#BookReview: THE OTHER PASSENGER by Louise Candlish @louise_candlish @simonschusterUK @jessbarratt88 @BookMinxSJV @TeamBATC

Publication: 25th June 2020 – Simon & Schuster UK

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.

Aren’t you?

Amazon.co.uk: https://amzn.to/2ZTRd9i

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The Other Passenger is the brand new novel by Louise Candlish and it’s out today. I was really lucky to receive a proof of the book and I was hooked from the moment I started reading it. For two entire days I read and read and when I wasn’t reading I was thinking about it. What happened to Kit? Is Jaimie responsible for his disappearance? Why did they fight?

The Other Passenger revolves around four friends, two couples: Jamie and his partner Clare and Kit and his girlfriend Melia. When one of them disappears, Jamie is interrogated by the police and, through Jamie’s point of views and many flashback, the author reconstructs from the beginning an inter-generational, dysfunctional, and unlikely friendship that will have dire consequences.

One thing that I really like about Louise Candlish’s novels is that she always creates a cast of detestable characters that manage to make you addicted to the story. As in her previous novels, I didn’t like the characters of this book. Sometimes I felt pity for them, often I didn’t trust them, but mostly I didn’t like them. They are vividly crafted, multi-layered, and very-well developed, and, despite my dislike for them, I wanted to know more about them, about their lives and their secrets while trying to figure out who was guilty, who was lying, who was innocent.

Louise Candlish really knows what she is doing. The Other Passenger features a claustrophobic atmosphere and an unpredictable and clever plot that takes you repeatedly by surprise. There are jealousies, lies and deception, and dreams that make you do the unthinkable to achieve them. And, as mentioned, there are detestable characters that draw you so much into the story that, despite everything, you want them to have their happy ending. Will they get it?

A huge thank you to Jess and NetGalley for providing me with a proof of this brilliant novel.