This was a good book, though I found it a tad slower than other books by this author, but still worth reading. Ellen Saint is the mother of two kids, Lucas and Freya, she's married to Justin, the father of Freya, she's also close to the father of Lucas, Vic. The book is told from the POV of Ellen and Vic, in present day and in the past, and from a journalist writing an article about Ellen. The book starts in present day with Ellen at the building of a client she's advising on changes to improve lighting. She happens to glance out the window at a narrow tall building called The Heights and standing on the rooftop of that building is Kieran Watts the man she blames for her son's death and who she had, she thought, arranged to be killed. Lucas met Kieran when both were in school, Kieran was a foster child from a broken home, he's partnered with Lucas as part of a buddy program to help him adjust to the new school. Lucas falls quickly under Kieran's spell, where he was a diligent student completing homework and in bed at a reasonable time, Kieran has him eschewing that in favour of late nights out attending parties. Ellen becomes alarmed at this change and tries to banish Kieran from her house, which only makes Lucas meet him outside of the house. Things eventually come to a head when Lucas dies in a car accident, Ellen goes crazy with grief, she undertakes a media campaign against Kieran and eventually arranges for his death. There is a lot to like in this book, I just found it to be on the slow side, the twist came very late in the book. I would still recommend the book, the writing, as usual for this author, was superb. Thank you to #Netgalley and #Atria for the ARC.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

While I enjoyed reading this book, and it was an easy and engaging read, I felt that this book was a tad too long. It’s a thrilling read that utilizes two perspectives to tell the story of a tragedy that befalls a family and the ensuing story of revenge. I cannot go into more of the story without spoiling it but I was confused as to the motives of one of the main characters which made me lose interest in rooting for their success. However, if Candlish's goal was to highlight that everyone is morally grey, she definitely succeeds.

A story of revenge (no forgiveness here) and how all consuming it can be so that nothing else matters to the detriment of others including the rest of her family. The format was interesting. A memoir within an newspaper article interspersed with Vic’s perspective. I found that perhaps the story was too long on Ellen’s obsession overly colouring the story for me and not allowing for any kind of balanced perspective (but then again, this is Ellen’s memoir). I did not like Ellen and her obsession. I almost found it off putting. However the book finishes strong with surprises that are not in the memoir.
4 stars because of the finish.

Louise does it again with another great heart pounding thriller of a story. She puts just enough suspense in to keep you turning the pages. The characters are great and I love how she tells the story through both Ellen and Vic’s eyes. Vic even has his own part of the book to tell his story in.
The book is centred around two divorced parents and there son Lucas, who is asked to help the new kid, Kieran, adjust to his new school. The boys become fast friends, but Ellen, Lucas’s mom, doesn’t like Kieran much and a fierce rivalry insues. Then on December 19, tragedy strikes and all of their lives are effected.
Years later they are still trying to recover when more things happen that risk their sanity and freedom.
This is a great read and hard to put down. Another great thriller from Louise. I look forward to seeing what she comes up with next. She never fails to disappoint .
#netgalley #theheights #louisecandlish

The Heights
I thoroughly enjoyed reading “The Heights” by Louise Candlish. Without going into the story lines as many reviewers and the book cover clearly have , I just want to talk about the writer’s craft. First off, I found that the author was able to develop in me extreme sentiments about each of the principal characters. They were multidimensional and interesting. I was able to relate to their individual emotional turmoil, dilemmas, and experiences because Candlish was able to draw out my own relatable experiences. By the time I had read the entire book I was sympathetic with and frustrated at not necessarily the people with whom one would expect. The author was able to play with our emotions, twist them around and question our own loyalties. Her creative use of language, descriptors and ability to set a scene had me on the edge of my seat many times.
Having read the book on a digital device I found that the short excerpts from a Sunday Times Magazine article by a journalist giving commentary on the progression of the story was unnecessary and confusing. Being able to flip back and forth more easily with a hard copy may not have created such an issue. I can understand how the significance of this technique played out more logically only at the end but it was somewhat annoying throughout the read.
Nevertheless, I found that Louse Candlish did a terrific job at entertaining the reader to the very end, making me question what might happen to my own sense of purpose and drive if confronted with avenging my own child’s death. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a most enjoyable advanced copy of this book.

