Review: 'The Heights' by Louise Candlish is a delight

Louise Candlish’s “The Heights” opens with Ellen Saint spotting a man she knows standing in an apartment window

“The Heights,” by Louise Candlish (Atria)

Louise Candlish’s “The Heights” opens with Ellen Saint spotting a man she knows standing in an apartment window. His presence there doesn’t make any sense, as Ellen killed that very man two years earlier. What follows is a wild adventure, told from the alternating perspectives of both Ellen and her family members, in which Ellen investigates how this man could possibly still walk the Earth.

Her investigation intermingles with flashbacks to the past, where we learn why Ellen, a devoted wife and mother, believed this man had to die in the first place — and why she’s determined to make sure that this time around, he really and truly does.

“The Heights” is a delight. Ellen is a quirky, vengeful, unreliable narrator with a one-track mind focused on nothing but revenge – and it is so much fun to spend time inside her head. Candlish’s storytelling is masterful. Just when you think you understand everything, she pulls the rug out from under you and takes the story in an entirely different, but no less thrilling, direction. Throughout the story, Candlish will have you constantly questioning whose side you’re on, as every character is deeply flawed, yet also empathetic.