Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: March 1, 2022
When Ellen Saint lost her son in a car accident five years ago, her entire life turned upside down. Her ex-husband, current husband, daughter, friends and even strangers keep telling her that she needs to move on, she needs to forgive and she needs to be happy again. But when Ellen spies Kieran Watts on the rooftop of a local development called “The Heights”, she knows she won’t be able to move on, because she holds Kieran entirely responsible for the death of her son. Ellen was under the impression after all of these years that Kieran was dead, which is understandable, considering she paid for his death, and this realization just leads to more hatred and anger, forcing Ellen once more to stop at nothing to finally seek revenge for her son.
I am a huge fan of British author Louise Candlish and her new novel, “The Heights”, immediately intrigued me. “The Heights” is not just an elite community, towering over the streets of London, but it also speaks to Ellen’s immense fear that has been with her since childhood. But stronger than Ellen’s aversion to heights is her desire for justice for her son, the son she feels fell in with a bad crowd and was swayed into poor choices, which led to his demise. Ellen is the ultimate avenger, passionate and desperate, eager to see revenge served at any cost.
The story is told in three parts, with Ellen as the primary narrator, although we do hear from Vic (Ellen’s ex-husband) in part two. Both Ellen and Vic tell their tales from before their son’s death and after (although the time lines are not marked and it takes a minute to catch up to when the current storyline is taking place). There is nothing but sympathy for both Ellen and Vic (although Vic, less so) as they struggle with insurmountable grief and feelings of injustice.
I rooted for Ellen from page one, and wanted to see her succeed, although I did not expect the role Vic played in the ordeal (which served as only the first unexpected twist). Kieran, too, immediately struck me as someone who was not entirely innocent, yet also not entirely guilty, although he was villainized from the onset. Each character has a secret they’re keeping, and each leads to a powerful plot twist. “The Heights” is a page-turning and addictive story of grief, loss and the lengths a mother will go to to seek justice for her children.

The Heights is twisted and dark yet such a compelling read I could not put it down.

The books starts strong when Ellen sees a man across the rooftop but that can't be: she was the one who killed him.

The book is full of not so nice characters that you can hiss at and shake your head at but they keep things more than interesting.

Twists and turns and an ending I did not see coming at all.

Get your copy of The Heights and put it to the top of your TBR pile; you will be glad you did.

In this twisty family thriller we follow Ellen Saint as she plays cat and mouse with her son's evil school mate. As the tension builds it's clear that there is way more going on than even Ellen knows. Well paced, fully realized characters draw the reader into Ellen's life as if we were her friend. Louise had done it again with another excellent thriller!

Well.. this was a struggle to read and I love psychological thrillers. Soo much hatred with these characters. I see so much hatred in this World and then reading this book really bothered me.



It was just too much for me but others may enjoy it.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.

All my thoughts and options are my own and are not influenced by other reviewers

Ahh...I just don't know about this one. I struggled a lot with this one unfortunately. I tried to get in to it, I really did, but I did not enjoy the main characters at all. I know one of the novel's themes was an obsession with hate, but that's where it kept losing me for some reason. I was just so unnerved by how much hate Ellen had for this kid and how it grow over time. It was too much for me unfortunately.

However I think this would still be a good psychological thriller for others to check out, especially if they enjoyed other books by this author.

Thank you Net Gallery and Simon and Schuster Canada for the ARC.

The Heights is a psychological thriller that I really enjoyed because it incorporated the complexity of perspective. Told from multiple views and a dual timeline, it opens with a twist of fate, as Ellen Saint spots someone from her past who shouldn’t be there. As the synopsis says, she should know since she’s the one who killed him. What a hook!

Initially I liked Ellen, empathizing with the fact she seemingly had a bad gut instinct around the company her son was keeping, but feeling mainly alone in it. Honestly in the beginning, I felt really anxious because as a mother, I was inserting myself and wondering what I would do. As time went on and it increasingly became clear her perspective was not necessarily reliable, I was curious about the truth surrounding the key plot points. I was glad to hear from Vic’s perspective because it brought a whole new angle to what was going on.

Ellen’s condition of High Place Phenomenon was interesting and unique but when the ending was unravelling, I wished there was a bit more surrounding that. I know she conquered her fear, but it seemed relatively easy?

Overall, this book was a bit of a slow burn, but considering it’s 400 pages, I finished it in a weekend! I would recommend.

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the advance copy!

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It was a well written book. I hope to read more books by this author.

The Heights is a fun and twisty thriller. I devoured it in a couple of days, which, these days, is pretty rare for me. Ellen Saint's world is rocked when she sees Kieran on a rooftop terrace: she blames Kieran for the death of her teenage son Lucas, and arranged to have him killed two years ago. Told within the frame narrative of a journalist reporting Ellen's story, the main narration is from Ellen herself, writing her memoir, Saint or Sinner. 

