Those People by Louise Candlish

The neighbors at Lowland Way are happy with their little suburban paradise. Until the owner of number 1 passes away and her nephew inherits. The first things the neighbors notice are the renovations. The knocking down of a wall they’d tried so hard to preserve kicks off a string of construction, none of which they're certain the man has permits to do himself. Then it’s the cars, so many of them that the neighbors can’t keep track. And he’s selling them out of his home! In addition to that, the neighbors immediately around number 1 can’t sleep for the loud music and TV noise coming from the house at all hours.

Complaints don’t work - the new owners of number 1 don’t care and the council doesn’t have the resources to do anything. But when it all culminates in a horrible accident, it’s the police that finally get dragged in. But was it an accident at all?

Oh, Louise Candlish must have lived in my neighborhood to prompt this book! Well, except that our neighbors weren’t so disturbing as to have been approached about all of it, so I don’t know how they would have reacted. The rest of us certainly didn't conspire against them. But the number of cars! And the tow trucks constantly delivering more. And the weekends spent working on diesel engine vehicles backfiring at random moments. Ugh.

So yeah, I understand this book! Anyone who’s ever dealt with annoying neighbors understands this book!

Those People is domestic drama and dark thriller all rolled up in a tight ball. It makes for great tension - Candlish throws a police investigation at you from the very start with neighbors giving door-to-door testimony at the beginning of each chapter, but then catapulting the reader back to the arrival of the new owners of number 1 and tracking occurrences right up to the “accident” that we all know is coming. She almost lulls you into a complacency, making you wonder just how bad things could possibly get, but with that reminder that they apparently do get REALLY bad.

Like her previous book, Those People is an examination in pushing people to their limits. And in how they'll react when it feels like no one is on their side at that point - both the protagonists and the antagonists!

Our House by Louise Candlish

Happy Book Birthday to Louise Candlish whose US debut, Our House, hits shelves this week!

When Fiona and her husband, Bram, split due to his infidelity, Fi agrees to a different sort of arrangement for the kids' sake. It's called a bird's nest agreement, one in which the kids will stay in the family home and Fi and Bram will alternate time between that home and the kids and a flat that they'll share for the off days. Fi asks that no new significant others be brought to the family home, but otherwise it's an agreeable arrangement that allows Bram to stay in their sons' lives without - hopefully - too much upheaval for the children. 

But when Fi arrives at the house on one of her off days to find moving trucks and a new couple taking up residence in the house and Bram and the boys have gone missing, it becomes clear something has gone very wrong. 

This tale of psychological suspense plays out in four main storylines - the timeline that begins with Fi's discovery of the house being sold, Bram's parallel storyline in that same timeframe, Fi's story as part of a podcast called The Victim, and a Word doc Bram has prepared to explain everything as a final confession.

As the four storylines progress, Bram's infidelity is revealed to be just the tip of the iceberg. His lies secrets have snowballed to the point that this final, massive betrayal was the only way he thought he could get out. And Fi is completely in the dark!

The story took more than a few twists I didn't see coming and my own suspicion about what might be coming next made the story that much more fun to read. The pacing is purposeful, slower due to the way the story plays out, which could be agonizing to some but built the tension quite nicely for me personally.

Candlish has a pretty big backlist in the UK, so it's somewhat surprising that this is the first release to make its way to the States. I've actually had one of her older titles in my own wishlist for quite some time, so I was definitely excited to get my hands on a copy of Our House and will be seeking out some of her older titles now for sure!