The House Swap
A Novel
-
-
3.9 • 39 Ratings
-
-
- $5.99
Publisher Description
"A fantastic thriller--dead-on domestic noir, full of tension and surprises. I loved it." -Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Midnight Line
She may not know exactly who is in her house. But she knows why they are there. Be careful who you let in…
A house swap becomes the eerie backdrop to a crumbling marriage, a long-buried affair, and the fatal consequences that unfold
When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap--from their city apartment to a house in a leafy, upscale London suburb--they jump at the chance for a week away from home, their son, and the tensions that have pushed their marriage to the brink.
As the couple settles in, the old problems that permeate their marriage--his unhealthy behaviors, her indiscretions--start bubbling to the surface. But while they attempt to mend their relationship, their neighbor, an intense young woman, is showing a little too much interest in their activities.
Meanwhile, Caroline slowly begins to uncover some signs of life in the stark house--signs of her life. The flowers in the bathroom or the music might seem innocent to anyone else--but to her they are clues. It seems the person they have swapped with is someone who knows her, someone who knows the secrets she's desperate to forget. . . .
Be careful who you let in. . .
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
British author Fleet makes her U.S. debut with a consummately plotted but character-challenged domestic noir. Working mom Caroline, eager to repair her marriage after she ends an affair, hopes that a low-stress, child-free week away with husband Francis will prove therapeutic. When she accepts an online invitation to exchange their flat in center-city Leeds for a house in suburban London, it's clear from the start that Caroline has unwittingly let a malevolent presence into her home. It doesn't take long in the London-area house for her to come across subtle clues with intense personal meaning such as an open bottle of the same aftershave that her ex-lover, Carl, wore hidden behind the bedroom headboard and to suspect she has stumbled into an elaborate game staged by someone who knows her intimately. The final pages include a stunning twist, but some readers may not stick around for the fireworks, since Caroline and Francis make for difficult company she's massively narcissistic, and he's still fighting the depression and pill addiction that left him near catatonic around the time of the affair. Still, Fleet is a writer to watch.