Because we initially meet Kieran through Ellen's perspective, it's easy to fall into her immediate suspicion of the teen. She tells us how rude he is, how much he leads her otherwise studious son Lucas astray into a life of partying and drugs, and how he seems to have an irrational hate-on for her, giving her menacing looks when no one else is looking. Only Lucas' father Vic seems to share Ellen's suspicions; both Ellen's younger daughter Freya, and Lucas' girlfriend Jade seem to have fallen for Kieran's natural magnetism. And while Ellen's husband Justin is more sympathetic to Ellen's concerns, he mostly hand-waves them away as Lucas just being a regular rebellious teen. For me, at least, it was easy to share Ellen's anxieties over Kieran, and to accept her word that he was responsible for Lucas' death.

But then the circumstances around Lucas' death are revealed, and it seems more a tragedy than a crime. And then we get a few chapters from Vic's point of view, and it becomes clear that Ellen's burning hatred for Kieran heavily colours her perspective, and that her grief over Lucas' death has turned into an obsession. You start to question just how reliable her narration actually is.

Candlish hooked me from beginning to end with this story. As more and more layers are revealed, I shifted from sympathizing with Ellen, to sympathizing with practically everyone else around her, including Kieran himself. I did have an inkling of some of the later reveals, but mostly, the story kept me off-balance and guessing throughout. There's a point when Ellen takes a full-on turn towards the dark side, in her quest to wreak revenge for Lucas' death, and reading the story felt a bit like watching a train wreck: you desperately want someone to pull on the brakes, but you also can't stop from watching the disaster unfold.


Overall, The Heights is a gripping, suspenseful, emotional read that will keep you turning the page.  There are elements of tragedy, and the ending isn't quite a happily-ever-after, but Candlish tells the tale with a brisk pace and a high gloss sheen that keeps even the darkest moments from tipping too far over the edge. Save this book for a weekend, and definitely don't start reading it right before bed. 

+

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for an e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really struggled to get through this book, it moved too slow to my liking and I wasn't crazy about the story line. Thank you to #netgalley for granting me an ARC for an honest review. I have enjoyed others books by this author and will continue reading any new ones. # Goodreads

This is the second book by this author I have read and I really enjoyed it. A grieving mother losing her son and taking matters into her own hands to take care of the individual who caused it. This story opens with Ellen meeting with a client and she sees a ghost…..the man she thought was dead is alive…..how could that be……from there we get the story of who, why and how she tried to have this man murdered and why he is still living . The story has lots of twists and turns…..and not all I saw coming. There was a bit in the middle of the book that I thought dragged for a bit but it did not change my opinion of the story. I enjoyed the way it was told through Ellen’s eyes from past to future. A wonderfully twisted thriller to lose yourself in.

I received a free copy from NetGalley and all opinions are my own . I would recommend this book to friends and my book clubs.

From the very beginning to the end, my attention was so riveted to this book I lost all track of time. The Heights is intense, clever and dark and jam packed with tension and suspense. It is akin to not being able to look away from an imminent train wreck in slow motion. Author Louise Candlish writes with a masterful anxiety-inducing touch. I cannot fathom weaving dual timelines, different points of view, suspense and hateable (and hateful) characters you want to throttle together so wondrously!

Ellen Saint suffers from high place phenomenon. From a high building she shockingly recognizes Kieran in the next building, the person she killed. How is this possible? Her world turns upside down. She is reeling from the death of her teenaged son, Lucas, Kieran's best friend and would move heaven and earth to find answers. She lives with her longsuffering husband and their daughter and has close ties with her ex. This story is about her terrible grief and obsession and told from her perspective, that of Vic and also interspersed with snippets written by a journalist who follows Ellen's story. Brilliant premise.

If you are looking for a tense and dark book full of angst, do read this and others by this author. I loved the slower pace of the first half when you get to know the characters and back story. The ending was satisfying.

My sincere thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for the privilege of reading this engrossing book.

I was happy to finally read a good psychological thriller; I hadn't read one in a long time. I was hooked from the beginning. There were many twists throughout the book to keep me interested.

We read Ellen's memoir that start with the day she saw a man she thought dead because she's the one who killed him. The memoir goes back in the past to when she met that man —Kieran—and the events that led to Ellen wanting to kill him.
Halfway into the book we start to follow Vic —Ellen's ex-husband— after Ellen told him Kieran is alive and we see his point of view of the past events, it brings a plot twist to the story.
Then we continue to read Ellen's memoir.

The ending was shocking. I never saw the multiple twists at the end coming. It was really good.

Ellen isn't a likeable character, but I can understand certain of her emotions and reactions.

I will definitely check out the other novels Louise Candlish has written.

4.5⭐

Let me start by saying that I find stories told be numerous narrators to be troublesome. I usually have issues with them. However, I didn’t have that issue with this story. The voices were distinct and concise.

Ellen, the main character, is consumed by hate and motivated by revenge. Her chapters were filled with exhausting emotions. I felt her rage, her fear, and her unbalanced emotional turmoil.

The Heights is a well written, gripping story. This is my first time reading Louise Candlish but it will not be my last!