A slow start turned into a page turner ending.

What lengths will a mother go to in order to keep her children safe? Ellen's son Lucas was assigned to help a new student adjust to the private school they attend. Kieran Watts sets warning bells off in Ellen. Kieran is a bad influence and I won't go into further details because that would spoil the plot!

Ellen and her ex, Vic, have a plan and she believes all has gone accordingly in regards to Kieran, until two years later she spots him alive and well and living in an expensive high rise building next door to her client.

The truth comes out and the story becomes so fascinating I could barely put it down!

Dark, twisty, kept me up late at night. The intro from the blurb hooked me, and the book didn't disappoint. And this is the kind of thriller that you really can't say much about the contents of the book without giving everything away. Suffice to say it twists, it keeps you up. It is dark and had that dubious morality that I'm not sure if I should root for or against that I enjoyed so much in the last Louise Candlish book.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

Louise Candlish is a master of the genre and she doesn’t disappoint in this new book. A page turner from start to finish this thriller is a fun easy read that will keep you guessing til the end.

Wow, Louise Candlish NEVER disappoints. I flew through this book because I needed to know the next steps to the mysteries of the Saint family and how Keiran fit into it. The writing style screams with emotion and I feel distraught and a need for revenge alongside Ellen Saint, a mother trying desperately to keep her boy safe from a friend who may not be quite right. With each part of the story opening further and you begin to understand that not everything is as it seems and you wonder if how you felt was justified. A rollercoaster of feels. A jarring end. A story of one families quest to overcome and heal, no matter the cost. So good!

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

A new year and a somewhat new author for me. I read Louise Candlish’s book, The Other Passenger, last year and it was a good, fast read with great diabolical characters. I needed a good drama to set me up for 2022 and the synopsis for this book was so intriguing.🤔

The Heights is the story of a woman, Ellen, who is full of hatred, sadness and revenge. One day, as she is seeing a client - she recognizes a familiar face on a balcony - she knows this person and is shocked to see him - because she’s positive she had him killed. The story then takes you back to when she first met this man, the impact he had on her life and that of her family and the reason she wanted him dead - both then and now. Ellen is consumed by her hatred and she is willing to give up her whole life for revenge.😬

This book is told in alternating points of view and short chapters - which helps as the story sometimes feels slow-moving. That said, I was completely engrossed the whole time - even if I did guess most of what would happen - except that final reveal. Overall, a good book to start off 2022. If you like a drama with some good twists, this may be for you. Thanks to @netgalley and @simonschusterca for this copy to review. ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

{Available: March 2022}


@tolovetoread #tolovetoread #read #reader #reading #readersofig #readthisbook #book #books #bookstagram #bookworm #bookish #bookreviewer #bibliophile #bookaddict #booksofig #booksof2022 #bookrecommendations #booklife #bookishcanadians

A twisty, emotional tale of mystery and heartache that builds up to a jaw dropping revelation. A real treat to read.

This book will get you hooked right from the beginning. Very entertaining. A real page turner. Loved it.

Is Ellen Saint a heartbroken mother seeking justice or a delusional sinner who can’t get over the past?

The Heights tells the story of a mother filled with hate over the man responsible for her son’s death. When Ellen Saint sees Kieran Watts on a high-rise building across the street, she’s beside herself. She thought Kieran died two years ago. She made sure of it. So how can he still be alive when her son is dead? Ellen sets out to finish the job and the only man who can maybe stop her is her ex-husband and son’s father Vic.

This story fell flat for me. I found Ellen to be a very unlikeable character despite the tragedy she suffered. Vic fell flat as well. The writing and the way the story was structured - jumping from past to present to future- didn’t work for me.

Overall, it ran too long for my liking. Some people may disagree though and like the slow pace. But I just couldn’t connect to the story or characters.

What do we know of Ellen Saint... Imagine having such a strong feeling about a person. Something that hits you to your core. But everyone else around you thinks that person is great...That would be enough to drive a person slightly insane.

The story was great. Kept me interested right until the bitter end. Candlish did a good job of making Ellen relatable yet slightly unlikeable.

