Cover Image: The Other People

The Other People

Pub Date:   |   Archive Date:

Member Reviews

I’ve read C. J. Tudor’s other two books and whilst both had absolutely knock-out first chapters, they had slightly disappointing endings. The Other People however was far more consistent throughout. The start is excellent and really drags you straight into the story, and the ending is satisfying, with all the loose ends tidied up nicely (including the one I thought was going to get missed that I’d been grumbling to myself all the way through about!).
My personal opinion is that this book didn’t really need the supernatural element to it: it would have been just as good as a straight crime/thriller with Gabe refusing to stop searching for his dead daughter and Fran on the run. That said though, this book was highly enjoyable and had me guessing all the way through as to who was the ‘baddie’! I particularly enjoyed the multiple POVs - flipping from one to the next never left me confused, only desperate to read faster and find out the full story. Highly recommended.

Was this review helpful?

The opening of this books sets the scene for the haunting story that is to follow: driving home one day, rushing because he is running late, Gabe becomes distracted by the erratic driving of the car in front. As he watches, a face suddenly appears in the back window of the car, and he recognises his young daughter, who should be safely at home. Gabe gives chase frantically, but loses track of the car, and returns home to find his life has been destroyed by murder and violence.

Years later, Gabe drives up and down motorways, stopping at services, searching for any sign of what might have happened to his daughter. Helped by a mysterious character known only as The Samaritan, Gabe learns of a group known as The Other People, an organisation from the dark web who help people get revenge on those who have wronged them.

In addition to this compelling plot, there is an unusual paranormal subplot that runs alongside it, which is not something you often see in a thriller of this type. With echoes of Stephen King, it works well and creates an atmosphere of unease that filters through the rest of the book.

Was this review helpful?

I was delighted to be given a copy of The Other people by C.J. Tudor. I have read her two previous books and loved them and this one is the same calibre as the other two. This one with a bit of paranormal element to it.
Gabe is a broken man after coming home to find his wife and daughter dead, but he is convinced that he saw his daughter in a back of a van after the incident happened. The police first suspect’s that he did it and his wife’s parents’ distances from him. His Father in Law identifies the bodies and is far they are concerned the case is closed. But as far as Gabe is concerned for the next three years, he gives up his job and home and spends his time searching for his daughter Izzy.

Fran and Alice are on the run and hiding from people that may hurt them. When Fran disappears one day, and Alice is told if she needs helps to ring her sister Katie. When she does this all sort of things start to happen. She meets Gabe and suddenly everything starts to come clear.
This is another excellent spooky psychological thriller from C.J. Tudor. It shows the lengths people will go not only find their love ones. But also get justice of people that have wronged in their life. This is a gripping tale and I loved every minute of it and will look out more in the future of this author.

Was this review helpful?

OMG, C.J. Tudor has done it again and written an absolutely gripping, couldn’t put it down thriller!
I didn’t expect to read this book so fast, but I should have known better as the ‘Chalk Man’ blew me away, and this one is just as amazing.
One evening when Gabe is rushing home from work, he sees his daughter in the car in front. From that moment on, his life spirals out of control, and he is faced with lies and depict from people he thought he could trust. He discovers the atrocities of the Dark Web, and before he knows it, he risks losing everything he didn’t think he had.
It had a very different feel to it compared to her first two books, that I said at the time of reviewing the second, that there were too many similarities. This one is completely unique. There are so many twists and turns you just don’t know what the outcome is going to be. There aren’t any significant or major gasp moments as everything is unravelling and revealing itself to you throughout the book. You find yourself in awe, though, by the intricate storylines and how it has all been kept together and how everything was interwoven the way it was. It was very cleverly written and brilliantly thought out. I kept trying to second guess everything but just couldn’t!
The only thing I wasn’t too sure about was the slightly paranormal vein that ran through the story. I just couldn’t quite get on board with the pebble situation or what happened to Isabella. However, I go into Tudor’s books, knowing that they could have a slightly ‘other-worldly’ element to them. So I don’t let this bother me and just go with it.
Overall, a truly enthralling story about a man that has lost everything and has nothing more to lose. This is a first-rate novel which I am sure is going to knock everyone’s socks off next year when it is released. C.J. Tudor really is a master of her craft.