After finishing this book, I found myself thinking of it often, if only for the High Place Phenomenon -- I'd heard of it before but had never heard named -- where you get an urge to jump from high places and your fear of heights isn't a fear of falling but a fear basically of yourself and what you could do. The metaphor is paralleled in the novel somewhat jaggedly -- as a mother, are you afraid of what you would/could do if someone killed your child? All the elements were in place for this one to be the kind of fast read I gulped down in a single sitting, but try as I might, it didn't draw me in. The premise was all there, but the plot kept repeating and felt oddly flat given the elements at play. This book felt like a song played with a single note. It took me weeks to read (and I've had insomnia and some nights have read two entire books!) and I found myself losing my investment in the characters as it went on. That said, I'm sure this book will find readers and I'll be happy to pick up her next book and give it a go.

'The Heights' felt disturbing and perplexing as Louise Candlish unleashed both of those elements within the plot and characters of this book. It was so interesting to hear from the main character, Ellen, directly in first-person and be able to witness her perspective of the tangle of conflicts surrounding her. The intriguing presentation in how she was written could have her celebrated by some readers and scorned by others. Either way, I was fixated on her portrayal of events and her behavior felt accurate alongside her beliefs as baffling as they may have been.

While there were startling moments and ominous characters, this was a smoother style of suspense as it maintained its darkness and level of complexity from beginning to end. As more was revealed some of the pieces felt underwhelming, and some of the reasoning didn't quite align on some aspects. I was quite caught up in the obscurity of the characters and the ongoing theme of obsessiveness.

This is the first book by Louise Candlish that I have read and I certainly am curious to read more. 'The Heights' was a uniquely written book that many will enjoy.

I appreciate the publisher, Simon and Schuster Canada, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an electronic Advanced Reader Copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

The Heights is a story about hate and how it can become an all-consuming obsession.

Ellen Saint is working at a client’s home when she sees a man standing atop a roof terrace across from her. A man that she was confident she would never see again. Why was Ellen so sure, you ask? Because she killed him just over two years ago.

That’s all I shall say about the plot.

As is the trend these days, this suspenseful story has multiple POVs, parts, and timelines.

Ellen’s sections were the most exhausting to read. Supposedly, she’s a nice person, but the reader hardly ever witnesses it. The object of her hate was still legally a minor when her obsession began.

In one of my other recent reviews, I stated that that was the slow burns of all slow burns. I take it back - this might top that one. The first three parts were slower than slow, made even more so by Ellen’s single-minded focus.

With most books, I will generally prefer one timeline over another. And that was the case here. I enjoyed the more recent timeline over the one leading up to it.

The final quarter was a doozy. This is where everything started to get juicy, and the pace finally picked up. While I guessed some of the twists, I didn’t get them all. Some of the final twists were quite clever. The ending made me bump this up to 3 stars.

This was my first time reading Louise Candlish, and I will keep a lookout for future novels.

I recommend this book to those wanting a slowly plotted suspense that could also be considered a character study.

Thank you to Atria and Simon & Schuster Canada for an arc provided via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

https://booksandwheels.com

When Ellen spots a young man she recognizes but hasn’t seen in two years, she is shocked. That man was supposed to be dead! She made sure of that. Keiran was a friend of Ellen’s son, Lucas, and a very bad influence. Things went very wrong due to that friendship and Ellen just couldn’t stand to see Keiran around. How is it possible he’s back?

I really liked this. Much of the book was told from Ellen’s point of view and it was easy (at least for me) to get caught up in her anger and her adrenaline! The book did also show the POV of Ellen’s ex (and Lucas’ father) Vic. This certainly brought some interesting information and twists to light, but his POV was more business-like and so I wasn’t quite as caught up. At the same time, it also pointed out what an “unreliable narrator” Ellen might be (although I was already questioning that). Maybe that’s not the correct phrase, but it did show how obsessed she was (rightly or wrongly).

This book was slow to build but once I got past that, it was a good thriller.
It was not my favourite, but it was a good stand alone thriller, not great but good.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Cricker Crocker Cracker Jacker 😯😳🤯

I will say the first third of the book was a bit slow and kind of iffy on holding my interest, but as soon as I hit 1/3 through, holy cannoli did things change and my first dropped jaw moment occurred. Ellen had a son, Lucas, with Vic long before she ended up meeting & marrying Justin. They also ended up having a daughter, Freya. When Lucas was a teenager, he got to know a new schoolmate, Kieran. They became fast friends, to Ellen's dismay. One night something happens that sends Ellen and Vic into major thoughts and talks of something destructive. 2 years later, as they all try to get on with their lives, Ellen comes across Kieran in the most unsuspecting areas and places he could ever be. It couldn't possible be him, could it? And if so, what in heavens name happened before?! This book was dark, deep, twisted and crazy for a ride. I personally haven't read anything like this premise and I gobbled it up like Black Forest cake! You will not believe the surprises, jaw-dropping moments along the way. Ho-hum-dingers! Keep this on your radar folks, another one by @louisecandlish that is deliciously dark & moist.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this #ARC!
Release date: February 28, 2022

I give this 4 / 5 snowflakes! ❄️

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.