The Other People ✭✭✭✭✭

About the Book

She sleeps, a pale girl in a white room…

Three years ago, Gabe saw his daughter taken. In the back of a rusty old car, covered in bumper stickers. He was driving behind the car. He watched her disappear. But no one believes him. Most people believe that his daughter, and wife, are dead. For a while, people believed that Gabe was responsible.

Three years later and Gabe cannot give up hope. Even though he has given up everything else. His home, his job, his old life. He spends his days and nights travelling up and down the motorway, sleeping in his camper van in service stations, searching for the car that took her. Searching for his daughter.

Katie spends a lot of her life in service stations, working as a waitress. She often sees Gabriel, or ‘the thin man’ as she has nicknamed him. She knows his story. She feels for him, because Katie understands what it’s like to lose a loved one. Nine years ago, her father was murdered. It broke her family apart. She hasn’t seen her oldest sister since the day of the funeral; the day she did something terrible.

Fran and her daughter, Alice, put in a lot of miles on the motorway. Not searching. But running. Trying to keep one step ahead of the people that want to hurt them. Because Fran knows the truth She knows what really happened to Gabe’s daughter. She knows who is responsible. And she knows that if they ever find them, they’re dead.

My Thoughts

Wow. This was an intense read. I started reading the first chapter before bed and had to put it down and wait, as I knew I’d be up to the early hours finishing it otherwise.

This is a dark and creepy thriller that will have you hooked from the very beginning.

The Other People focusses on the lives of three people that slowly converge. Gabe has spent years searching for his daughter when he finds out that her disappearance has something to do with ‘the other people’, and organisation that gives justice to its members. But what has Gabe done to deserve such an awful punishment?

Tudor takes the reader on a dark and twisted journey. This wonderfully combines a thriller with the emotional impact of loss, while exploring the lengths people are willing to go to in order to get ‘justice’ for their loved ones.

I thought that The Chalk Man was overrated but The Other People truly shows the depth of Tudor’s writing. She made me feel empathy for all of the characters. I understand the motivations for all of the characters actions, and the reasons behind their decisions. It’s hard to see any of them as the villain, or to judge them for their actions.

This is a 5 star read and I’d advise you to clear your schedule before starting it.

 

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy of this book.

Review: Twisted ★★★★★

BEFORE YOU READ THIS BOOK 
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:


1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you’ve found me. I’m coming for you next.

Goodreads Blurb

There is a lot of hype around this book and it is well deserved. This book is amazing. I borrowed a copy from the library and I could not put it down. I watch The Orville on Thursday evenings with my housemate and I was annoyed that I had to stop reading. I stayed up late to finish it (always a risky decision with a cat who likes to wake me up to see if he can get breakfast earlier). My only thought when I finished was ‘holy fucking shit’. I bought my own copy on my way to work the next morning, because I had to own this so I could read it again.

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I’m not usually a fan of books that start near the end of the story, and then go back to the start of the story, but it worked wonderfully well in this book. This lets the reader make their own assumptions and conclusions, and then changes them multiple times throughout the book. Twisted is an apt title, as this book is full of twists. I hadn’t fully recovered from one before another came along. If you think you’ve figured everything out, you’re wrong.

I didn’t particularly like the characters in this book when I first started reading it, and only slightly more by the end, but I think that’s part of what made this book so good. Steve Cavanagh creates characters that are human and flawed, and that you root for regardless of your feelings towards them. 

The book describes the success of JT LeBeau’s novels being down to the fact that they’re the type of books that when the reader has finished, they immediately tell e they know ‘You need to read this book’, and Twisted creates the same reaction.

I can’t say too much about Twisted without being spoilers, but if you haven’t read it yet, you should get yourself a copy as soon as possible. This is the best book I’ve read so far this year.