Inside the house (Planet, 2023), by English author Lisa Jewell, is an addictive mystery novel that will hook the readers of the genre. This author has already sold more than 10 million copies and with this latest work she confirms herself as one of the author of thriller most searched and read today.
25 years ago Libby was the baby of a wealthy London family. She then she was found next to three decomposing corpses. Now that she returns to that house, the dark past will awaken, and the secrets and dangers that were kept latent will knock on the door again in this thriller homelike.
Inside the House: A Home Thriller
Three corpses… and a baby
25 years ago a horrifying event occurred, although with a happy ending for a baby of a few months. In a mansion in the wealthy neighborhood of Chelsea, London, along with this baby in perfect condition, three corpses in the process of decomposing are found in the kitchen. Plus a mysterious note. After more than two decades, that baby, Libby, is a girl who receives the news that she is the heir to the mansion. where this terrible event occurred, and from where she was later rescued and adopted. When she gets there she will discover secrets and intrigues that would make anyone's blood run cold. And she, far from thinking that what happened was an isolated and closed event, she will realize that the threat has remained latent.
Inside the house It is a disturbing story, the kind of book that goes beyond the psychological and enters the domestic and that keeps a dark past that threatens to resurface and sink the apparent tranquility that only the passing of the years gives. It is also a somewhat controversial novel because it introduces the issue of cults and sects. The family and the darkness of a community involved in abuse and murder will make the reader wonder about everything that the walls of the home can hide. The uncomfortable part of the story lies in the subtle intrusion of the strange in a house and how it takes over its inhabitants in an irremediable way..
three narrative threads
The novel is told from three different perspectives. As usually happens in these books, the protagonist would be the one with the most weight and the one who would normally also acquire the role of narrator. However, Lisa Jewell plays with the story by leaving Libby with a half-baked personality and understated third-person narrative.. The same thing happens with Lucy, only she, unlike Libby, is a minor character. It is Henry, for his part, who surprises: through him we discover a first-person narrative.
On the other hand, while the female perspectives pass in the present, Henry's come to contextualize what had been going on long before Libby was born.. Despite not being a main character, he acquires a certain weight in the succession of events due to the way he tells it. He has a more personal point of view and in the end it seems that he is known much more than Libby.
The pace is brisk and there are several turning points throughout the novel, as well as plot twists. It has a structure divided into four parts and there are 69 chapters in total. But with this book, Lisa Jewell seems determined not to close this story completely. Although there is no talk of a second novel, It does seem to leave the door of the house open so that some of its characters can go out to see the world and create new narrative threads with them., although independent of the novel Inside the house.
Conclusions
Inside the house is a thriller addictive, but not far from controversial. The themes dealt with and the Machiavellian nature of the novel may impress some. The darkest of the domestic aspects will splash its pages and the chilling and uneasy sensations will exhaust their reading time for the most faithful readers of the genre. But Inside the house It does not stop being an intriguing novel that may appeal to a wider audience who want a slightly different story with curious, if slightly nondescript characters. However, is there anything worse than restlessness within the home?
About the author
Lisa Jewell was born in London in 1968.. She studied Art and Design and tried to make her way in the world of fashion. She later studied writing at St. Michael Grammar School to pursue her other great passion, with which she did have more luck. So much so that she has become a best-selling writer, topping the best-seller lists in publications like The New York Times o The Sunday Times. He published his first novel in 1999, Ralph's party, with which he already knew how to achieve success. Although most of his works are romantic novels, within the mystery and suspense she has published when ellie left, plus Inside the house.