The Other Passenger (Louise Candlish)

Louise Candlish's books are no stranger to this blog -- I reviewed Our House and Those People a few years ago. While I really enjoyed Our House, Those People started off strong and then petered out. The Other Passenger has the same issue.

Jamie is our narrator -- he lives in an expensive home owned by his girlfriend, Clare. Even though Clare tries to get him career counseling, Jamie is content to work every day as a barista in a coffee shop. After meeting his new neighbors, Kit and Melia, Jamie decides to join Kit in commuting to his job via riverboat. But one day, Kit isn't aboard the boat and goes missing. After Melia reports Kit missing, two detectives interview Jamie since another passenger witnessed them arguing. 

After the "big twist" (which Candlish is known for) was revealed, The Other Passenger took me a long time to finish. Most of the book was exciting, but the ending was predictable. I would put this square in the middle of enjoyment between Our House and Those People. 

MY RATING - 3

Those People (Louise Candlish)

Louise Candlish's Our House was one of my favorite books that I read and reviewed last year. In my review, I said that "Candlish wrote every word for a reason, and by the time you get to the heart-stopping conclusion, you understand exactly how the dominoes started to fall from the very first page." Unfortunately, there is not as much excitement in her latest, Those People.

Just as in Our House, Those People takes place in everyday suburbia and begins when a couple moves in to an established neighborhood. This couple is a nightmare -- playing music at unbearable levels, running a car business from their house, and just causing general mayhem for their neighbors. When two deaths occur, one very unexpected, the neighbors are questioned and some become suspects.

On the surface, this premise sounds interesting, and believe me, it starts out strong. But the middle gets bogged down with too many details, and this makes the book seem very long. While I raced to the end of Our House to find out what happened, Those People was one that I was glad to finish.

MY RATING - 2

Our House (Louise Candlish)

I was drawn immediately to the cover of Louise Candlish's fabulous Our House. The house itself is designed with a bright exterior and a beautiful tree outside, but wait...are those black clouds looming ominously above it? How can such an innocent-sounding title take you on such a thrilling roller coaster ride? The answer is in the little details that form such an extravagant, horrifying puzzle.

One of the most exciting events in anyone's life is the purchase of a house. But what if the person living there never sold it in the first place? Such is the beginning of Our House, when Fiona Lawson comes home one day to find strangers moving into her treasured home. How can this be? Where is her husband, Bram, in all this? Candlish takes her time with piecing the puzzle together, allowing the reader to get just a tantalizing piece or two as she deftly goes back and forth in time. The story is told both through Fiona's eyes and Bram's, and Candlish wisely makes each section just a few pages. I was addicted, as were many people judging from the reviews, and found myself reading way past my bedtime.

Some reviewers have said the middle bogged the story down, but I didn't feel that way at all. Candlish wrote every word for a reason, and by the time, you get to the heart-stopping conclusion, you understand exactly how the dominoes started to fall from the very first page.

MY RATING - 4