An inventive tale which pivots into directions you won’t expect, taking the reader on a delightful meandering journey of deception. Candlish is very accomplished at sprinkling subtle clues like crumbs so that when you reach the end of the trail, it all seems so obvious and yet it’s really not when you are getting quickly wrapped up in the lives of her characters. She’s fantastic at misdirection and surprise endings. I thoroughly enjoyed The Other Passenger.

Big thank you to @netgalley & @simon for approving me to read this ARC!

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You’re feeling pretty smug about your commute to work by riverboat. No more traffic gridlock or getting stuck on the tube in tunnels (you’re claustrophobic). Now you’ve got fresh air, an iconic Thames view, a whole lifestyle upgrade. You’ve made new friends on board — led by your hedonistic young neighbour, Kit — and just had your first official ‘water rats’ get-together.
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Review 💫

So it took me quite a few chapters to get into this book before it got me hooked but when it did I LOVED it! 😍 It was gripping and had you wanting to know what happens next. I had my own theories along the way. Not quite what actually happened but I had some idea. It showed friendships, rivalry, and what people would really do to get what they want.

Once the dots started connecting I literally sat there and thought what is happening! 😳 I mean I expected some bits but when it all unravelled I couldn't believe it. Was definitely the sort of book you'd see as a series.

My favourite thing about this book is the ending. Without giving any spoilers.. Some books like this end and leave you having questions whereas for me this book literally ended it all perfect.

A really brilliant read. A very twisty story full of surprises. I found it a touch slow to start but soon got into it and found it difficult to put down, then the last few pages seemed somewhat dragged out but this did not effect my enjoyment.
Thanks to Netgalley..

Ooh! I do like a good book and The Other Passenger from Louise Candlish is a good book! A twisty, turny story where I thought I knew what was what only for the plot to twist yet again.
Jamie and Kit share a commute on a London riverboat, their partners Clare and Melia work for the same company, a friendship develops and the twists and turns begin.
Just after Christmas on his morning commute Jamie is met by the police and informed Kit has been reported missing. The drama and story of the past year unfolds. What follows is a well plotted, well written tale and although you may not like all, or indeed any, of the characters, you will enjoy this rollercoaster of a read.
Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an advance copy of this book.

The Other Passenger

Oh my, what an absolute whirlwind The Other Passenger is. Just when you think you’ve sussed everything out Louise Candlish grabs the rug beneath your feet with both hands and yanks it from under you.

I’m grateful that I was able to read this book in one sitting as it pulled me in and gripped tight hold of me until I’d read every last twist and turn. Then the ending made me want to punch the air with a resounding YES!!!

The story focuses on the relationship between two couples Jamie and Clare who are the haves and Kit and Melia are the have nots. The story is told from Jamie’s point of view and highlights the generational differences between the couples with Kit and Melia expecting everything on a plate and Jamie and Clare being well off. The book also focuses on the disparity between Jamie and Clare’s marriage too and throws up some interesting problems for them because her family are rich and whilst she works hard she could be seen as having a privileged life handed to her on a plate. Each of these points is entwined together to produce a compelling plot with plenty of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Deliciously wicked, intelligently written and bloody brilliant.

Louise Candlish is an excellent author and I was very excited to be given the opportunity to read and review this by the author, publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
The Other Passenger starts at an excellent pace and there are twists and turns from the outset. Two couples - Jamie and Clare (in their 40’s) and Kit and Melia (in their 20’s) become unlikely friends and their lives become entwined together and as couples; not necessarily with their own partners.
Jamie and Kit become unlikely travelling companions on the London river boat and Clare and Melia work together. Jamie and Kit meet another two commuters and they become The Water Rats, meeting on the boat daily.
Jamie and Melia start an affair, which seems unlikely and dangerous but Kit is unstable and a drug user and Clare seems to not notice the change.
Without giving away the plot, which is so twisted and convoluting it is genius, everything and everyone is not as they seem. The ending is completely unexpected and I was gasping at some of the decisions made by the central characters.
5 star read from me. Thoroughly recommend this book.

