after you've finished that you realize that several of the setups are implausible. Do we use the phrase page-turner any more? If not, call Our House a real finger-swiper!

Rob Weir

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book, which released on April 3.

Imagine you come back from a vacation, and you find that someone has moved into your house, except that your house was not for sale. This is how Our House by Louise Candlish starts. We are introduced to Fionna Lawson, aka Fi and her horror when she enters her house to find another family moving in and all of her furniture gone. Her children are nowhere to be found, and neither is her husband, Bram.

The magic of this book was Candlish's ability to take you on this ride with Fi as her life spirals out of control and the reader feels every bit of desperation that Fi feels. Is she insane? Is she dreaming? Is this some prank someone is pulling on her? The premise of the book is genius and you can't help but keep on reading.

What I enjoyed about this book was how the story was told from Fi's perspective via a recording of the podcast The Victim, tweets that people posted based on Fi's recorded story, and Bram's word document explaining what had happened. I think this was an interesting, although not the first author to do it, way to tell a story.

Unfortunately, I felt that the story dragged on and on towards the end. Although the ending was surprising, when it finally came it was not strong enough to pull the story through.

This was a book that had me scratching my head from the first chapter. Definitely worth the read.

This would be a great book to discuss with people who have already read it, but it is hard to say how I feel about the characters and the plot without giving key elements away.
3 stars means I liked it, well worth reading, generally well written, I have rated some famous classics 3 stars. I had some issues with the believability of some of the plot twists, but overall this was an entertaining book. I love it when a story grabs you right from the start, as this one does.

I think the pacing was a bit slow after the begining, however, there were a lot of details and background to cover, which made what happened more meaningful. Even though I didn't especially like the schoolmarmish Fiona, her immature cad of a husband, Bram, and their smug upper middle class neighbors, I thought the characters were well thought out and almost sympathetic.

I was totally perplexed by the ending, but SPOILER ALERT
I don't think that coward ever got around to killing himself - he starts out his narrative at the begining book by contemplating suicide and in his last scene, he is still talking about it.

A novel filled with suspense and secrets. Fi and Bram split up after numerous affairs, but keep the house so that the children always have a home. They decide to split homesharing. But Fi shows up one day only to find all of her furniture gone and a new couple moving in, claiming they bought the house. This starts a suspenseful ride of "who/what/why". Has Bram run away? Did he kill himself? How did he manage to sell the house without Fi knowing about it? Does Fi have a few secrets Bram didn't know?

The story goes back and forth between Bram's letters, Fi's on air telling of what happened and real time events. A nice mystery to keep you tearing through the pages until you find out what happened and who is at fault.

I mean...what? Our House is a crazy ride, and my favorite type of thriller. Lots of psychology, quite a few twists and turns, no gratuitous violence-really, it's the perfect book. Everything is explained with enough detail that you can see it actually happening, without getting bogged down in extra information. I highly recommend this book!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Can you even imagine coming home to find strangers moving into your house, saying they had bought it, and your husband and children are missing? Fi comes home early from a romantic weekend with a new boyfriend to this very scenario. She's separated from her husband Bram but they're sharing their dream home so their children are not forced into shuffling from place to place, Suddenly, she has no home, no Bram and no idea where her children are. I was hooked from the first paragraph and stayed up way too late following many twists in the plot. Yes, a lot of the plot is unlikely to stand the test of "would someone really behave this way" but who cares when the writing is this tight? Trading chapters between Fi's appearance on a podcast about crime victims (that she was a fan of previous to her own experience as a victim), a Word document Bram is writing to someone (?) and Fi's viewpoint outside of the podcast, the suspense builds with every page. And just when I thought things couldn't get worse for our heroine FI - TWIST! The end of this book actually had me gasping, something that hadn't happened since I was halfway through "Gone Girl". As much as I hate when people compare a new book to another big blockbuster, I have to admit I kept thinking this was the one book that actually lived up to that comparison. Definitely looking forward to discussions with other people who have read this book!

This book had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Candlish had a way of manipulating the story, in a way in which I could not have predicted the ending. Overall I enjoyed the entire story, but the ending was what made it. There is a finishing touch that makes you want to know more. I'd definitely recommend this book in a heartbeat!

Thanks to Louise Candlish and Berkley Publishing Group for providing me with an advanced reading copy!

This was a great book! I was not sure from the description. Turned out great. Loved the plot and how the book read through. The end is a great reminder of Karma.

It took me a while to get through this book. It was an extremely slow read that picked up and took off at the end. I liked the characters but I predicted the ending and was expecting more. I did like the story being told from two different perspectives. It added to the mystery of what was happening.

Fiona Lawson arrives home one day to find strangers moving into her house. From here, the story, told from hers and her estranged husband’s point of view. This family is full of secrets. An outstanding, suspense filled plot,that will keep you reading right through to the unexpected ending.

While I enjoyed this book, I felt it moved a little slow. I liked how it was told, which was a little bit different from the typical past/present with the podcast,/letter/present day. I was looking for a huge twist at the end and was almost convinced that Fi was in on it. The end left me wanting to know if Fi actually got away with her part, since Bram's letter would make her story a lie.

Trinity Avenue is your typical suburban, leafy London street. Well, typical in the sense that the houses are worth several millions of pounds – one of the most coveted postcodes in the area. Properties on this street are gold dust; once you have one, you hang onto it –for better or worse.

So when Fi returns home one January afternoon from a romantic getaway with her new boyfriend, only to find what looks like removal men outside her front door, she thinks that there must have been some terrible mistake.

Only she’s not mistaken. A young woman is standing in the kitchen, directing the movers, equally as befuddled. She and her husband have been coveting one of these houses for an age, and now it’s signed, sealed and delivered. The contracts were exchanged that morning. And Fi’s estranged husband Bram is nowhere to be found.

"‘If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two imposters just the same … you’ll be a man, my son!’

We learned that at school.

They didn’t tell us that the worst disasters would be those of our own making."

This is a chilling domestic noir – perceptive, sharp and unsettling. The bounds of credibility are stretched taut – but Candlish never oversteps the mark. Even when the premise seems ridiculous, the story that unravels takes us deep down a rabbit warren of deceit, desperation and dark depths of despair in such a way that makes the whole tale real and believable. The story is divided into three narrative threads; Fi, telling her story on a radio show called The Victim, Bram’s Word Doc version of events, and an omniscient narrator tying together the spaces in between. These voices work in tandem to construct the events that lead to that fateful afternoon in January. But with two unreliable narrators, who can we trust? Our memories are so imperfect. Not to mention, there are things we would rather conceal – even from ourselves.

What is extraordinary is just how ordinary everyone is; regular people living regular lives. There are no serial killers lurking in dark spaces, no kidnappers ready to snatch away your little ones. Real fear comes from not knowing the people closest to you, having no idea what they are capable of. And whilst this novel felt a little bit convoluted at times, it nevertheless kept me guessing – right up until the last page. When I read that last line, I had shivers all up and down my spine.

I voluntarily read this copy provided by NetGalley. Our House will be published on August 7th 2018.