The Skylight by Louise Candlish #QuickReads #TheReadingAgency @louise_candlish @simonschuster @SimonBooks

 

The Skylight  by Louise Candlish

Publication Date 27th May 2021

Published by Simon & Schuster

Short Story

Book Description:

They can’t see her, but she can see them…

Simone has a secret. She likes to stand at her bathroom window and spy on the couple downstairs through their kitchen skylight. She knows what they eat for breakfast and who they’ve got over for dinner. She knows what mood they’re in before they even step out the door. There’s nothing wrong with looking, is there?

Until one day Simone sees something through the skylight she is not expecting. Something that upsets her so much she begins to plot a terrible crime…

My Thoughts:

This is the second of The Reading Agency's QuickReads books for this year which I have read - and recommend. They are quick, punchy reads which are just the thing for a lunch break or shorter journey.

The problem I have with short stories is that it's hard to write a review without giving too much away.

17 Lyle Road is split into two residential units: Simone and Jake live in the pretty ordinary upstairs flat whilst professional couple Gus and Alina own the glamorous downstairs flat with the modern extension complete with glass skylight which allows as much light in as possible. Their property is straight out of the glossy interior design magazines. Simone refers to them as the perfect couple. Jake gets along with them quite happily which only increases the resentment Simone feels against them. 

Life changes in an instant one evening when Jake calls Simone to say he can't make it home in time for the special meal she's been planning for them, leaving her home alone. It's at this point as Simone stands gazing out of her bathroom window that she sees something which lights the blue touch paper good and proper. Nobody else realises what a vantage point she has from this window. Not even Jake.

As you would expect in a short story, events escalate quickly from here on in. Maybe even too quickly for the any of the characters to really be able to think things through properly. Simone thinks she has the upper hand as nobody else knows what she has observed from her prime position but it's not long before she has to start rethinking her plan as reality takes a sharp diversion from the route she had worked out for the residents of the building. The small cast of characters only helps intensify the pressure Simone feels as the story draws to a close.

Louise Candlish is a top writer of suspense novels and I feel chose her subject wisely for this short shocker of a tale. I don't think it would have worked as well as a full length book - the shock factor would maybe have been diluted and lost its impact. 

About the Author:

Sunday Times bestselling author ​Louise Candlish was born in Northumberland and grew up in the Midlands town of Northampton. She studied English at University College London and has lived in the capital ever since. She is the author of 14 novels, including the thriller Our House, winner of the British Book Awards 2019 Crime & Thriller Book of the Year and shortlisted for several other awards. A #1 bestseller in paperback, ebook and audiobook, it is soon to be a four-part ITV drama, produced by Red Planet Pictures. Her new release The Other Passenger, a Hitchcockian tale of adultery and double crossing set among the Thames river commuters, is also in development for the screen. Louise's first Richard & Judy Book Club pick, it has been longlisted for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award 2021.  

Louise lives in Herne Hill in South London with her husband, teenage daughter and fox-red Labrador, Bertie. Visit her at LouiseCandlish.com or connect with her on Twitter @Louise_Candlish.