An excellent thriller as usual from this author. A good slow reveal at a good pace throughout. Thank you for letting me read this title.

The one thing I love about Louise Candlish and her writing is that you think you know where the story is leading and she hits you with surprising twist after surprising twist.

The Other Passenger certainly delivered that and more. The characters were so detailed, I felt like I was watching them all from afar. An entertaining and fast paced read.

Another great book by Louise cavendish. Two couples become friends. Jamie and kit share the morning commute together and Melia and Clare work for the same company but how honest is the friendship. There are so many twists and turns in this book just as I thought I had it so it twisted again. Highly recommend this book

Really enjoyed this book. Didn’t see a couple of the twists within it. Managed to read it in a couple of sittings as it kept me hooked right till the end. It is well written and flows really well, despite going between differing times, It’s dark and edgy and makes you dislike certain characters, yet really like others, but opinions constantly change! It’s quite a slow build but when it does it grabs you in and keeps you in until the end, even after it finishes you want to know what happens again.

Louise Candlish is fast becoming one of my top 3 authors!

This book is good. Really good. It has a real edgy tension and is quite a dark read. Like any good psychological thriller it has you wondering throughout what is going on with its clever twists and turns. As you’re reading the book you get a real sense of impending doom that you just can’t get away from. Questioning the whole time who is the reliable witness? Who do you trust?

Jamie has just started travelling to work with his new friend on the riverboat so no more claustrophobic commuter trains for them. Until one day Jamie’s friend Kit doesn’t make it in time for the morning boat. The Police, who are waiting for Jamie at his stop, inform Jamie that he was the last known person to have seen Kit before his disappearance. Jamie is happy to be questioned because he knows he’s innocent...

I really enjoyed this book. Thank you NetGalley for my ARC, it’s been a great twisty book to get caught up in. It is similar to Our House, and definitely gets you hooked from the beginning. Definitely recommend.

“How much is your life worth… To someone else?”

L.C has done it yet again folks. “The Other Passenger” tells the story of Jamie and Clare a couple in their late forties who are friends with millennials Kit and Melia. Jamie is feeling pretty smug, now that he has a season ticket to travel to work along the Thames by riverboat, avoiding the horrendous gridlock London traffic. Jamie, with Kit get the drinks in on their evening commutes home after their long days. All is well. Until the first day back after Christmas and Kit isn’t on the morning boat. Everything else seems the same. But something isn’t right. When Jamie disembarks, the police are waiting for him. Melia, Kits wife has reported him missing and another passenger has witnessed Jamie having a blazing row with Kit on the last boat home after Christmas drinks. It seems the police have reason to believe that Jamie had reasons to lash out at Kit. But he’s innocent right? Or is he? L.C’s plot devices and sharp plot twists are unmatched in her latest book “The Other Passenger”, so much so it’s taken me almost 24 hours to get my feelings together for this review. Candlish has a way of taking relatively normal people, and situations to create something so suspenseful you will not believe what happens from one page to the next. As always, you think you have worked out the story, the twists but something that L.C has mastered beautifully is the art of the unanticipated turn of events, the curveball, the bombshell which will leave you open mouthed and like me only just picking up my jaw from the floor.

What I loved most about “The Other Passenger” other than it being a welcome distraction in these dark and unprecedented times, is how different the characters were from Louise’s previous books “Our House” and “Those People” because as with a lot of authors who have enjoyed huge acclaim, it can be all too easy to recycle characters, but by now L.C knows her craft and has created a world so relatable, but so unbelievably crazy you’d have to read to believe. The age old question of “Do you know the difference between right and wrong?” is tested in many ways, the human behavior of how people will bend those rules to serve them, and justify their behavior is something I really adore about L. C’s writing style which she explores beautifully. We’re all human, and we all make mistakes. But as with everything, every action has an equal opposite reaction. And boy, this book has plenty to offer in terms of suspense and building up one hell of a momentum until a hugely satisfying finale and epilogue.

