Ten strangers wake up in an old house. They don’t know where they are and how they got there. They all notice that some of their clothing and personal items are in their bedrooms with them. On their wrists, they are wearing a Fitbit-type watch that doesn’t seem to work.

During dinner, a stranger, Amanda, appears and tells them that they have 12 hours to find a missing girl, Claire Swanson, who is somewhere in the house. She also tells them that there is a killer in the house who wants them dead. If they find Claire and unmask the killer, they will be able to leave the house.

Is the killer a stranger, or is it one of them?

Then, they all start dying one by one…

I loved everything about this book! Think of it as And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, but in a modern setting with more twists.

I was hooked right from the beginning, and I was trying to understand the logistics of getting all of these people under one roof. I was also intrigued about the Beast in the Cellar, and I found his voice and thoughts interesting. Was it really a beast, an animal, a mythical creature, or perhaps a human? All of these thoughts were swirling through my head as I was reading the story.

Throughout the house, there were paintings of all the people who found themselves in the house (in Christie’s version, there was a poem in each bedroom, and people were dying one by one in accordance with the verses). After each death, the painting would change to showcase how each person died. That made me think: was this all premeditated? Or was someone a very skilled artist who could whip up a painting in minutes? The second seems unlikely, so it must have been the first option.

The ending was PHENOMENAL. I can’t even tell you how amazed I was at the twist.

I definitely recommend this book.

Many thanks to Simon & Schuster for my NetGalley widget.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc!

This book was interesting enough to hold my attention while I was reading but I didn’t immediately want to keep picking it up!

Overall it was a good read

The contained murder mystery has a long history in crime fiction. Gather a strange collection of people place them on a train, a manor house or far off island and let the evil deeds stack up. Hopefully a hero will take charge and shed some light on the crimes and unmask the culprit. It’s a locked room mystery but with a bigger set of locations and that allows for some innovative takes. In C B Everett’s entertaining thriller The Other People we go to a strange house where an assortment of strangers have twelve hours to solve a crime but soon find their own lives are also at stake.

Student Kyle Tanner remembers talking to his flatmates at the weekend and awakes in a strange room to a storm outside. He thinks he sees someone dragging a body out the window and then realises he has no idea where he is. He soon finds he is one of a dozen people gathered together secretly to help find a missing woman. He has no idea why he has been chosen. He recognises none of the other people but very quickly they realise that this set of games is deadly for all involved.

There is a lot to enjoy in this story. Everett assembles a large cast and subverts our opinion of people, throws in a ton of secrets and the whole manor house evokes the type of weird gothic Kyles studies. There are a host of interesting characters such as Captain Jimmy Saint who tries to take charge of the crew and finds it is a lot harder with civilians. The ever-drunk Iain watches more than you think and some like the older woman Syvia just drive everyone instance with her horrible attitude to well anyone. Lots of shifting dynamics and then the deaths start mounting up. It runs at a good pace, and I think quite an enjoyable resolution will be found.

There is though a bit of an issue and that can be the reader’s curse that you can recognise certain signs and indeed pretty early on I guessed where we may be heading. I feel the story slightly overplayed it hand a little early and a little more restraint would not have dangled so many clues as to which type of mystery tale this will be. I appreciate how it all comes together ands a good set of reveals will catch the unwary reader off guard but for me I needed a little bit more misdirection and perhaps a setting that similar tales have not used so much.

The Other People is a diverting crime tale that tips its hat to its predecessors well, is well constructed and most of should deliver some fun to the reader. On that note it delivers and it worth a look.

Sadly I really didn't get on with this. The tone didn't work for me, and the sort of narrative asides to the reader kept throwing me out of the book. I also didn't like most of the characters! The concept is pretty good, and I think it was decently enough done, it just didn't work for me.

Ten strangers wake up locked inside an old house with no recollection of how they got there. To escape, they must solve the disappearance of a young woman in the next 12 hours. And that’s not all. Someone wants them dead and soon they are picking them off one by one…

Dark, mysterious, funny and heart-poundingly tense, The Other People is a captivating locked-room murder mystery filled with comedy. C. B. Everett showcases himself as an author to watch with this sensational debut. It jumps straight into the action and then barely pauses to catch a breath, keeping me guessing as I read on tenterhooks. Masterfully written, fast-paced, cleverly plotted, complex and intricately interwoven, Everett had me in his thrall from the first page, totally pulling me in and making me fall for his red herrings. I loved how it addresses the reader throughout, making me feel part of the story and pulling me in so deep that I felt as trapped as one of the characters and unable to leave until all my questions had been answered.

