Three housemates.
One dead, one missing and one accused of murder.
Dubbed the Housemate Homicide, it's a mystery that has baffled Australians for almost a decade.
Melbourne-based journalist Olive Groves worked on the story as a junior reporter and became obsessed by the case. Now, nine years later, the missing housemate turns up dead on a remote property. Oli is once again assigned to the story, this time reluctantly paired with precocious millennial podcaster Cooper Ng.
As Oli and Cooper unearth new facts about the three housemates, a dark web of secrets is uncovered. The revelations catapult Oli back to the death of the first housemate, forcing her to confront past traumas and insecurities that have risen to the surface again.
What really happened between the three housemates that night? Will Oli's relentless search for the murderer put her new family in danger? And could her suspicion that the truth lies closer to home threaten her happiness and even her sanity?
A riveting, provocative thriller from the bestselling author of The Dark Lake, Into the Night and Where the Dead Go.
The Housemate, Sarah Bailey
A standalone from the author of the well-known Gemma Woodstock series, THE HOUSEMATE is a story told in two timelines. Back to nine years ago when three housemates were sharing a property, one of them is killed, one goes missing, one is accused of murder. The current timeline sees journalist Oli Groves, who worked on the original murder story as a junior reporter, still a reporter, drawn back to a case she has always been obsessed with, when the missing housemate turns up, possibly as a suicide, at a Dandenong Ranges property.
The basis of this story is an intriguing one. The reasons for the three housemates supposed falling out was never really explained, their lives at the time of the murder never fleshed out, the missing girl never located. The problem is now the housemate accused of murder is out of jail, the missing girl is assumed dead by suicide, and there's something in the past that everyone's trying to keep quiet. Cue Oli back on the case, only this time, reporting has changed, and the paper she is working for have decided that podcasting is the new thing, so Oli is paired up with Cooper Ng, a young, relentlessly cheerful millennial producer. These two are destined to clash, and yet they might also be able to find a way to work together.
That is if Oli can dig herself out of the personal mess that she's buried herself in, and her obsessive nature. Engaged now, to the widower of the original police detective on "The Housemate" case, who was killed in a mysterious hit and run leaving her husband with two small twin daughters to raise. Only he was having an affair with Oli in the past, she was in a relationship with one of the cops that's now on the case, the twins are now older, and he mostly seems to be looking for a live in childcare provider, or something that certainly doesn't feel right. The personal story in this is novel is BIG, and it's complicated, messy and more than a bit overwhelming. In fact, I wouldn't recommend THE HOUSEMATE to anybody with an allergy to huge chunks of personal angst. Needless to say, the ex-boyfriend's the good bloke, the fiance a controlling creep, and Oli seems to be unable to sort out her feelings about the personal or professional. There are times when Ng's relentless upbeatness is a bit of a relief to be honest.
In amongst all the personal stuff there is a crime story lurking, with the story leading up to the original murder likely to explain the current housemate death. Or not. There are plenty of red herrings, complications, missteps and misleading elements in there - more than enough to keep a reader guessing. That aspect of the story was interesting, and cleverly constructed, but for this reader, not quite cleverly enough to have it rise beyond the soap opera threatening to subsume it.