Title: The House Swap
Author: Rebecca Fleet
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 320 (Paperback)
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication date: May 22nd, 2018
Synopsis from The House Swap's Goodreads page
Be careful who you let in . . .
When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap--from their city flat to a townhouse 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..
I find that I really seem to enjoy reading a lot of thriller books when I'm busy, and that is exactly what I'm doing this month! Working a lot, and that is great because I'm able to read these thrillers in one to two days, and I find that I'm really enjoying most of them.
The House Swap was one of the thrillers that I enjoyed, however I could see the ending coming and it left me wanting a bit more out of it.
The premise itself is extremely interesting; this woman and her husband swap houses for a week with a person that they don't know, but it turns out that this person has been stalking them and has everything planned out.
I enjoyed the idea as a whole, and I also really enjoyed the setting of the book. It takes place in the U.K., and as someone living in Canada I really enjoy thrillers that take place in Europe.
However, I wasn't a huge fan of some of the characters. I found Francis to be a drag and very annoying at times, and I found him to be quite unbelievable. His wife had been having an affair for awhile (which you learn VERY early on in the book) and I found how he reacted to it, to sort of just accept it, to be very unbelievable.
I also had some issues with how the chapters of the book was told about 75% from Caroline's point of view, and about 25% or so from Francis'. I personally feel that in Francis' chapters not much was learned, and I feel like it would have been better being just told from Caroline's perspective.
That being said, this book also alternated between past and present tense, so that the reader can understand how the affair happened and why, and how Caroline and Francis are dealing with it in the present. I really enjoyed how it jumped back and forth, because I was able to see a lot more connections and that was very well done.
I found this book to be interesting and the idea itself was super interesting!!
Synopsis from The House Swap's Goodreads page
Be careful who you let in . . .
When Caroline and Francis receive an offer to house swap--from their city flat to a townhouse 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..
THOUGHTS
I received a finished copy of this book from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review - Thank you so much Penguin!
I find that I really seem to enjoy reading a lot of thriller books when I'm busy, and that is exactly what I'm doing this month! Working a lot, and that is great because I'm able to read these thrillers in one to two days, and I find that I'm really enjoying most of them.
The House Swap was one of the thrillers that I enjoyed, however I could see the ending coming and it left me wanting a bit more out of it.
The premise itself is extremely interesting; this woman and her husband swap houses for a week with a person that they don't know, but it turns out that this person has been stalking them and has everything planned out.
I enjoyed the idea as a whole, and I also really enjoyed the setting of the book. It takes place in the U.K., and as someone living in Canada I really enjoy thrillers that take place in Europe.
However, I wasn't a huge fan of some of the characters. I found Francis to be a drag and very annoying at times, and I found him to be quite unbelievable. His wife had been having an affair for awhile (which you learn VERY early on in the book) and I found how he reacted to it, to sort of just accept it, to be very unbelievable.
I also had some issues with how the chapters of the book was told about 75% from Caroline's point of view, and about 25% or so from Francis'. I personally feel that in Francis' chapters not much was learned, and I feel like it would have been better being just told from Caroline's perspective.
That being said, this book also alternated between past and present tense, so that the reader can understand how the affair happened and why, and how Caroline and Francis are dealing with it in the present. I really enjoyed how it jumped back and forth, because I was able to see a lot more connections and that was very well done.
I found this book to be interesting and the idea itself was super interesting!!
Overall - ★★★☆☆.5
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