One family with lots of secrets can’t escape the past in this intense and almost gothic like thriller.
It would be fair to say I have never been introduced to a family quite like the McTavishes before, a family filled with more secrets that ultimately will destroy them grippingly uncovered through a range of narrative styles thanks to Rachel Hawkins’s use of language.
Blending the past with the present, Ruby McTavish is North Carolina’s richest but also most notorious heiress. Having been kidnapped as a child, she has also been widowed four times in suspicious circumstances but ruled the town Tavistock from Ashby House (her family’s estate, high in the mountains). Fast forward to the present day, while Ruby is now dead, her secrets and legacy lives on, forcing her adopted son Camden to return to the estate following his uncle’s death having rejected his family’s fortune, opting for an ordinary life with wife Jules. But on returning, the secrets that have been so well concealed begin to be uncovered.
Short and punchy, Rachel Hawkins has crafted a story that grips and intrigues from the very first page to keep you guessing until the very end – with one additional twist at the end that leaves the reader shocked. The cleverness of the styles of writing used (a mixture of letters written by Ruby, narration provided by Camden and Jules), means that Hawkins still keeps everyone including the characters themselves on their toes – despite none of the characters really being likeable.
The Heiress has a gothic tone to it, particularly in the way in which Ashby House is described, as well as the number of accidents that have taken place in the nearby mountains to give the story being told an additional darkness. It is difficult not to feel drawn into this family’s story of secrets and murder that seems to be passed down through the generations.
However, the main issue that I had with this book is the fact that none of the characters are particularly likeable. Ruby’s reasonings behind her actions during her marriages are cold and calculating (although the way in which she recounts them has flashes of dark humour to it), Jules’s desire to force Camden into moving back to a home he hated for her own reasons, Camden’s character didn’t feel fully developed and the rest of his adoptive family are vile. But by the end you feel as though they all get what they deserve.
There is a great energy to the way in which the story unfolds and it doesn’t waste anytime to get to the heart of it – it is a story about family, greed, betrayal and murder that is all effortlessly interwoven to make for compelling reading.
For those who love a thriller, there is plenty to enjoy here – it just feels as though the characters could have been developed further to give them extra depth to really make you care about what happens to them.
By Emma Clarendon
The Heiress is available to buy now.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