Celebrating 15 years of Quick Reads; A review of The Skylight by Louise Candlish

I can’t tell you how honoured I was to be invited to be one of the bloggers to support this years Quick Reads campaign by Hannah Bright at Midas. I think there are so many of us who take reading for granted and forget that there are peope out there who aren’t able to access books due to health and financial reasons, have fallen out of love with reading or are simply daunted by books. Quick Reads is in it’s fifteenth year of insping new readers, and old, to pick up a book and find the love of reading. This is a cause that is close to my heart as I have been unwell with spondylosis for about fourteen years leaving me with chronic pain and mental health problems that have totally changed my life. Reading has been my escape and coping mechanism over this period. I have always been a bookworm but I now have an even greater love of books, they have been my saviour and hopefully the Quick Reads campaign can help others in similar circumstances.

Over 5 million Quick Reads have been distributed since the life-changing programme launched in 2006. From 2020 – 2022, the initiative is supported by a philanthropic gift from bestselling author Jojo Moyes. This year, for every book bought until 31 July 2021, another copy will be gifted to help someone discover the joy of reading. ‘Buy one, gift one’ will see thousands of free books given to organisations across the UK to reach less confident readers and those with limited access to books – bring the joy and transformative benefits of reading to new audiences.

Book Blurb
Simone has a secret. She likes to stand at her bathroom window and spy on the couple downstairs through their kitchen skylight. She knows what they eat for breakfast and who they’ve got over for dinner. She knows what mood they’re in before they even step out the door. There’s nothing wrong with looking, is there?

Until one day Simone sees something through the skylight she is not expecting. Something that upsets her so much she begins to plot a terrible crime…

Review
Louise Candlish has written fourteen thriller novels and won several awards for her writing and she certainly packs a punch with The Skylight. We all like to people watch, see what our neightbours are doing, but what happens when you see something you shouldn’t. Simone has her own bathroom at the top of house, one her boyfriend Jake isn’t allowed to use. She loves to stand by the bathroom window, looking at her neighbours in the flat below, through their skylight, until one evening she sees something that she shouldn’t, something that will change her life forever.

There is a lot of tension and suspense packed into this books eighty nine pages. Simone is a bit of a strange character, there are hints of something sinister in her background, and she has an obsesson with the couple in the flat below with their perfect lifestyles, gorgeous clothes and busy life; Alina and Gus are everything Simone and Jake are not. This book plays on our human interest of people watching, we all do it, but what would we do if we saw something we shouldn’t. The plot builds pace, as we see Simone unwind, her secrets revealed and the books shocking finale.

I don’t normally read short stories but The Skylight may have changed my mind. I read this in the bath, and nearly forgot to come out I was so engrossed in it. It is fast paced, tense and brilliantly written, and is a insight into the fabulous author Louise Candlish. I hope you will be inspired to pick up The Skylight, or any of the other fabulous reads that are part of this years Quick Reads.