The Other Side of Everything by Lauren Doyle Owens -- Review

Title: The Other Side of Everything
Author: Lauren Doyle Owens 
Pages: 272
Publishing: January 23rd 2018 by Touchstone
ISBN: 1501167790

Synopsis: 

Laura Lippman meets Megan Abbott in this suspenseful literary debut about three generations of neighbors whose lives intersect in the aftermath of a crime.

Bernard White is a curmudgeonly widower who has lived in Seven Springs, Florida for decades and has kept to himself since his wife passed. When his neighbor is murdered, he emerges from his solitude to reconnect with his fellow octogenarians. These connections become a literal lifeline as a second, and then a third, elderly woman is murdered, and “the originals” as they call themselves, realize that they are being targeted.

Amy Unger is an artist and cancer survivor whose emotional recovery has not been as successful as her physical one. After the woman next door is murdered, she begins to paint imagined scenes from the murder in an effort to cope with her own loss. But when her paintings prove to be too realistic, her neighbors grow suspicious, and she soon finds herself in the crosshairs of the police.

And then there’s Maddie Lowe, a teenage waitress whose mother recently abandoned the family. As Maddie struggles to keep her family together and maintain the appearance of normal teenage life, she finds herself drawn to the man the police say is the killer.

As they navigate their increasingly dangerous and tumultuous worlds, Bernard, Amy, and Maddie begin to uncover the connections between them, and the past and present, in a novel that ultimately proves the power of tragedy to spark renewal.

Review: 

The Other Side of Everything is a thought provoking literary journey disguised as a suspense novel, and I deeply loved this story from start to finish. The characters were intriguing and the story line was fast paced with just the right amount of suspense and thrill. I loved the fact that it had classic suspense vibes, but also took the reader along on a journey with the characters as they navigated life and loss. 

The Other Side of Everything is definitely not your typical suspense novel. It has more emotional components than most thriller/suspense novels, but do NOT let that turn you away. It is beautifully written and I would highly recommend it to readers who enjoy suspense novels as well as general fiction. Even though this novel is one of my first reads of the year, I know it will be one I remember for the remaining 11 months!

Rating 4/5