Friday 3 July 2020

Review: The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish


It all happens so quickly. One day you're living the dream, commuting to work by riverbus with your charismatic neighbour Kit in the seat beside you. The next, Kit hasn't turned up for the boat and his wife Melia has reported him missing.


When you get off at your stop, the police are waiting. Another passenger saw you and Kit arguing on the boat home the night before and the police say that you had a reason to want him dead. You protest. You and Kit are friends - ask Melia, she'll vouch for you. And who exactly is this other passenger pointing the finger? What do they know about your lives?

No, whatever danger followed you home last night, you are innocent, totally innocent.



Review: Wow this book had so many twists and turns and revelations I felt like I was on a rollercoaster. And you never see any of them coming! I love Louise Candlish's writing and this book just solidified my love for it. I've been reading other, newer writers, and they just can't compete. Every single revelation is so intricately oven within the characters and within the plot that you really do gasp in surprise and what you thought you knew is thrown out the window at the end of every single chapter-so great!

Even main character Jamie is a massive conundrum who you never really get to the bottom of. I started off the book thinking they were one person and then the character development that takes place over the course of the novel is just extra ordinary. Jamie was intriguing but definitely someone you could meet in every day life, perhaps on your commute! The other 'Water Rats' the other passengers who commute with Jamie are also very true to life. I could picture them and their commute chatting, taking in the scenery. I also really liked the two main females in this book. They felt very like calculating villains in a movie and so they really came to life on the page for me. 

This whole setting is so familiar, I've taken the river bus in London, I've commuted on a ferry in a couple of big cities and it is a really great way to travel, but what do we really know about the other people on that boat? Such a great premise for a book and because of this stellar writing, we get to experience it all as the plot progresses. 

I also really loved the structure of this one. The present day plot takes place in those weird days between Christmas and New Year, an excellent time to set a book with as many twists as this because everything is already upside down. And then we jump back in time to the start of 2019 and gradually flash back and forward until the two points meet. This gives the book its intense feeling and that urgent need to keep turning the pages. We also have some bonus time after the new year and that is just inspired. I loved it. 

Whether this is your first Louise Candlish novel or you are already a hardcore fan, you're going to love The Other Passenger. And sorry, not sorry that once you pick it up you won't be able to put it down again!

To order your copy now, just click the link: UK or US

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