I didn’t love this one. I actually didn’t finish it. It started off strong and different but I felt like it lost it way.

*Bring the House Down* offers a fascinating glimpse into the ruthless world of art and theater criticism, but it’s a tough read due to its insufferable characters. The protagonist, Sophie, is frustratingly self-destructive and often whiny, making it difficult to connect with her. Meanwhile, Alex Lyons—more of an apathetic antagonist than a true lead—is so irredeemably unlikeable that you almost root for his downfall. While the book effectively captures the pettiness and politics of the industry, the unpleasant characters make it hard to stay engaged. Though the behind-the-scenes perspective is intriguing, it’s ultimately not a book I’d revisit.

Hilarious, thought-provoking, and sharp. Hayley has just put on her first show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She meets a handsome man that evening and wakes up in his apartment. In the meantime, that handsome man has written a scathing and humiliating one-star review of her show. When Hayley transforms her show into a critique of Alex, she becomes an instant star and other women begin revealing their own horror stories.

This was wonderful. I loved the author’s decision to tell the story from the point of view of Alex’s colleague, Sophie. The deftly novel explores cancel culture, nepotism, art, criticism, and more.

Thank you very much to Doubleday and NetGalley for an opportunity to read this exciting debut!

“Bring the House Down” by Charlotte Runcie has a premise that immediately caught my attention. A theatre critic at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival writes a vicious one star review of a theatrical performance. The star performer totally unaware of the review, has a one night stand with the critic who has just written what could be her career ending review. Totally humiliated she rewrites her show to discredit and ruin the critic’s career.
The story is told through the voice of the critics coworker and roommate who is struggling with her own issues which escalate as she is pulled into her roommate’s downfall. This book explores the power of a critics voice and the difference between a honest critique and cruelty.
I loved the first quarter of this book and the last quarter even more. The middle was predictable and a bit repetitive, but that did not stop me from enjoying this debut which has a fun and unique storyline.

Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Art critics Sophie and Alex travel to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where they are forced to question the roles of critic s in the artworld and how separate are our personal and professional lives. I liked this a lot although I think it kind of dragged in the last 25%.

I love Edinburgh and love the Fringe and so I was really excited for this book. The author did a great job of capturing the beauty and uniqueness of the city as well as the particular atmosphere of the festival. There was commentary about who art is created for, the creation of art and performance,cancel culture, power dynamics, motherhood, and what reviewing art means in modern day. All of this commentary was super interesting and integrated really well into the story so that it never felt heavy handed. This was a phenomenal, entirely engrossing read.

I’m not sure what to make of this novel. It blew my mind several times, though I regret not taking notes, so I can’t point to specific examples. What stood out most was the way the narrator (and by extension, the author) subtly challenges the reader, posing indirect questions like, How is this any different from that other, more common thing people do every day? It’s clever and offers fresh perspectives, but at times, these mind-bending analyses felt overwhelming—almost like the narrator was rambling about the world without a clear direction.
In a way, it felt like the blurb had been stretched across 300+ pages, as if the book had already said everything it needed to upfront. I’m still not sure what I just read or even how to categorize it. The only real surprise was Alex on stage and the fire, but that moment was over so quickly that I was left wondering: What was the point—other than, you know, driving the title home in the most literal way possible?
The narrative structure also threw me. This was my first time reading a story where the narrator isn’t the main character, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Throughout the book, I kept asking myself, Where is this going? Will the narrator eventually become involved? Is this about her, or is she just observing, obsessing? For the first 65% of the story, she remains more of a bystander to the main characters, which creates a sense of detachment that made it harder to connect with them.
And while the book was marketed as funny, I found it more depressing than anything. Did I miss the point? Maybe I’ll keep wondering about that. In the meantime, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read the ARC of this debut novel.
PS/ I’m usually an Alex kind of gal—one star or five, no dithering in the lukewarm middle—but here I am, stuck in the murky waters of moderation and going full three-star diplomacy with my unpopular opinion. Personal growth?

