The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among warehouses in London. Its roof terrace is so discreet, you wouldn’t know it existed if you weren’t standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that’s when you see a man up there—a man you’d recognize anywhere. He may be older now, but it’s definitely him.
But that can’t be because he’s been dead for over two years. You know this for a fact.
Because you’re the one who killed him.
My thoughts: this was really interesting in the way it was done. Moving between first person accounts, a memoir and newspaper articles, we learn the history between Ellen Saint and Kieran Watts – the tragedy and hatred that leads to a dramatic climax on the roof of a London apartment building.
Ellen’s memoir wants you to believe she had no choice in her actions – that her behaviour was justified. But both the newspaper articles and her ex-partner, Vic’s account suggest there’s a lot more grey to Ellen’s black and white, that not everything she believes is true.
Louise Candlish is easily one of my favourite writers around at the moment. Her books are clever and engaging, exploring different facets of people’s behaviour and thinking. They often hinge on suburban middle class women like Ellen, someone you might pass in the street and never for a second imagine them capable of the kinds of things they get up to in Candlish’s books. Which is what makes this so good – driven by grief, what would you do?
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 