Can you ever really know your neighbours?
When human remains are found in a ground floor flat, the residents of Nelson Heights are shocked to learn that there was a dead body in their building for over three years.
Sarah lives at the flat above and after the remains are found, she feels threatened by a stranger hanging around the building.
Laura has lived in the building for as long as she can remember, caring for her elderly father, though there is more to her story than she is letting on.
As the investigation starts to heat up, and the two women become more involved, it’s clear that someone isn’t telling the truth about what went on all those years ago…
My thoughts:
This reminded me of the film Dreams of a Life with Zawe Ashton, which was about a woman who died alone and nobody noticed for three years, it was based on an actual person’s tragic end.
The thought that no one in your life would notice you’d disappeared is harrowing, can you imagine not a friend, family member, colleague, neighbour or even the postman noticing you’d basically vanished from your own life?
This book made me feel a bit sad, loneliness is a huge problem in this country, it’s one of the reasons we check in on our elderly neighbour, and reading this made me pop round just to be sure she was ok.
But the person whose remains are discovered in the book did have friends, did have family, they just weren’t very good at checking in and keeping in touch.
The writing is clear and concise, Sarah makes a great investigator/protagonist. It was really interesting to read and despite the sad moments, it was not a weepy book.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.