The story is narrated by a large cast of compelling, flawed and unreliable characters, giving the reader a glimpse inside their minds but leaving us unsure who or what we can trust. While all of them are well written, I have to say that, for me, it was the Beast in the Cellar who stole the show. Witty, sarcastic and candid, this cryptic character talks to the reader, taking us through the mystery, mocking familiar thriller tropes, philosophising, and warning us to be careful who and what we trust. I lived for their scenes and often found myself laughing out loud during them.

Another thing I loved about this book is how unashamedly it is itself. It is proud of being a murder mystery and Everett reveled in using the familiar murder mystery tropes. I also liked how he explored some of the deeper questions surrounding the genre, such as whether or not we mourn unlikeable victims, and how we want more than ‘just a killer’, preferring someone with motives and inner turmoil to someone who simply wants to kill.

Darkly funny, claustrophobic and suspenseful, this is a first-class thriller that is not to be missed.

The book is suspenseful, dark and atmospheric. The writing perfectly captured the vibe of the book. So there are ten strangers. One of them has bad dreams, delusions, and phobia. While they have no memory how they got inside the old house. Their world turns upside down when the unthinkable begins to happen, a young woman disappears, and gruesome murder happens. Expect the unexpected, atmospheric twists, and devilishly mystery.

Thanks to the Publisher.

A group of strangers wake up at a country house with no memory how they got there. To escape they must solve the disappearance of a young woman. However there is a killer also in the home. Why were these people chosen and can the other people be trusted?

I liked the concept of this book, especially with the description Agatha Christie meets Shutter Island. However I found that I wasn’t that enamoured with the start as it seemed a bit confusing due to the amount of characters introduced in the first person and took some time for the dialogue to start. It then remains difficult to keep the characters in check and they also felt slightly flat. I didn’t really feel invested in the story most of the way through and it felt slow, however the twist at the end was pretty good and made my rating a bit higher. Even though this wasn’t fully for me I appreciate what the author was trying to do and it was certainly a bit different to the usual locked room mystery. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in return for an honest review.

Ten strangers, an old creepy mansion, secret passageways and a race against time to save the life of a young woman - this book had me hooked from the start with it's modern take on classic murder mystery tropes. I don't want to go into too much detail about the plot because this is a book that you need to go into blind to get the full impact, but I will say that I did not see that end coming and I read a LOT of mysteries and crime thrillers.

The Other People is an incredible cross-genre story with a locked-room mystery at it's heart. It was like a mix of an Agatha Christie novel and the Saw films but with the brilliant added extra of the narrator breaking the fourth wall which is a style I personally love. In this case, the narrator not only talks to the reader, but also helps to explain the story with recaps and breakdowns of various tropes, it's really very clever.

The story had a darkness to it and some gruesome murders but this was mixed perfectly with some really funny moments - I mean, a beast in the cellar who says things like 'Lordy do!' is always going to be a winner! My only gripe with the book is that one of the characters comes from Kettering which is mentioned several times - if you've seen the James Acaster 'Kettering Town FC' sketch then you'll understand what I had to do every time I saw this word - it added about two hours onto my reading time! All joking aside, this was a 5 star read containing all of my favourite elements of mystery and horror stories, the writing was compelling and I love the fact that it brought something completely different to the table.

Strangers in a house keep dying one by one, murdered by an unknown person.

I wanted to like this one so much based on the description! It sounded right up my alley. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the writing style at all. The characters were ok... But like just ok. I didn't really care about anyone's fate. The reveal seems to be the main crux of this book, but it comes so late that the rest of it was just not enjoyable before then.

This book had me absolutely enthralled!

Locked in a mansion and with only 12 hours to find a missing girl, the tension is immediate and gripping. As the characters attempt to piece together the clues, people start dying—one by one. With a killer clearly among them, the people realise they must trust no one, question everything, and try to stay alive long enough to figure it all out.

This book had me absolutely hooked from the first page. And the big question lingered the whole time: who will survive, and what about the missing girl?

This is a must-tead for psychological thriller fans - it will keep you guessing until the end.

Thank you to NetGalley, C.B. Everett, and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read this as an ARC.

WOW! Just WOW!

Oh how I love a locked room mystery. With a twist. With a twist that I didn’t see coming.( if you know me you know twists very very rarely get me) it would be 5 stars just for that alone, but it actually deserves the 5 stars for so much more. The writing is absolutely fantastic. There is a great mix of characters, and the story really drags you in, I couldn’t put this book down!

