#BookReview: THOSE PEOPLE by Louise Candlish @louise_candlish @simonschusterUK @simonschusterPR @TeamBATC

Publication: 27th June 2019 – Simon & Schuster UK

You don’t like them. They’re not like you. Are you one of Those People?

Until Darren and Jodie move in, Lowland Way is a suburban paradise. Beautiful homes. Friendly neighbours. Kids playing out in the street. But Darren and Jodie don’t follow the rules and soon disputes over loud music and parking rights escalate to threats of violence.

Then, early one Sunday, a horrific crime shocks the street. As the police go house-to-house, the residents close ranks and everyone’s story is the same: They did it.

But there’s a problem. The police don’t agree. And the door they’re knocking on next is yours. 

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Yay!!! Louise Candlish is back with a stunning and unpredictable new novel. I have been waiting for her new book since I finished reading Our House and I wasn’t disappointed. My nose was stuck in this novel for two straight days and I couldn’t put it down.

I love how each chapter is introduced by one of the characters being interviewed by the police for something that happened in the neighbour’s house (in true Big Little Lies fashion). What do we discover from these interviews? We know that the people in Lowland Way have been complaining about their new neighbours for months. We know that a terrific accident happened. We know that someone got hurt. Who did get hurt? Who is responsible for the accident? And how did things go so badly? To find out, the author takes us back to the beginning, when Lowland Way was a beautiful quiet neighbourhood where the street was closed off on Sunday so children could play freely and safely outside, where the people living there are not just neighbours but also friends, where everyone is happy without a care in the world. Until Darren and Jodie move there. From then on there is loud music, house working, and old cars parked in the street at every hour of the day and the night. As the residents try to find a solution to their problem, their secrets come to light and it seems that Lowland Way is not as idyllic as we thought…

Louise Candlish created a cast of characters that are completely unlikable. They are selfish, arrogant, and self-entitled, and just a few of them got my sympathy. A closed community of well-off families made of well-behaved wives and husbands with high-flying jobs: these characters kept me glued to the pages because I wanted to see how far they would go to protect their lifestyles and they didn’t disappoint. The story is told from different points of views and, as I read their sides of the story, they all seemed guilty of something.

THOSE PEOPLE is a carefully-plotted novel full of twists and with a surprising ending that shocked me and made me laugh at the same time (you will really need to read it to see the irony of the brilliant ending of the novel). Highly recommended!!!

A huge thank you to Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of the novel.