At the Edinburgh Fringe festival, Alex Lyons reviews Hayley’s one-woman show, Climate EmergencSHE (ugh), gives it a one-star review, then promptly sleeps with the performer he’s just trashed. Hayley takes revenge by reworking the show into ‘The Alex Lyons Experience’, which encourages people to speak to her about Alex being a creep to women in the past. The show snowballs to the point that Hayley becomes the talk of the fringe, and her show gives Charlotte Runcie, a debut novelist, a great jump-off point to talk about art, criticism, and bad male behaviour.

I can’t work out how I felt about this one - ultimately I thought it was grand? Runcie tells the story through the eyes of Sophie, a journalist who is a friend and colleague of Alex’s while simultaneously sympathetic to Hayley’s situation. She is both in the thick of the drama and just outside it, which makes her a great stand-in for the reader - but I’m not sure she works any better than third person narration would. Her own personal life takes up too much of the plot and never feels relevant or satisfying, really.

Alex is a dose - arrogant, smarmy and misogynistic - but Runcie does force the reader to really consider Alex: if he is actually predatory, if he is deserving of the Alex Lyons Experience.

It’s a thoughtful and clever novel, asking big, thorny questions about power and privilege, but it just didn’t quite come together for me. A goodreads review that made me chuckle said that “ The more I thought maybe some cancelling would be best for everyone” and honestly, this is a good take. I wanted consequences! I wanted something to HAPPEN and nothing did for a really long time, until the ending… which was frankly bananas and didn’t do much in terms of consequences, either. A slightly uneven novel that nonetheless gives the reader plenty to chew over.

3.5 rounded up!

This is a delightfully modern and entertaining story about art and media, cancel culture and power dynamics. A feminist tour-de-force: on-the-pulse, thrilling and original.

Set during the feverish weeks of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Runcie’s novel unfolds through the eyes of Sophie, a new mother and junior journalist navigating both the demands of early parenthood and the unpredictable currents of the city’s artistic scene.

The plot’s catalyst—a single, devastating one-star review of a one woman show, filed by Alex Lyons, Sophie’s senior colleague and flatmate at the Fringe—sparks an unpredictable chain reaction. When Alex brings home Hayley, the subject of his scathing critique, the resulting tensions ripple through their shared apartment, testing loyalties and laying bare the messy, often blurred boundaries between professional duty and personal impulse.

The author captures the Festival with what seems remarkable accuracy, from its saturated streets to the anxious, electric hush before a show. Sophie’s voice gives the the narrative believability.

Hayley’s response to Alex’s review is to transforms her show—and sets the city buzzing—Runcie explores themes of accountability, artistic integrity, and the consequences of underestimating others.

This is well-paced, engaging, and enjoyable, making it a compelling read.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

Bring the House Down is a really interesting and thought provoking book. It is very clever in its concept and execution. It follows Alex a theatre critic who has a one night stand with comedian Hayley. However, Alex has just published a one star review of Hayley's show at the Edinburgh Fringe. The fallout of this and the actions the characters take over the next few days is described to us by a journalist colleague of Alex as the events unfold. This book covers lots of interesting discussion points and raises some very interesting moral and ethical questions to lots of topics including cancel culture, misogyny and power dynamics, It does this all in a entertaining and bingeable way. I think this would make an interesting book club pick as its sure to invite lots of discussion.

Loved this sooooo much!! Literally couldn't put it down and I ended up reading it all through the night - loved it!

This book is an interesting concept and quite well executed. I enjoyed how dislikeable the characters were and the commentary on cancel culture and the role of social media. I do feel like the book felt slow at some points, mainly during the parts discussing Sophie’s relationship with Josh and her son, it felt overly expressed without adding much to the story as a whole.

A unique and insightful book that cuts deep into the world of cancel culture. The characters are bold and wholly human, and the writing is balanced and well crafted.

Ridiculously gorgeous.