"Three stars isn't even a bad review! Three stars is good! But nowadays, in the context of a mass culture of online shopping reviews, for most people, five stars has come to mean the baseline rather than the outstanding" YES!!!!!! EXACTLY!!! Like, finally, a book that takes on the absurdity of review culture -- where personal recommendation has been replaced with consensus. Where opinions are pre-vetted for us because we don't trust ourselves to like something unless we see that other people already like it. And yes, I understand the irony of writing that in a literal review.

This book has plenty to say about power dynamics, feminine rage, cancel culture, and performance. It asks super important questions like what is the line between accountability and revenge? What does it mean to be truly sorry? What is the appropriate social sanction for a person who does something shitty, but not illegal? Why do we, as women, spend so much time dissecting bad men's complex motives when the reality that they probably didn't think about why they did what they did very much at all? And what is the difference between honest critique and cruelty? And I loved all of that. But without a doubt, the part that hooked me the most is this razor sharp dissection of how we engage with art and opinions in the first place. The deeper questions are interior ones: why do we need someone else to tell us what we think before we get a chance to decide for ourselves? Why are we so terrified of making up our own mind and, God forbid, changing it later.

Bring the House down is wildly entertaining, wickedly smart, and so singularly itself that only Charlotte Runcie could write it. Hell of a debut.

I generally love books set in cities I love, this time Edinburgh. I found it hard to get involved with the characters. There was a predictability from the start.

I think the author has a great future, look forward to reading more.

Thank you Netgalley for tge opportunity to read a book by a new author.

*Bring the House Down* by Charlotte Runcie is a brilliantly inventive and poignant novel that explores the intersection of art, identity, and the complexities of family dynamics. Runcie's sharp prose and thoughtful narrative create a compelling and heartfelt story that lingers long after the final page.

interesting story about a writer and the play that he see and gives a bad review and then she ends up doing a play on his life and all the ways that he wronged women. Great story

I believe it was Virginia Woolf that said people read fiction like they’re listening to gossip. This book was the perfect example of that. It was an absolutely addicting read, especially as someone with experience in both theatre and journalism (I do see the irony in reviewing a book about the ethics of criticism by the way). The characters were written with nuance, and remained three-dimensional throughout, even as they were doing and saying terrible things. There was also a healthy dose of satire, which kept things from feeling too heavy. As I was reading I thought it was a solid four star read, but the ending really elevated the stakes and brought this to five stars for me.

I loved this book! During the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a critic goes to see a one-woman show. He hates it and writes a blistering one-star review. He then goes to a bar where he meets the woman from the show. He doesn't say who he is and they sleep together. She awakens in his apartment and sees the review. And away, we go.

Perfect comic premise executed with precision by Charlotte Runcie. Well-drawn character, a great setting with the Edinburgh Festival. I really enjoyed it quite a bit. The perfect funny MeToo novel.

I received a free e-galley of the novel from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Bring the House Down was a fun, thought-provoking read. Hayley Sinclair debuted her one-woman show at the British Fringe theatre festival. Alex Lyons was the assigned critic. Later that night, Hayley and Alex end up in bed together. But Hayley doesn't know that Alex has eviscerated her show with a one-star review until the next morning, when she's waking up in his apartment and sees the review in the paper.

Hayley decides to turn the scathing review into an opportunity: that night, she renames her show to The Alex Lyons Experience. Hayley gets on stage and asks the audience, can you believe what he did? The show explodes in popularity. After all, most of us have been victim to something absurd. And if you look at the wealthy, privileged, white male - which Alex is - he's often in the perpetrator role.

The story is told from the perspective of Alex's coworker, roommate, and fellow critic, Sophie. Sophie's feelings about Alex vacillate: empathy, disgust, sadness, appeal.

