The Other Side of Night - Adam Hamdy - ★★★★

-
AUTHOR: Adam Hamdy
GENRE: Literary Fiction
PUBLICATION DATE: September 15, 2022
RATING: 4 stars

In a Nutshell: Can’t reveal much without spoiling it, so all I’ll say here is: it takes a long while to get going but the ending is worth it. Better suited to those who prefer character-driven reads and aren’t fussy about genres. I am an outlier once again, but on the positive side – Woohoo!!!


Plot Preview:
Harriet Kealty, a police officer, has just been suspended. As she tries to clear her name, she discovers a second-hand book with an inscription: “Help me, he’s trying to kill me.” Backtracking to the last person who borrowed the book from the library, Harriet discovers that Elizabeth Asha, the woman who possibly wrote the note, died a few months ago, followed soon after by her husband David, who jumped off the cliffs, leaving behind their six-year-old son Elliott. Harriet feels compelled to check on Elliott, when she discovers, to her great surprise, that his new guardian is Ben Elmys, the love of Harriet’s life who broke up with her after just three dates. Is this all just a coincidence? But there are no coincidences in police work, right?
Ben was just a colleague of the Ashas. Why is he the guardian of their son? Why did David jump off the cliff when he knew there was no one to look after his little boy? Why did Elizabeth write the note? As Harriet scrambles to find the truth, she realises a horrifying possibility: Ben Elmys might be a murderer. Can she leave her one-sided feelings for him aside and dig out the truth?


PSA: Go in blind!


Bookish Yays:
🔥 As you might have guessed from the synopsis, Harriet is the key character of this book. But the story comes to us…. Now this is going to be a surprise… in David Asha’s perspective! It takes ages to understand how and where from and why and when David is narrating this tale. I enjoyed the unusual path taken as well as the discovery of the truth.

🔥 As David’s narration is the frame story, the plot gets a lot of structure and support. David uses various resources such as court rulings, newspaper articles, Harriet’s journal, as well as his own memories to tell us the truth sequentially, even if the characters in that particular timepoint don’t know yet what happened. His own interludes add to the depth of the storyline.

🔥 A character-driven story always needs complex characters, who might not be all good or all bad but are people you want to know more about. The key characters all fit this requirement. They aren’t likeable but they are realistic.

🔥 I am not going to utter anything abut the storyline beyond what I have said above. But just know, it goes much beyond an ordinary murder investigation. I can’t remember the last time I was caught so unawares by the direction taken by a story.

🔥 There are some excellent quotable quotes herein.

🔥 Didn’t expect to find myself thinking about free will vs. determinism while reading this. Read the book to know why. Loved this aspect!


Bookish Mixed Bags:
🎆 The pace is much hampered by philosophical rambling from David. To be fair, the reason for his musings becomes clear later and even makes sense at the end. But the problem is me. I have an allergy against philosophy: even a few sentences of it makes me break into eyerolls and yawns.

🎆 The story changes direction in the final quarter, a transition so drastic that the publisher had to add a special note to ARC reviewers about not leaking any spoiler in the review. Your enjoyment of the book will depend heavily on what you think of this transition. It worked excellently for me, though it did leave me with a few minor questions as well.

🎆 You do require to engage in suspension of disbelief but I guess that’s a taken for most contemporary thrillers anyway. Some of the reveals are too big to digest immediately, but many of them make sense in the story flow. Better if you just go with the flow.


I confess, the low rating on Goodreads didn’t exactly motivate me to get to this book soon. But now that I have read it, I understand why so many readers had trouble with it. The plotline needs a lot of patience. Unlike typical mystery stories, this is a slowburn, and is also character-driven. So perhaps, it would help to go into it with the right approach. Don’t read it as a mystery or crime thriller because these would automatically make you expect a faster tempo and regular twists/surprises. Rather, treat it as a literary fiction or a character-oriented drama. FWIW, it is officially promoted as ‘general fiction’.

Definitely recommended, but not to all readers. This is a niche audience book, and might work better for those who enjoy character-driven storylines and aren’t constricted by genre preferences. It’s not for those who like insta-everything. I am enjoying being on the positive side of Outlier Island for a change; rarely am I on ‘the other side of night’. 😉

Pro tip: Read the preface again once you have completed the whole story. You will discover greater meaning in it, especially in its very first sentence. Reading it the second time around is like a light-bulb-turned-on-above-head moment! 

My thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for the DRC of “The Other Side of Night”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Comments

Post a Comment

Explore more posts from this blog:

Stormy Normy Finds His Forever Home - Leisa Fail - ★★★.½

-
Image
AUTHOR: Leisa Fail SERIES: The Adventures of Stormy Normy, #1 GENRE: Children's Fiction, Animals. PUBLICATION DATE: March 25, 2024 RATING: 3.5 stars In a Nutshell: A children’s chapter book about a young brumby horse named Stormy Normy. The author certainly knows horses! Recommended to young animal lovers looking for a sweet and easy-going story. Plot Preview: Outback Queensland, Australia. Young Stormy Normy was born, as his name suggests, on a stormy night. As his mother and he are returning to their herd, Stormy gets distracted and enters a farm with many horses. His mother, realising that he will have a better life there than in the wild pack, leaves him there with a heavy heart. Thus begins Stormy’s life, where he learns to navigate tricky situations, make new friends, and realises whom and how to trust. The story is written in Stormy’s first person perspective, with two brief interludes from his mother’s point of view in third person. I am not really a horse person, being
Read More»

Big Bad Wolf Investigates Fairy Tales - Catherine Cawthorne - ★★★★★

-
Image
AUTHOR: Catherine Cawthorne ILLUSTRATOR: Sara Ogilvie GENRE: Children's Nonfiction PUBLICATION DATE: April 25, 2024 RATING: 5 sparkly, scientifically accurate stars. In a Nutshell: This book and I were a match made in book heaven! Loved the approach that combines humour and logic to debunk the sillier elements of some fairy tales. Strongly recommended! I enjoy fairy tales. I love scientific thinking. I adore logic. I relish humour. Seeing all four of these together in a single work was almost a “bookgasmic” moment for me! 😆 Had the book not delivered on any of these factors, I might still have been happy reading it. But the content not only reaches but also surpasses the promise made by the title and cover. All of us know that there are several logically impossible elements in fairy tales. In childhood, we might have oohed and awwwed at the stories without overthinking the practicalities. In adulthood, we might have cringed at the gender bias, wealth bias, and the lack of conse
Read More»

Making Up the Gods - Marion Agnew - ★★★★.¼

-
Image
AUTHOR: Marion Agnew GENRE: Contemporary Fiction PUBLICATION DATE: October 15, 2023 RATING: 4.25 stars. In a Nutshell: An indie drama with some quirky characters and a great setting in Lake Superior, Canada. Mellow in tone, genuine in content, thought-provoking in themes. I enjoyed this unusual novel. Plot Preview: Simone, almost 70, is a retired widow who lives an isolated life in her cottage on the banks of Lake Superior and still misses her husband, though he’s been dead for five years. While she is now active in her local church and finds solace in baking for those grieving, she is fiercely protective of her privacy. But when the local reverend asks her to take care of nine-year-old Chen while his widowed mother goes on a much-needed trip, Simone finds it tough to refuse a fellow-mourning widow. Just before Chen arrives, a stranger named Martin knocks at Simone’s door, claiming to be her cousin. Simone is suddenly handling two strangers at once, and she worries that they will dis
Read More»

Red Runs the Witch's Thread - Victoria Williamson - ★★★★

-
Image
  AUTHOR: Victoria Williamson GENRE: Historical Fiction, Horror. RATING:  4 stars. In a Nutshell: A psychological horror inspired by the last witch burning in Scotland in 1697. A disturbing yet compelling read. I wanted more closure at the end for my own peace of mind, but other than that, this was a satisfying book. Recommended! Plot Preview: 1722. Paisley, Scotland. Thirty-seven-year-old widow Christian Shaw is obsessed with perfecting her thread bleaching process. She wants to make the thread the purest white, so it can sell better and restore their family fortunes. In the absence of any male family members, it is up to her as the eldest daughter to ensure the security of their house, her mother and two younger sisters, and her late father’s social position as the laird (landowner.)  However, Christian’s mind is troubled. With the 25th anniversary of the witch burnings of 1697 approaching, Christian’s thoughts go frequently to the past, and to the role she played in the burning of s
Read More»

Takeout Sushi - Christopher Green - ★★★★

-
Image
  AUTHOR: Christopher Green GENRE: Contemporary Short Story Collection, Japanese Fiction. PUBLICATION DATE:  May 2, 2024 RATING: 3.9  stars. In a Nutshell: An interesting collection of stories, with most of them set in Japan. Loved the writing style and enjoyed the diverse emotions. Much recommended! This story collection has, as the title suggests, a strong Japanese flavour. So let me begin by confessing that I am not a fan of Japanese literature. Most Japanese fiction that I tried hasn’t suited my reading tastes, so I generally keep away from this genre. The reason I picked this collection up is... No, no, the sushi had no role to play in my decision; I can’t stand even the thought of sushi! The reason I wanted to read this is that the author is NOT a Japanese! 😁 I know this sounds quite silly to declare, but had the author been Japanese, I would have resisted opting for this. But by virtue of his being an “outsider”, I thought it was a great opportunity to get a look at Japan witho
Read More»