The view is a killer…
The Eleventh Floor is a darkly compelling and twisty psychological drama from a talented new Australian author. Perfect for readers who love Sally Hepworth, Pip Drysdale and Adele Parks.
Will one mother’s lie cost another woman her life?
Sleep deprived, struggling and at breaking point, first-time mum Gracie Michaels books one night – alone – at The Maxwell Hotel. A king-size bed all to herself. No demands. With time to recharge she’ll be able to return to her family more like the unflappable mother she pretends to be.
Instead, she wakes in a room she doesn’t recognise after an encounter with a man who is not her husband. Then she sees something she wishes she hadn’t.
Being drawn into a crime was not something Gracie had planned for her hotel stay but when a distraught family appeals for information and a police investigation heats up she is trapped in a maze of lies.
To speak out jeopardises her marriage, but her silence threatens her son, her sanity and her safety. Will Gracie destroy her own family by telling the truth or devastate someone else’s by keeping her secrets?
Kylie Orr announced herself as a talent to watch with her debut novel, Someone Else’s Child. Her ability to marry relatable, clear-eyed truth-telling with a thrilling plotline garnered her an instant readership – and fans are guaranteed to love this follow-up.
Orr has well and truly done it again with this riveting, dark and twisty drama. Right from the very first chapter, a sense of foreboding permeates the highly recognisable domestic scenes, keeping the pages flying. Things only get more heated – and more thrilling – from there.
It’s unusual for a domestic thriller to retain a heightened sense of tension from start to finish while balancing the utter believability of every scene and character choice, but that’s exactly what Orr achieves. She manages to shock us with twist after twist without ever erring from a complete sense of plausibility. We repeatedly think we know where things are headed, only to have the rug pulled out from under our assumptions again and again!
And then there’s the other hugely appealing aspect of The Eleventh Floor: Orr delves into themes that touch so many Australian women today. Postnatal depression and the heavy weight of expectation that new mothers shoulder; gendered violence and the grey area of consent; and the importance – and difficulty – of being open and honest with our support networks.
Taking us on a rollercoaster of experiences that ultimately centres on feminine strength, The Eleventh Floor will particularly appeal to new mothers, Melbournites, and fans of close-to-life dramas. I’d describe it as a slow burn, but with the heat turned up to max.
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