Title: "The Heights" by Louise Candlish - A Riveting Tale of Obsession and Betrayal

Rating: ★★★★☆

I had the privilege of reading an advanced reader copy of "The Heights" by Louise Candlish, and I must say, it was an enthralling experience. This psychological thriller had me on the edge of my seat, eagerly turning pages to unravel its web of secrets and betrayals.

The story introduces a close-knit neighborhood in London, where the lives of two families, the Lambs and the Thornes, become inextricably linked. The narrative is expertly structured, with multiple timelines and perspectives that kept me hooked. Louise Candlish's ability to create complex characters with flawed yet compelling motivations adds depth to the story. "The Heights" explores themes of obsession, revenge, and the lengths to which people will go to protect their secrets. As the tension builds, the author masterfully blurs the lines between right and wrong, leaving readers questioning their own moral compass. While I won't give away any spoilers, I can confidently say that "The Heights" delivers a gripping and thought-provoking narrative, earning it a solid 4-star rating. If you're a fan of psychological thrillers that challenge your perception of morality and justice, this book is a must-read.

I was looking forwards to reading this book, however I was unable to review the book because I was not able to read the book. Due to technical difficulties with NetGalley, I only found it now in a shelf I didn’t know existed. It is now too late to read the book.

This was my first book by Candlish.

The Heights had a really interesting concept to it, which I hadn't read about before. Thinking you had killed someone, but then years later, seeing them? I was intrigued ! The dual timeline and dual pov was done well, getting to hear both sides to the story, as well as the past events that put them in this situation, and the current events. This did drag on a bit for me at times, but I was intrigued enough to want to continue. The ending had a twist that surprised me, which made it worth it !

At first, I tried to listen to the audio for this, but British narrators are very hit or miss for me, and this, unfortunately, was a miss. I ended up switching to the print copy and enjoyed it much more. With Candlish being a British author, there were quite a few words and phrases that stuck out and didn't flow well for me, but that's a me problem.

Thank you to @netgalley for my digital copy, as well as @simonschusterca @atriabooks for my physical arc !

A great read by this author. I definitely recommend checking this one out!
Thank you NetGalley for providing a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The heights tells the story of a mother who will do anything to protect her family.

But when a terrible tragedy outside of her hands occurs, she is consumed in a revenge plot that changes the course of her life.

I enjoyed the way that this book was written. It is described to you from the narrator that it is a book, and you are spoken to directly. It brings you into the story and makes you feel a part of it. It is not overdone in any way, but peppered in throughout the story. The climax near the end of the book is quite exciting, and the book was very well written.

That being said, I found the main character, Ellen, hard to relate to. She was so consumed by hate that it became repetitive to read. I appreciated her explaining that of course she did other things throughout her day, but she just hasn't included them in the book. It made sense and gave you some understanding why you're reading so much of her hate and plotting. But it didn't take away from the fact that the book is made up of so much of that type of content.

Overall, this is a decent read. Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Well written, slow burn psychological thriller that had me on edge right until the very end. Did not like Ellen {and others}, but that was likely the point! Loved the descriptions of The Heights, could definitely imagine the setting. Overall a really great book. Was my first by this author but I'll be on the lookout for others.

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

This book was so addictive! I could not put it down!! It was a slow burn but very suspenseful. I loved the multiple POVs (a huge of them) as this gives a more twisty psychological thrillers.

I highly recommend this book!

Once again, this author has produced a well-written, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat thriller that will leave you breathless at times in anticipation of the next twist in the plot of which there are many. Her characters are well-developed though not necessarily likeable. None of them are whom they appear to be. This provocative, somewhat dark and twisted story grabs you from the first page and keeps you guessing until the very end where the author inserts a deliciously wicked twist.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

The Heights by Louise Candlish is a psychological thriller.

First, let me thank both Edelweiss and NetGalley, the publisher Simon and Schuster and of course the author, for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


My Synopsis:   (No major reveals, but if concerned, skip to My Opinions)
Ellen is a lighting specialist who has never truly gotten over the death of her 19 year old son.   While having a consultation with a new client, she sees the man that she feels is responsible for his death.

But she can't truly believe her eyes.  It won't be the first time she thought she saw him...and been wrong.  But this time Ellen is positive.  She doesn't understand how he can still be alive.   She really should have asked for proof of his death.  After all, she payed good money for the kill.


My Opinions:   
The book is about a mother's love for her son.  It is also about about obsession, and hatred and revenge.

The book was told in different perspectives.  The memoir that Ellen was writing for her class took up most of the book, but there was also a journalist's point of view, and Vic's.  Those were all done quite well, with very little being repetitive.  However, the book seemed really long, and at times a bit boring.

The plot was fairly predictable (although I really didn't see the final twist coming).

It might have helped if I had liked ANY of the characters, but I did not.  I don't profess to understand a mother's loss of a grown child, nor the "high place phenomenon" that Ellen suffered, but I do understand anger at a loss, and I understand holding a grudge.  But personally, I felt she was just as bad as Kieran, and maybe even more self-centered.

This book made me angry.  Most of the time I couldn't wait to be done with it.  I found it very difficult to give a fair review, because  the writing was good, as was the plot.  But I really didn't like it too much.  I may be in the minority on this one, so feel free to read and judge for yourself.

Here's hoping your next read is 5 stars !!!

