Title: Other People’s Houses
Author: Kelli Hawkins
Published: February 3rd 2021
Publisher: Harper Collins – AU
Pages: 336
Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Suspense
RRP: $32.99
Rating: 4.5 stars
A dark, twisting tale of guilt and obsession which will leave you gasping’ Petronella McGovern, author of Six Minutes
The stunningly tense, page-turning top 10 bestseller for all fans of The Woman in the Window and The Girl on the Train.
The perfect house. The perfect family. Too good to be true.
Kate Webb still grieves over the loss of her young son. Ten years on, she spends her weekends hungover, attending open houses on Sydney’s wealthy north shore and imagining the lives of the people who live there.
Then Kate visits the Harding house – the perfect house with, it seems, the perfect family. A photograph captures a kind-looking man, a beautiful woman she knew at university, and a boy – a boy that for one heartbreaking moment she believes is her own son.
When her curiosity turns to obsession, she uncovers the cracks that lie beneath a glossy facade of perfection, sordid truths she could never have imagined.
But is it her imagination? As events start to spiral dangerously out of control, could the real threat come from Kate herself?
Review:
‘It was special, I’d known that immediately. So right in every way. And that was before I saw the picture. My heart thudded in my ears, protesting my stupidity. I needed a memento. I needed to have a part of that house. To be a part of that house, for it to be a part of me. Just for a little while.’
A gut churning tale of obsession, fiction, loss, deep pain and impressions, Other People’s Houses is the first adult fiction release from author Kelli Hawkins. This dark and twisted suburban noir delves deep into the mind of a damaged woman who has been enable to move on from an awful family tragedy. Penetrating, astute and articulate, Other People’s Houses is a contemporary thriller that shouldn’t be missed.
Other People’s Houses critically examines the construction of the perfect family. There is no such thing as a happy family home in the debut adult fiction release from Kelli Hawkins. We meet a family touched by pain and tragedy. We are closely acquainted with Kate, a woman in a deep state a grief following the shock loss of her son. Despite the fact that this terrible family tragedy occurred over a decade ago, Kate cannot put the past behind her. Soothing her emotional pain via alcohol, Kate also has an unhealthy fixation for attending open houses on weekends. It is during these open home situations that Kate finds comfort in immersing herself in the perfect lives of those families that inhabit the various residences she visits. When Kate encounters the Harding home during one of her home open visits, she is immediately captivated by the family who live in this abode. Kate is drawn to the photograph of a young boy who resembles the son she sadly lost. This encounter sends Kate in a spin and she is soon caught up in a tanged web of fixation, obsession, lies and secrets.
It is always exciting to meet a new face on the Australian contemporary thriller scene. I have had my eye on Other People’s Houses for some time. A lovely bookseller friend of mine was lucky to score an early copy of this debut adult fiction release from Kelli Hawkins and issued nothing but praise to this title, so naturally I was very keen to delve into this one myself. I really enjoyed this book, Other People’s Houses was a compulsive read from cover to cover.
Kate is our lead character for the duration of Other People’s Houses. Kate is a rather thorny soul, who has suffered from an unmeasurable tragedy. Hawkins is very clever in her delivery options in exposing this upsetting family tragedy. Snippets of the circumstances leading up to and the final events of this awful situation is gradually unveiled bit by bit to the gasping reader. I often gravitated in my opinion of Kate, sometimes I felt deep and unrelenting sympathy for her, but there were other instances where I didn’t agree with her actions at all. Despite this, Kate’s tragic back story will most likely induce a few tears. What makes Kate’s issues even worse in my opinion is that fact that she has not been able to accept and move on from her tragedy. Unfortunately for Kate it has manifested into a rather unhealthy obsession with open houses, perfect families and a collection of tokens from these houses. I know I wanted to reach inside the pages of this book and get Kate the help she desperately needed. This is a terrible example of unresolved grief and loss.
It was comforting to read a suburban thriller set on home soil. Although I live in Western Australia, which is the opposite side of the country to this Sydney North Shore set tale, I still valued this familiar setting base. Hawkins does an excellent job in bringing this location to life for the reader. I also enjoyed following Kate through the various open home situations in the novel. Structuring the storyline around these public situations was a great move by the author, it certainly put a unique spin on the traditional contemporary thriller model.
There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader on their toes and fully engaged in the unfolding tale at hand. I had no expectations when I went into this one and I was more than happy to lose myself in the pages of Other People’s Houses. I appreciated the unpredictability of this clever narrative, which is attributed to the storytelling of Kelli Hawkins. The format of the before sequences and the present-day time allotments that alternate as the story progresses adds plenty of ambiguity to the storyline. What I valued most about Other People’s Houses was pace, I just couldn’t remove myself from the clutches of this book, it was utterly addictive!
Allow Kelli Hawkins to take you for a ride to Sydney’s North Shore area in this irresistible and urgent Australian suburban thriller. Other People’s Houses is a title I recommend with gusto.
Other People’s Houses by Kelli Hawkins was published on 3rd February 2021 by Harper Collins –AU. Details on how to purchase the book can be found here.
To learn more about the author of Other People’s Houses, Kelli Hawkins, visit here.
*Thanks extended to HarperCollins Books Australia for providing a free copy of this book for review purposes.
Other People’s Houses is book #22 of the 2021 Australian Women Writers Challenge
