Our House - Louise Candlish

I loved the premise of Louise Candlish's new novel Our House.

Our home is our sanctuary, a place you've made your own. What would you do if you came home to find a moving van? Not moving your stuff out - but moving another family in. A family that has what looks to be legitimate papers proving they've bought your house. That's what happens to Fiona Lawson and her estranged husband Bram.

Oh, there are so many possibilities as to where this scenario could go!  Candlish unfolds her story in an epistolary format, with Fiona's plight being recounted on a victims of crime podcast. I enjoyed the addition of comments from viewers. Bram's narrative is revealed through a word document he is writing. With the two stories running parallel, the reader is privy to what is happening and has happened to both Fiona Bram.

Despite being the 'victim', I wasn't firmly in Fiona's corner. I thought she made some questionable decisions. And her 'house proud' attitude rubbed me the wrong way. But hey, it's those choices and developments that drew me deeper into the story and ramped up the tension. Bram? Well, I didn't even have a smidgen of sympathy for him at all - until the last quarter of the book. I had pretty much decided how things were going to end - and then Candlish threw in a last twist and turn in the final pages. A really good one that there was no way of predicting.

Our House was a great read for me and I look forward to Candlish's next book. Here's an excerpt of Our House. You can connect with Louise Candlish on her website.