The Heights
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Our House comes a nail-biting story about a mother's obsession with revenge
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4.0 • 141 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
There is nothing as powerful as a mother’s love. But how far will Ellen go to protect her son?
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Other Passenger and Our House – now a major ITV series – comes a nail-biting story about a mother’s obsession with revenge.
‘I didn’t read The Heights, I inhaled it’ LISA JEWELL
Ellen Saint is just your average mum. Devoted to her family, she’s no different from any other mother who wants the best for her kids. But when her teenage son Lucas brings a new friend home, cracks start to appear in Ellen’s perfect family life.
Kieran Watts isn’t like Lucas. He’s rude, obnoxious and reckless, and Ellen can only watch in despair as her son falls deeper under his influence.
Then Ellen’s whole world implodes and she embarks on an obsessive need to get revenge.
There is nothing you won’t do for your children – even murder . . .
'Compelling, unexpected and beautifully written' JANE FALLON
‘Tense, provocative and devastatingly powerful’ TM LOGAN
'There’s nothing quite so chilling as the roar of mother tiger love. Louise Candlish had my heart in my throat. Dizzily dark. Dangerous. Deadly' JANE CORRY
'The Heights has everything you could possibly wish for – tragedy, obsession, revenge and, yes, love. Another finely-crafted masterpiece from Louise Candlish' BA PARIS
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The frighteningly prolific Candlish’s 15th novel is a propulsive blend of We Need to Talk About Kevin and Hitchcock’s Vertigo, set among the flat white-sipping tiger mothers of middle-class south London. When Ellen Saint’s bright teenage son Lucas falls under the spell of troubled classmate Kieran, who Ellen instantly deems a bad influence, it sets in motion a haunting story of family tragedy and vigilante vengeance. Highly strung Ellen suffers from crippling phobias and spiralling anxiety, so is she a reliable narrator, let alone on the right path in her obsessive quest for justice? It’s skilfully plotted with the drama drip-fed, tension inexorably mounting as Ellen gets sucked into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with her nemesis Kieran. Candlish has been dubbed “queen of the sucker-punch twist” and demonstrates why with some head-spinning rug-pulls in the home stretch. A cautionary tale about grief, maternal love, the dangers of becoming over-protective and the demonisation of delinquent teens, all wrapped up in the guise of an addictive psychological thriller.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
At the start of this mesmerizing psychological thriller from British author Candlish (The Other Passenger), lighting consultant Ellen Saint is working with a new client on a London warehouse conversion when she spots a person she recognizes on the roof of a nearby building. That man, Kieran Watts, however, has been dead for more than two years—or so Ellen thought, because she, along with her ex-significant other, Vic Gordon, contracted with someone to kill him. The murder-for-hire scheme was revenge against the "monster who destroyed" her life when Vic's and her 19-year-old son, Lucas, died in a car accident, for which she blames Kieran, the car's driver. The current sighting resurrects devastating memories and provokes Ellen, who fears for her new family, to try again to kill Kieran. Obsession, deception, betrayal, and injustice follow. Chapters from Vic's point of view, from both past and present, help build tension. In the end, the narrative threads cross in a heart-stopping confrontation that tests Ellen's lifelong phobia for high places. This cleverly constructed novel will keep readers enthralled until the last page.
