Rachel Hawkins’ The Heiress is a riveting, juicy romp set in Ashby House, a 15-bedroom mansion within the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina that’s residence to a number of generations of the McTavish household. As in her earlier thrillers The Villa, The Wife Upstairs and Reckless Girls, Hawkins excels in analyzing how the trimmings of extreme wealth can launch dysfunction into hyperdrive.
After rising up in Ashby House, Cam McTavish desperately tried to flee this destiny, and has been residing an unassuming life as an English instructor in Colorado together with his spouse, Jules. Although he has left his inherited fortune principally untouched, he nonetheless owns Ashby House, and after the dying of his uncle, Cam is summoned again to the mansion, which is desperately in want of repairs. The couple is greeted by Cam’s Aunt Nelle and her entitled grandchildren, Ben and Libby—all of whom resent the truth that Cam owns the home they reside in. He’s seen as a double interloper, as his late mom, Ruby, adopted him at age 3.
At the middle of the story is Ruby, who was kidnapped at age 3 and located months later residing with a household in Alabama. Her life has been tumultuous ever since; as an grownup, she earned the moniker “Mrs. Kill-more,” having married and left behind “a pile of dead husbands.” Hawkins delivers this narrative in a sequence of letters written by Ruby shortly earlier than her dying, which have simply the correct amount of devilishly scrumptious black humor—a fragile steadiness that’s exhausting to realize.
One of the good delights of this thriller is the rigorously crafted approach that Hawkins permits the plot—together with the wealthy, twisted household historical past—to unfold. She makes use of outdated information accounts, emails and chapters narrated by each Cam and Jules, together with Ruby’s letters. Hawkins seamlessly intertwines all these totally different modes of storytelling whereas deftly hinting on the many secrets and techniques harbored inside the partitions of Ashby House.
When Cam turned 18, Ruby gave him a watch inscribed “Time Brings All Things To Pass.” Indeed it does, and in The Heiress, the twists, turns and betrayals simply maintain coming, all guided by Hawkins’ expert hand. The ensuing suspense can be rapidly devoured and lengthy loved.
Discussion about this post