Was this review helpful?

Who are the Other people?
Gabe is driving home one night when he saw his daughter in the back of a truck mouthing Daddy to him. when he gets home his wife and daughter have been murdered and no-one believes him that he saw her.
He then spends three years trying to prove he was right. But what secret is Gabe hiding and is connected to the deaths of his family?
Fran and her daughter Alice are running but from whom and why?
And will the Other People find them all?
Brilliant book.

Was this review helpful?

Great thriller, really good storyline. C J Tudor books are reliably gripping.

Thanks for letting me review this book

Was this review helpful?

CJ Tudor can be relied upon for disturbing, creepy, unsettling psychological thrillers with a hint of the supernatural. She excels herself with her latest offering, a novel of family, grief, loss, hope, and secrets, where there are those who seek an old testament justice, an eye for an eye, losing sight of the fact that this will make them blind. Gabe Forman is travelling home to his wife, Jenny and his young daughter, Izzy, in Nottinghamshire, running late as he drives on the motorway, . In front of him is a rust bucket of a car, covered in bumper stickers, when to his horror he glimpses Izzy in the back of it, he knows it's her as he tries to follow the car but cannot keep up with it. He phones home, only to speak to a DI Maddock, to learn the shocking truth that Jenny and Izzy have been murdered. Gabe's life falls apart, he is even a suspect, but is eventually cleared although he is ferociously condemned by a media that suggests he deserved the horror and tragedy that befell him.

Three years on, Gabe is a diminished shadow of the man he used to be, haunted by Izzy, he walked away from his entire life, shedding both job and home, now living in a camper van. He is convinced Izzy is still alive as he drives relentlessly up and down the motorway, hoping to find that car, handing out flyers on Izzy, stopping at service stations where he has become a familiar and pitied sight. Hardworking single mom, Katie works as a waitress, becomes familiar with the regular appearance of Gabe, sympathising with his unbearable grief, her family suffered the shattering loss of her father nine years ago. Fran and her daughter, Alice, are on the run from a 'bad' man. Alice suffers from the worrying condition of narcolepsy, she can fall asleep anywhere, coming awake with the strange presence of a pebble in her hand that she adds to her growing collection in her rucksack. Miriam has given up her life to nurse and provide company for a young girl in a vegetative state in a white room. All these threads come to connect in a riveting narrative that reveals that on the dark web is a website of The Other People, where the bereaved can seek a very specific kind of help.

Tudor writes eloquently of the repercussions of grief and where it can lead, along with a murderous resentment that triggers such a horrifying tragedy. Gabe makes a terrific central protagonist with his secrets, aware that it is hope that is slowly and surely destroying him as he lives an itinerant lifestyle of despairing loneliness, his spirits dipping so low that he had to be saved by The Samaritan. This is a brilliant and compulsive read, one in which the twists, reveals and connections are skilfully managed to raise maximum levels of suspense and tension. Highly recommended to crime and psychological thriller fans. Many thanks to Penguin Michael Joseph for an ARC.

Was this review helpful?

This is a book which grabbed me from the very first page and didn't let go until the very last!

It is a chilling, tense and atmospheric read which I found hard to put down.

It is sure to be a talked about book in 2020 and I highly recommend it!!!

Was this review helpful?

What a brilliant read, really enjoyed this book. It kept me enthralled right til the end
Totally gripping story..loved the characters
Each strand of the story was pulled tight til the end all was revealed.
Cannot wait for more reads from this author.

Was this review helpful?

Another successful novel from C J Tudor. This book is both compelling and easy to read. The various strands of the book come together though the supernatural elements are harder to accept than most of the book. The moment when Gabe finds the phrase 'The Other People' is when the story really sets off, it is a book fraught with emotion and tingly moments which show some excellent writing skill. A brilliant way to start a new decade of reading!