This had such a fantastic premise and offers a new spin on the locked-room mystery set-up. It is compulsive reading with an explosive final third.

What on earth did I just read! WOW! My mind is BLOWN!

I can't be the only avid reader who craves something completely different and unexpected in my psychological thriller reads? If that's you, here's your next read! A locked room mystery but with one hell of a jaw dropping twist - and even better, you don't get it until the very end, so You. Just. Can't. Stop. Reading!

I was gripped by the writing and so immersed in this weird situation, with absolutely NO CLUE about what or why, I was totally mesmerised.

10 strangers wake in a huge mansion with no idea how they got there. They are given 12 hours to find a missing girl, but as they start searching for clues, they are gradually being picked off and murdered. They can't trust each other because one of them is a killer. Who's next and who will be the one left standing? And what about the missing girl?

The 10 characters were a real mix; Kyle, a uni student, glamorous businesswoman Diana Landor, aggressive ex-cop Len, single mum Cerys and the rest of them, who you will get to know when you read the book. Some likeable, some absolutely vile and lots of in-betweens.

A really brilliant read!

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley C.B. Everett and Simon and Schuster for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I really did not enjoy this. I found it very confusing and depressing. The characters are very mixed and not at all likeable. It is also claustrophobic in the extreme, so anyone who suffers from that please be aware.
It was not for me, sorry.

I couldn’t put this book down! This is an Agatha Christie fan’s dream. I will admit it does take time to get into but I think that’s because there are so many characters to remember. I would say it’s a fast pace book which makes it hard to put down because you just want to know what’s happened. It is dark, twisty and slightly gruesome book was such a great read

***advance review copy received from NetGalley in return for an honest review***
This is a murder mystery unlike any you’ve read before.
When I started reading this, I wasn’t taken by the first few pages - something about the style, or the way I wasn’t sure of the genre of the book - but I’m so glad I persevered anyway because this is an excellent book and a fantastic read that I’ll be thinking about for a good while.
A definite recommend to anyone who enjoys a murder mystery but is looking for something to turn the genre on its head.

The Other People was a quick read, and was intriguing I liked the whole premise but could not get behind the way it was narrated, it wasn't for me.
I did enjoy all the chaos and the ending and twist too was great.

This was a ride! I really liked the setting and Everett's descriptions were very cinematic. The twist was very unexpected!

There is much to enjoy and appreciate about "The Other People". The multi-POV works well and Everett offers some distinctive storytelling ploys to set the apart from the majority of similar genre pieces. The best ploy Everett uses is the fourth-wall breaking narrator who appears frequently to both explain and develop the story.

Unfortunately, some of Everett's attempts don't always come together to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts. The murders, and mystery and engaging but the ending is likely to divide opinion. For me, it was too similar to a film from the early 2000's and felt obvious, some will find the twist compelling and mind-blowing.

So, "The Other People" is an enjoyable read but one that is likely to lead to mixed opinions.

Prepare for a grisly, psychological countdown in this locked house thriller with a twist you won’t see coming. In true ‘And Then There Were None’ fashion, it follows ten strangers being picked off one by one. Can you solve the mystery before the characters do?

When the central group wakes up in an old gothic mansion with no idea how they came to be there, they are tasked with locating a missing girl, trapped somewhere on the premises. But when bodies start to pile up and time begins to tick down, the guests begin to suspect each other. The killer could be any of them.

I’m a sucker for a plot like this. It’s told in short chapters and multiple POVs, with pauses for regular interludes from the ‘Beast in the Cellar’ (the most interesting POV, in my opinion). The story centres on the characters, keeps you guessing and nods to all its tropes and genres, bending expectations in lots of clever ways. It’s also full of creepy ideas, like portraits that turn grim when their subjects die and a terrifying child who plays with an eyeball. I did guess the killer, but not the twist, which was an interesting experience as a reader!

That being said, it’s incredibly gloomy. This is the opposite of a cosy murder mystery. It’s dark, depressing, often abrasive and full of harsh and violent opinions (please check the triggers - there are MANY). You step inside the minds of a wide variety of people, but not one of the characters feels hopeful, likeable or good, and there’s a lot of discussion of meaninglessness. At times, I found the pacing slow and the exclamations, prejudices and dialogue repetitive, but I did keep reading until the end and I appreciate the skill of the overall concept.

Moreover, if you have an interest in psychology and gothic literature, and don’t mind exploring the darkest sides of the human mind, you‘ll likely enjoy this.