The Other Side of Night is one of my most anticipated Fall 2022 read. It’s best to go into this one with a open mind and without to much context, which always makes for an interesting read.
There are a few different ways this story is told. David Asha, a well known author is the first narrator we meet, who is writing about one of his biggest regrets in life, which has to do with his son Elliot. Harriet Kealty, a former police officer and our second narrator we meet is Harriet. We get to know her through both a court room trial and as she deals with the aftermath of that said trial. Both David and Harriet’s lives intercede when they encounter a Ben Elmys, who we do get as a narrator within the story as well. We also read letters that Elliot writes for his father, David, through out the story as well, which help to paint a picture of how the separation from his father impacted him. And that’s basically all the summary I’m going to give, because once again it’s best to go without to much info.
Ugh, this review has been extremely difficult for me to write. One one hand I think it’s well thought out and can see why so many readers are raving about it. On the other hand I found parts of the story to be slow, and while I never had the urge to DNF, I did find myself bored at certain points. As a science fiction/ mystery, I expected more…suspense I think, and I never found the story to be all consuming or exciting. With that said, I did need to know the answer to the mystery and was intrigued enough to continue reading. Maybe I read to much, but the big reveal didn’t exactly surprise me, though that could be because I was hoping for a more ‘thrilling’ reveal.
I’m not 100% sure what didn’t work for me on this one. I do think it is unique, and the writing is good, if not a bit wordy for my taste. Not knowing the ‘secret’ for so long and with how much it was eluded, did frustrate me a bit. But then again I’m pretty impatient, so that’s probably a me problem.
This one was just a 2.5 rounded up to 3 star read for me. I think this book is for a very particular type of reader, and for readers that enjoy more atmosphere and slow burn stories than anything else. It wasn’t really for me, but there are so many other reviews out there loving it, that I would check out their reviews to see what they loved before deciding against reading this book.
The Other Side of Night comes out October 11, 2022! Huge thank you to Atria Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.
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