I haven’t read a book so on the pulse for a decade.
The very fact that I am writing a review for a book about a review that ends up changing lives is not lost on me.

Misogyny, power dynamics and the consequences of being terrible in this modern world are written so well here and I can’t think of a group of people who wouldn’t benefit for reading this.

Thank you Charlotte Runcie, this was perfect.

A warning of the power reviewers can wield, and how that power might be abused, blended into a very readable and funny book.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable page-turner of a book, and a cautionary tale for both performers and reviewers alike.

Sophie who is a long time colleague of the horrible Alex narrates this tale of what happens after he gives Hayley a one star review for her performance at the Edinburgh festival and then takes her home after they meet on a dating app. Hayley picks herself and decides to turn the tables. You might wonder why Sophie seems to defend him. Her story trickles out but the focus remains on Hayley and Alex. This is topical but it avoids the tropes with fresh characters and the setting as well as the question of what a review means to both the reviewer and the person critiqued. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

I’m almost nervous to write a review after reading this, a novel which asks so many questions about, the power wielded by critics, about cancel culture, misogyny, revenge and even grief and motherhood. There’s a lot here. We are in Edinburgh for the Festival and Alex and Sophie have been sent for the duration to a flat rented by their newspaper so that they can post daily reviews . Alex is the main theatre critic who is well known for his one star reviews because after all who wants to be stuck with the mediocrity of a three star review. Sophie is the junior culture critic and she reviews the art shows. She is also mum toddler Arlo and has left him with her partner, Josh. I got the sense that this was the first time that she had been apart from them for any extended period and so there is a bit of separation anxiety here too. Alex goes to review a one woman show about climate change - which he gives a damning one star review to - and after the show he goes to a bar where he sees the actor. Short story, he ends up taking her back to the flat. She doesn’t know that he is Alex Lyons, the critic, and she doesn’t know that she has been given a bad review until the morning. Furious, she leaves the flat and rather than lick her wounds and go on stage to repet the show that now everyone knows has been given a bad review, she revamps it. She renames it ‘The Alex Lyons Experience’ where she tells the audience what happened, where she reads out the review and then burns it. This prompts other women to contact her and recount their experiences of Alex Lyons and the show snowballs and Alex becomes the most hated person in Edinburgh. The story is told in first person narrative by Sophie which I think worked really well because the reader gets a wider perspective, it allows Sophie to show that there are two sides to every story and it gives her space to ask her own questions about her role as a critic. What is her goal when she writes a review? Does she have the right to write awful reviews that will cause pain to the person she is reviewing? Does any critic? I think using Sophie as the narrator works as if either Hayley or Alex were narrating, then the book would have gone in a different direction. Using Sophie who felt sympathy for both Alex and Haley was a good move. I did like the way that Hayley regrouped after her bad review, but I did question the fairness. Was the prolonged attack on Alex justified? And as for Alex, with some of the stories that came out about him, yes, I did really dislike him, but I couldn’t help feeling a little bit sorry because there was no way for him to really defend himself. There is also within her a look at nepotism as Alex’s mother is a Dame of the acting world, an actress who steals every page she’s on. A super character. Overall, this is a novel that is character driven and that gives the reader chance to think about revenge and power. I enjoyed this

Cancel culture, everyone’s opinion is valid and mysoginistic men. The author managed to get it all in there. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy this book as mush as I did. Well done Charlotte Runcie, your book will be talked about for years.

I appreciated the accuracy of the Edinburgh Fringe setting for this look at (justified) cancel culture. The arts reviewer narrator Sophie, though, I found oddly passive, supporting her colleague Alex when he doesn’t deserve it and somehow knowing too much of exactly what happened between him and performer Hayley for it to realistically have been recounted to her. I understand Runcie’s urge to distance her narrator from taking a side by not making it first person through Alex or Hayley’s perspective, but it didn’t quite work as well as I wanted.