The perspective being told by both Ellen and Vic was good. The one part that sometimes got confusing was the little chapters that were like a magazine article. Took me a bit to follow what was actually happening with that.

I always feel quite lucky when a book gives me a solid plot twist that actually catches me off guard. What a treat to have enjoyed a book that gave me several of them!

I was quite surprised when I found out that The Heights is over four hundred pages (according to Goodreads), because I read it in two days. It was one of those that kept me up at night just so I could read a handful more pages, and then made me get up before the sun so I could continue it. The protagonist is an unreliable narrator and I have rarely seen a thriller execute the concept as well as this one. I really believed Ellen throughout the story, and the jarring shift to her husband’s point of view made the balance in narration excellent.

I was surprised at first to read the style. I found a book within a book - as the reader, we are reading both Ellen’s story as she narrates it for her memoir, but also seeing beyond the pages when reading her husband’s point of view. It was a clever shift in styles and I ended up enjoying it immensely.

The ending was superb. Without saying too much, I thought we had reached the end at some point before realizing I still had about 10% left of the book: just long enough for Candlish to throw another twist my way!

This was a compelling story from beginning to end. I recommend picking it up on publishing day, March 1st, 2022.

I’d like to thank Simon & Schuster Canada, as well as Netgalley, for the free advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Such a fun thriller! The shifts in perspectives, the constant zooming out to see more of the bigger picture, it was a puzzle that just kept filling out.
Louise Candlish knocked it out of the parc on this one for me. I can’t wait for her next one!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for this ARC!

I want to start by thanking NetGalley and the publisher for my eARC in exchange for my honest review.
One of the best Louise Candlish books l have read! Talk about your psychological thriller! This one left me bouncing all over the place, my sympathies moving from character to character, and just wait for that amazing ending.

I liked the way this was written. There are parts from Ellen’s book, comments from a journalist who covered the case, and parts written from Ellen’s first husband’s perspective. I thought the author did a great job developing the characters. I felt both sympathy and annoyance with Ellen’s behaviour. The author also did a great job creating suspense and building the narrative surrounding Kieran and their family’s history. My second read by the author and definitely not my last.

Thanks to the Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Twists within twists within more twists. Maybe one twist too many? You decide, - I confess, I still haven’t made up my mind.

Ellen Saint is one “crazy obsessed mother.” Neurotic, icily consumed by her rage (superseding her remarkable fragility), plagued with anxieties, including a terrifying (and thematic to the story) fear of heights encapsulated in a syndrome known as “high place phenomenon”.

Ellen is convinced her teenage son Lucas is the unknowing victim of his evil friend, Kieran, - a situation that quickly escalates to see Kieran and Ellen squared off in a vicious game of cat-and-mouse, each, it appears, the arch-enemy and now, life-long sworn nemesis of the other.

Vic, Ellen’s former partner and the father of Lucas, a laid back, insecure and struggling-to-be-perceived-as-permissively “cool” father, doesn’t quite agree with Ellen’s viewpoint, believing instead not that “Kieran had been born evil, only that his life circumstances had produced a uniquely careless individual.”

Justin, Ellen’s current husband, and the father of her daughter, Frey, is, if anything, confused and deeply saddened by the whole situation, doing his best to remain the voice of calm reason in an Ellen-tossed sea so stormy it’s hard for the reader not to see him as somewhat of an enigma.

Hate and obsession. Motherhood. Love. Paranoia. Violence. And inevitably, death.

With Ellen and Vic’s alternating POV experiences presented to the reader, the question of course, is whose perceptions are “real” (more real?) and who should we trust?

Leaving the reader with one essential question - from dizzying heights to horrifying depths - both faces of the same bedeviling emotion?

Guaranteed to keep you guessing, this is first class Psychological devilry, with so many of the afflicted clouding the landscape that it’s impossible to pick just one.

A great big thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

How would you react if your child was killed and the one with them lived? When Ellen's son dies in an accident and his friend Kieran lives her life is turned upside down. All that is left is hatred and a need for vengeance. The Heights is a dark psychological thriller with strong characters that you love to despise. A feeling of foreboding carries through the story leaving you torn and exhausted. An excellent read for lovers of suspense.
#TheHeights#NetGalley#Simon&Schuster