Overall, I thought this was a unique story and an enjoyable read. It's always fun when a plot feels totally new. At times, I couldn't decided if I liked or disliked the characters, but it didn't get in the way of the story for me. 3.5 stars rounded up. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I want to thank knoph Doubleday Group and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review Bring the House Down by author Charlotte Runcie. This is the British authors first novel and uses the Edinburgh Festival and her experience there. as an arts journalist.
Alex and Sophie are sent by their newspaper to cover the Festival. They share a flat.
Alex gives a one star “tedious and derivative” review to Hayley’s one woman show! All hell breaks loose the next morning when she comes out of his bedroom in the flat and discovers Alex and the review in the paper!
Ms Runcie’s characters are flawed and create tough situations.
Bring the House Down publishes 07/28/2025.

Junior culture writer Sophie finds herself at the Edinburgh Fringe accompanied by Alex Lyons, the iconic, cynical, and some may say, cruel arts critic for an extended reporting gig. Alex writes a biting, one-star review of a one-woman show, the star of which unknowingly sleeps with him, and chaos ensues...

The best parts of this book are the start and end—it really felt like the plot was driving forward in those portions and exciting stuff was happening! At the top, I was very engaged in the exposition and set up of Alex's treacherous act. The finale was unexpectedly fiery and brought the book to a satisfying close. The midsection of Bring the House Down, however, felt meandering and long, much of it revolving around the hole Alex continually digs himself deeper into, and the tremendous self doubt that our narrator Sophie possesses. She is not a particularly decisive individual, which at times became a bit dull, and Alex's judgment progressively worsens in his handling of the scandal (repetitive).

I did appreciate at the end, the proprietor of the show Hayley, acknowledges that her spectacle has become deeply exhausting and consuming. To me, this reflects the reality of vengeance in the age of the internet, which, while cathartic, also has the capacity to drain and fatigue the individuals at the center of it.

this was a weird strange book. I am not sure if it just went over my head, or if the book was just not making sense. I am not sure. I think it was too much of a creative writing assignment, so it was hard for me to enjoy


Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

I simply could not put this down. The character Alex was a trainwreck I couldn't look away from. Hayley was enigmatic and intriguing. The narrator, Alex's colleague Sophie, was sharp and funny. I was moved more often than I expected to be. This is a novel about misogyny, art, criticism, grief and motherhood. Runcie explores all that and more, and she does it really well.

BRING THE HOUSE DOWN is an incisive read perfect for fans of satirical literary fiction and/or fiction that is not afraid to explore social commentary. Alex and Haley are great characters but we get to know them through a third party, Sophie. This was an interesting choice on the author's part. I missed getting to read the direct points of view of Alex and Haley. However, Sophie grew on me after a time. The novel is smart and interesting especially as it tackles the issue of identity. Both Alex and Haley are damaged people who are (mostly) trying to make good decisions. Their struggles seem both realistic and relatable. The pacing is pretty slow so that is my one complaint; this could have been shorter and tighter.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance e-galley; all opinions in my review are 100% my own.

"Bring the House Down" by Charlotte Runcie is a sharp and incisive novel that explores themes of identity, relationships, social dynamics, and judgments.

The story is narrated by Sophie, who shifts between being a critic and an obituary writer. She discusses her own struggles with relationships and career while also delving into the larger narrative of her colleague. Alex, a theater “nepo baby” and notoriously harsh critic, is attending the Edinburgh Fringe Festival with Sophie.

After watching a one-woman show by Haley, Alex pens a scathing one-star review, then sleeps with her before the review is published. What ensues can be described as a very public act of revenge directed at Alex. Haley invites others to share their stories about him and how women have been mistreated.

This novel is a wild ride—fun, witty, and thought-provoking. Initially, this aspect of revenge is deeply satisfying to readers. Much like what we see on social media, there’s a sense of justice that can feel rewarding.

However, mob mentality and group dynamics can turn ugly, leading to snap judgments that are made without understanding the full context or both sides of the story. It gets uncomfortable and raises some ethical questions. We witness Sophie grappling with her own relationship issues and realize that no one is perfect. It also addresses the challenges of criticism and prompts readers to reflect on accountability, schadenfreude, and cancel culture.

I recommend this novel, especially to fans of RF Kuang's "Yellowface," as both works offer insightful commentary on art, writing, and the complexities of social media dynamics, from sensationalism to bullying. Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing this ARC.