Enjoyment: 3.5
Total rating: 4.14

The Heights is a tall flat building among the warehouses of Sad Thames. Its roof terrace is visible from your flat. One day you get the shock of your life when you see a man you know is dead standing on that terrace. You don't think, you know. Because you killed him two years ago.
The Heights is a well-plotted mystery with great characters and loads of tension. I have to admit that I did not know what to expect. Thankfully Candlish masterfully lays out the land off the bat. The Heights is an emotionally charged mother story that is equally relatable as it is gut-wrenching. I suggest you check content warnings before you read this book.

Disclaimer: In exchange for an honest review, I am thankful to the publishers and NetGalley for providing a copy of The Heights

This book has something missing and wasn’t what I expected based off the synopsis.

A story within a story, we are reading along Ellen’s manuscript. Because we are reading her story we know to take it with a grain of salt, that this is her story and it’s not necessarily true.

Pretty predictable throughout. The twists were not out of left field.

If you like slow burn thrillers with unlikable protagonists and lots of intense emotions this is the right book for you. Is Ellen Saints a helicopter mom driven by obsession and revenge or just a justice seeking woman who fiercely loves her son? You will have to pick up Louise Candlish's latest novel The Heights to find out!

Ellen's teenage son Lucas is assigned to help Kieran, a new kid at his school. Kieran is a foster child and soon deemed a troublemaker and a bad influence on Lucas and his friends. Try as she might Ellen is unable to keep her son away from Kieran. When tragedy strikes, Ellen's sole focus becomes revenge. Two years later Ellen's carefully constructed semblance of peace is shattered when she sees a figure at the top floor of a tall London building called The Heights. Ellen's obsessive streak is once again awakened and it seems she will stop at nothing to uncover the truth.

Ellen is definitely a very unlikable main character but fierceness of her feelings propels the story forward and in that context worked well for me. A lot of the story was quite predictable but still really well written and I was sufficiently hooked to want to find out the truth of what really happened almost as bad as Ellen. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

Grateful to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley, Louise Candlish and Simon & Schuster Canada for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

This one was a bit slower paced than I would have liked, but it still keep guessing on what was coming next. The ending was exactly what I was expecting until the epilogue where we get way more shocking information. I loved finding out what really happened and I would recommend for those who enjoy slow burn novels or Candlish's writing.

All I can say is wow. This is the first book I’ve read by Louise Candlish and if any of her other titles are like The Heights, then I need to start reading!
The Heights sets itself apart from many thrillers as it follows the detailed memoir of a grieving mother and the pure hatred that she has towards the boy who killed her son.
This novel was exhilarating and filled with plot twists. From the very first page, I was hooked. Ellen’s point-of-view is so expertly written that I felt myself falling into her same delusions as the story went on. I wanted to hate Kieran just as much as she did. Only in Part Two, when we get Vic’s point-of-view, did I begin to question everything that I had just read. The story easily creates distrust towards each character through questioning Kieran’s motives to second-guessing Ellen’s beliefs.
The interweaving of the journalist’s article, ‘Killing Time,’ throughout the narrative added an interesting twist to the novel. Having that outsider’s point-of-view and getting the background information on Ellen and Vic certainly helped reveal more from the plot and develop the characters outside of their own anecdotes.
Overall, I truly enjoyed this novel and the many attempts I took at trying to untangle the web of lies and secrecy before the final chapter.

Against popular opinion I did not enjoy The Heights by Louise Candlish. I found it very hard to get into as it was very slow paced, the characters were unlikeable, the storyline was confusing and it was just too dark for me. I much preferred The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish.

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for my arc of The Heights in exchange for my honest review.

Ellen Saint's life is upended again when she recognizes an unmistakable figure atop the roof of a tall building on London's skyline, the Heights. But it couldn't possibly be him, because she was responsible for his death over 2 years ago.

Louise Candlish's The Heights is Ellen Saint's biographical account of her family and their history with the young delinquent Kieran Watts, interspersed with a narrative from her ex-husband, Vic, and news article clippings. From the moment her son Lucas gets entangled with his new troubled classmate, Ellen has been consumed with thoughts of getting him out of their lives once and for all. The novel chronicles Ellen's descent into a path of vengeance after she experiences an unimaginable tragedy.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this novel and the author created enough ambiguity to keep the reader interested in the events that were unfolding. However, despite this, there were times when the novel felt a bit slower.

One of my few complaints about this novel was that I did not find the characters particularly likable for most of the novel. Although I found Ellen Saint's character intriguing, passionate, and well-written, I found I didn't relate to her character.

Overall, this was a fascinating thriller that explored the depth to which tragedy can alter a family and allowed the reader to experience the world through the lens of a grieving mother.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the advanced copy of this book.

So I loved the beginning of this book and really thought it would have a lot of depth but it fell flat for me, nothing super unpredictable happened unfortunately. The characters were interesting and had a good amount of quirks. The writing was well done, I just found it a bit of a struggle to get through. Likely could have been much shorter.

This is only my second book written by Louise Candlish (the first being The Other Passenger,). I thought this one started a little slowly, but it definitely picked up and held my interest! As in The Other Passenger, The Heights has a twist at the end that I certainly didn't see coming. The only downside of this book is that I found the format unnecessarily gimmicky. The main character is writing a memoir, and a journalist is writing a series of articles about the MC writing her memoir! It didn't take away from the story at all, but I didn't think it added anything either, and was somewhat confusing. All in all, though, it is a good, fast-paced story. I look forward to reading more of this author's books!!

Louise Candlish knows how to write a thriller! The suspense builds up from the start and I always enjoy when there are multiple points of view. I found it a slight bit too slow at times but it did pick up and I was more invested near the end.