By Trisha Sakhlecha
Publisher: Century, an imprint of Penguin Books Australia, 2025
Review
By Kay Weller
If you enjoy reading novels of psychological suspense, with the emphasis on the psychological, you will be riveted by The Inheritance. The Agarwal family gathers on a private island off the West Coast of Scotland, ostensibly to celebrate Mama Shalini and Papa Raj’s 40th wedding anniversary and Raj’s imminent retirement from running the family petrochemicals empire.
However, the real reason the siblings, Myra, Aseem, and Aisha, are there is to ensure the terms of the discretionary family trust will be manipulated for their separate and individual benefits. All three children are desperate for the lion’s share of 300 million pounds, for reasons which we learn as the novel unfolds. The siblings all have bright and shiny facades, which hide the scars of childhood trauma and the demands of uncompromising family fealty. Myra owns the island and is developing it as a luxury retreat.
In the mix are Zoe, Aseem’s wife, who still feels like an outsider after years of marriage and who is desperate to escape Shalini’s suffocating control. Gabe, Aisha’s new gold-digging boyfriend, also gatecrashes the celebrations and, unbeknownst to Myra, Stuart, her chief caretaker and steward, secretly returns to the island.
From the first pages, we know that someone dies, but the how and the who, and most importantly, the why, kept me guessing until the last page. The author slowly and skillfully ratchets up the tension, creating a series of finely drawn characters who gradually reveal their secrets and needs and also, exactly what binds the family together with treacherously silky threads.
On the surface, The Inheritance refers to the vast fortune up for grabs, but other things can be inherited apart from money. Stuart is a case in point. He is descended from one of the tenant crofters who lived on the island and were forcibly evicted from their homes, with entire families being killed. This place holds the bones and memories of his family, and he resents Myra’s largely unsympathetic plans for development. The description of the ancient, jagged, and tangled landscape of the island is vivid and adds to the gathering feeling of menace.
As the weekend progresses, buried resentments surface and tempers flare, leading to the brutal climax, but it’s the aftermath of the events of the climax that was more shocking and interesting for me to read.
Overall, I found The Inheritance to be a complex and thought-provoking psychological thriller, with both aspects perfectly balanced. The suspense kept me guessing until the last few words, and the sensitive and intelligent exploration of the psychology behind the action kept me thinking long after I had turned the final page.
Highly recommended.
Publisher’s blurb
On a private island off the west coast of Scotland, the Agarwals gather for a much-awaited family reunion.
Raj, the patriarch and business tycoon, who has six weeks to decide how to split his petrochemicals empire between his three children.
Shalini, the fragile mother, who longs to see her family healed.
Myra, the eldest daughter and golden child, who, unbeknownst to the family, is on the brink of bankruptcy.
Aseem, the son and supposed heir, who must choose between his wife and his family.
Aisha, the fun-loving youngest daughter, who is tired of being treated like a child.
And Zoe, the outsider whose #Instaperfect life is built on a foundation of lies.
Everyone has a secret – but only one would kill to protect it…