#TheOtherPeople #NetGalley

Was this review helpful?

would like to thank netgalley and the publisher for letting me read this chilling book

have to admit that when i first got this book i read the synopsis and thought not sure about this one...but once you start you are hooked and frightened at the same time...

it all starts off so innocently...driving home,then gabe is aware that in front of him is a car with his daughter in it...disbelief and worry hit him and though he tries to catch up with this car he cant so he rings home and thats when the nightmare begins....

i dont want to give to much away with spoilers but this is a gripping novel that holds you gripped and terrified at the same time, this one is going to stay with me for quite some time...

there are some great characters in this book and enjoyed it right to the end...love this author

Was this review helpful?

I can see the allure of C.J. Tudor's skilled writing in this latest novel, The Other People. It's brave, it's heartbreaking, it's a fast moving full-on thriller. At first I mistakenly likened it to The Silver Road by Stina Jackson but the similarities faded swiftly. They are two, decidedly, different novels though both share a heartbroken father who takes to the road questing after a lost daughter. Both are brilliant, by the way!

The Other People was a novel I could not put down. There were so many puzzles I wanted desperately to understand and make sense of. It flummoxed me and that was the draw. I loved my inability to grasp the threads - and there were many - and twist them into something logical. It was well conceived and well executed and kept me reading late into the night.

Gabe, our tortured father, was the sort of person you would pity if you met him in the flesh and found out he was looking for his daughter, the one police said had been murdered along side his wife. A real nightmare but we, the reader, push him along and hope for a positive outcome. The secondary set of characters deliver more questions than answers but the interwoven mysteries enhance the plot in an addict manner. I didn't know who these people were and why they were present but when the reasoning is revealed it is simply genius. A great read that will keep your eyes glued to the page, The Other People is a satisfying thriller.

Was this review helpful?

I have read both this author's previous book and thoroughly enjoyed them. I did however feel that certain influences were maybe a bit too prevalent and I was waiting for their own voice to shine through. Well, in this book, it has done just that. And it's definitely worth paying attention to.
Three years ago, Gabe is driving home when he sees what he thinks is his daughter in the back of the car in front of him. He goes all in following the car but it gets away from him. He pulls in and calls home and is shocked at what he hears. His wife and daughter are dead and no one believes in what he saw. But he KNOWS what he saw and won't give up hope. Back in the present and he given up his job and home and spends every waking hour searching for the car he saw that night.
We also meet Katie who works in one of the service stations frequented by Gabe in his endeavours to find his daughter who, against all the evidence, he believes is still alive. She has suffered her own loss and empathises with Gabe.
And then there's Fran and her daughter Alice who appear to be on the run. She knows more than she wants, she has to keep one step ahead of those who want that information quite. She knows what really happened that night at Gabe's house...
And then there's a woman in a coma... and a strange man who appears to be helping Gabe...
This is a doozy of a book that gripped me right from the off, held me captive throughout, spitting me out, exhausted but satisfied, at its conclusion. I was powerless to put it down and so glad I read it at a time when life could take a back seat. It's hard to say much more about the book without giving spoilers but I will just mention that the concept of The Other People really did shock, sadden and scare me somewhat.
Characterisation was excellent. I really felt for Gabe and what he was going through. Especially his ability to trust in what he believed and ignore what was presented to him evidence-wise at face value. How he never gave up his search for both the car and his daughter, even when things went dark very quick. Fran also impressed me with what she and Alice were going through. Those parts were especially spooky!
I do have to say that there was a lot that confused me for the majority of the book but the author has my trust already from previous books so I was well able (and willing) to let them sit and simmer and trusted that all would come good in the end. Which it most definitely did! So very intricately plotted and so well executed, I lost track of the number of satisfying nods I did when things started to all come together towards the end. OK so I had to suspend belief a tad along the way but with everything else going on, I was more than happy to do just that.
All in all, a cracking read from an author who is now firmly cemented on my watch-list. Really can't wait to see what she has in store for me next time. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Was this review helpful?

Very twisted but so enjoyable! You spend a lot of time questioning Gabe's mental health, is this real or is he just going a little mad....

Was this review helpful?