“The Other Passenger” to conclude, is a welcome ray of light in these dark times. It’s due for release 25 June.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Shuster UK for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.

In all honesty there isn't really anything I enjoyed about this book... it's a very slow build and takes quite a long time to get going imo. I hated almost every character in this book, and yes I get that some characters are written to be unlikeable but you've got to throw me a bone and make someone vaguely likeable to make me want to carry on reading but alas there just wasn't any of that here.

Jamie is honestly one of the worst characters and there is just nothing redeeming about him. He comes across as both creepy and entitled throughout the book and it felt fairly obvious to me that he was being set up throughout the book because it just felt fairly obvious. I didn't guess that there were going to be two double crosses but for me it just got to the point that there were too many twists that it caused me to lose interest. I am getting a bit tired of thriller books that are like, TWIST HERE, TWIST THERE, TWIST EVERY WHERE!!!

Also, there were so many negative comments about young adults in this book; I know it was meant to be reflective of Jamie and his wife's perspective of them but it just felt so repetitive and got to be a bit grating at times in all honesty.

I felt that the plot was so OTT and unbelieveable and it just kept getting more over the top and dramatic that it was hard to keep up with it. I will say that this was an easy reader but other than that there wasn't much I enjoyed.

Out 25th June so you can make your own mind up then!

Louise Candlish is one of my top 5 authors of all time....and her newest continues her trend of writing "must read" books. I loved the suspense and her usual masterful storytelling. Can't wait to buy the hardback of this and display it proudly on my shelf with the others! 5 stars and 2 thumbs up.

Wow, I thought "Those People" by this author was excellent but surprisingly this surpasses that book.

Jamie Buckby and Clare a middle aged couple reasonably settled financially thanks mainly to Clare's job and her owning a house given to her by her parents meet a couple, Kit and Melia 20 years younger and struggling to survive in London. Melia works with Clare, and Jamie and Kit who both work in the City Of London take a ferry each day where they also befriend 2 other commuters.

This book is written from the perspective of Jamie and switches between the period they meet at the beginning of the year until New Years Eve 2019.

The group of friends had been out for a drink on 23rd December and thenJamie and Clare go to Scotland for Christmas. On their return Jamie catches the ferry on 27th December 2019 to return to work and is met off the ferry by two detectives as Kit has not been seen since the night they went for drinks an Jamie is the last to see him.

This a real page turner full of twists and as the story unfolds I thought "I didn't see that coming". Then I read on and again think "I didn't see that coming" again. I could not put this book down.

I could not recommend this book more highly and will certainly read more and I am looking forward to her next novel "The Other Couple" due out later this year the release date as yet unknown. This author is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. 

I would like to thank NetGalley and Simon and Schuster UK for the ARC for a true and fair review

Overall I enjoyed this, although I think I'm still expecting all Candlish's books to be as good as 'our house'. I felt in the middle the pace slowed down a little too much but picked up again and was cleverly thought out and carried out.

Wow!

I read The Sudden Departure of the Frasers earlier this year and knew I needed to read more by Louise Candlish - The Other Passenger certainly didn't disappoint.

Full of twists, turns and edge of your seat moments, this is a must read.

One thing that struck me was that I found none of the characters to be particularly likeable yet I still couldn't put the book down - a testament to Candlish's writing if ever there was one.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to Simon and Schuster UK and NetGalley for the ARC.

I loved this, I found it as good as the other book by Candlish that I read. I liked how everything unravelled and how I guessed some of the twists but others were total red herrings. I didn't really like any of the main characters but I tihnk that's part of the point!

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. This is not my usual genre, therefore am extremely pleased and grateful for opening up my mind to something totally different. 4 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