I have to say that I was not sure if I would enjoy Bring The House Down since it wasn’t a genre I’d normally be drawn to. I shouldn’t have been worried because by the first chapter I was hooked. This is a perfect exploration of arts and criticism with a sprinkling of thriller thrown in. I loved the exploration of, in my opinion, very justified female rage and the effects of revenge. I also loved the writing, pacing and characters. This one kept me hooked and I couldn’t put it down at all.
As always thank you to Harper Collins for the advanced copy to review, my reviews are always honest and freely given.

This was an interesting read about cancel culture, set in the Edinburgh Fringe. Not sure about the ending, but the author Charlotte brings up some interesting questions and thoughts that will make you reflect.

Theatre critic Alex Lyons prides himself on saying it how it is- shows are awarded either 5 stars or 1, nothing in between.
He sees a new Edinburgh show by new comic Hayley Sinclair, writes a 1 star review and thinks nothing more about it. He meets Hayley in a bar that night & the two go home together, without Hayley knowing anything about what Alex has written.
Hayley turns Alex’s review into a new show where she decries Alex and all the other men like him, who use women and leave them behind, confidence knocked and left bewildered.
The show becomes THE hit show of the festival, with audiences queuing to hear Hayley’s takedown and share their own stories. Alex is slated all over Edinburgh and beyond, his personal lifestyle choices coming back to bite.

Watching all of this is Alexs Edinburgh flatmate and colleague Sophie, who has left her young son for 3 weeks and is feeling adrift. She is trying to remember who she is and where she fits in, whilst watching Alex’s life .

Its a really captivating read, caught up in the intensity of the Edinburgh festival where everything feels otherworldly anyway. I felt for Sophie who is trying to work out where her life goes now and does she still want what she has - though at times, i equally wanted to stop her and say, look what you're doing!

I don't think the cover of this novel does the contents justice. The story is a fascinating exploration of male privilege in the age of social media, and 'everyone's opinion is valid' (Oh... wait... I can see the irony here...) (except, I'm not male, and not giving a one star review). I loved the premise of the storyline in which contemporary life, art and social media mix. What a great idea. Runcie's writing style is easy to read, but that doesn't mean she isn't tackling some complex issues. Recommended.

A theatre critic writes a one star review for a struggling actress then has a one night stand with her … and she has no idea what he’s just submitted to be published. She then changes her show to be all about him and warning others of him.

I really liked this book! I felt like it was something a bit different to the usual books that are churned out and it was something quite interesting. I liked how we really got to know the characters and how messy they were. It felt quite realistic and nothing felt far fetched. It was a book that kept me reading and wondering what would happen next. There were so many different relationships going on between characters and these all pulled me in.

As a teen, I was obsessed with stand up comedy and the Fringe (to the point I almost went to flier voluntarily even though it would have cost me £12 a day in travel costs 😂). I loved going to see as many shows as I could and see who I could find. This book was brilliantly set in Edinburgh and there were mentions of streets and venues that I recognised and meant I could really imagine the setting!

I’d recommend this book!

Oh the irony of giving this book a star rating! I thought that was a great look into cancel culture and also misogyny in the way men treat women. I loved the setting but of Edinburgh and thought the characterisation was very interesting. I also really enjoyed the subtle ways in which anxiety was built throughout the story. All in all, this is a good literary fiction book and I think people will love it.

Alex is a theatre reviewer who has made his name with pithy comments. At the Edinburgh Festival he posts a scathing review of a one-woman show but that same night he has a one night stand with the performer which ends badly the next morning when she sees the review. Now the tables are turned on Alex as she rewrites her show to be about him and toxic masculinity in general. Now Alex’s privileged world is collapsing. Meanwhile his colleague is struggling with motherhood and her commitment to her partner.
The first third of this book is absolutely brilliant, the concept is great and played incredibly well. However, for me, the story starts to lose its head of steam and gets a little bogged down as the story diversifies and becomes a little too complex. It is a great read but could possibly have been edited to make it sharper.