Loved C.J.Tudor's first two so was over the moon to get given this to read. One of the best proponents of building a sense of creeping dread I've come across over the last few years. There's a great balance between what we know, and what's hinted at, that speaks of a shadowy world her characters look for a way into, but you're pretty sure they'll regret looking in the first place. This literally kept me up at night - finished in two sittings, and can't recommend enough.

Was this review helpful?

After two very good dark and gory thrillers from this lady, comes a book I think proves that while she's not perfect yet, she's making strides to get there. A bloke suffering delays on the M1 sees his young daughter waving hello to him through the rear window of the car in front – just about the same time the police are trying to contact him to say that the girl and her mother have been shot to buggery in his home. His current life, now, three years on, is driving desultorily up and down the motorways of the country hoping to find evidence of how this happened, and of where the girl might have been going, in a most distinctive car. Oh, and another young girl is being driven permanently to a place of safety by someone who isn't her mother – but when can she be ever be safe when the figure in the mirror is gifting her with pebbles and other things from the seaside, and threatening her with The Sandman? And what are the italicised extra chapters, about a bed-bound girl and her nurses, all about?

For Ms Tudor's first book I said there was too much heavy foreshadowing for me. For the second, which was just as fun and darkly enjoyable, too much hiding things deliberately, both from the characters and from us. But this is closer to the real deal. Any number – seriously, an almost irreponsible number – of the brisk, short chapters in the first half end in a real EastEnders' doof-doof, the "duh-duh-duuuuuuhhh!!" cliff-hanger noise writ large. That is, if cliff-hanger is even the right phrase, for a lot of these urge you on, compelling you to never ration a further chapter.

However, I don't think that is sustained in the second half – although I have to admit I read this on consecutive evenings, and it's no good at all to break off from a book like this for such a delay. I found the second half a little too mundane, as we saw the real world solutions to the almost impenetrable, previously unexplainable mix of the macabre and the everyday. That said, those solutions are suitably rich, convoluted and interesting, and the milieu of the late night service station (even if nobody ever includes the necessary 'northbound' or 'southbound' in any directions, which is bad) is really well evoked. Tudor has a wonderful ability to take something from our existence and dress it up in such a macabre mystery that it seems that it has to involve the uncanny. Ultimately, when this book is back on the shelf, the magical element here is the least satisfactory. But boy we've had a ride before then.

Was this review helpful?

I loved this book. It is very well written and has quite a few twists and turns. There are a number of those sort of beautiful clauses/sentences throughout the book that make me stop and think. I have always been envious of authors who can provide these. For me the most memorable is 'Jenny was my world and Izzy my universe. This is especially poignant for me as I have a daughter called Jennifer/Jenny and a grand-daughter called Isabelle/Izzy. You will need to read the book to find out why Gabe makes this distinction but for me I could not differentiate in this way.
As always, mysteries are very difficult to end satisfactorily. The author provides what I think is a pretty good ending. So, in summary, a book not to be missed.

Was this review helpful?

C J Tudor writes a brilliant story as always, the main character Gabe is on the hunt for his missing daughter. I really liked his character and thought it was well written for the story line, he is a somewhat dark character at the start and slowly I warmed to him. Over all I thought the plot was brilliant, a creepy look at revenge after tragedy. Three story’s soon combine into one leaving me to feel like I couldn’t put it down. The only part for me that didn’t seem to fit was the Izzy’s supernatural element, it’s didn’t seem to gel with the rest of the story, I felt it may of needed more attention to it or be taken out completely. Overall a fabulous story.

Was this review helpful?

Another fantastic book by C.J. Tudor. Like The Taking of Anne Thorne, I couldn't put this book down. The three storylines slowly converge to reveal what really happened to Gabe's daughter, and why. The dark web is a character in itself and, combined with a slightly supernatural element, gives the book a sinister feel. Highly recommend.

Was this review helpful?

Not what I was expecting but it didn’t stop me mainlining the novel in two sittings. The supernatural element sat a little uneasily with the main part of the plot and I’m not sure the two ever really blended properly – IMO there needed to be less of it or a lot more in order for it to really work. That said, this was utterly compelling, filled with insightful character detail, clever plotting and an edge of your seat narrator. Really enjoyed.

Was this review helpful?