The Other Side of Night
A Novel
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3.5 • 62 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
For fans of Matt Haig, Anthony Horowitz, and David Mitchell, a “strange, compelling” (John Connolly) genre-bending literary thriller that blends mystery, philosophy, and time-bending suspense in a story of love, loss, and second chances.
The Other Side of Night begins with a man named David Asha writing about his biggest regret: his sudden separation from his son, Elliot. In his grief, David tells a story.
Next, we step into the life of Harriet Kealty, a police officer trying to clear her name after a lapse of judgment. She discovers a curious inscription in a secondhand book—a plea: Help me, he’s trying to kill me. Who wrote this note? Who is “he”?
This note leads Harri to David Asha, who was last seen stepping off a cliff. Police suspect he couldn’t cope after his wife’s sudden death. Still, why would this man jump and leave behind his young son? Quickly, Harri’s attention zeroes in on a person she knows all too well.
Ben Elmys: once the love of her life. A surrogate father to Elliot Asha and trusted friend to the Ashas.
Ben may also be a murderer.
Compulsively readable and thought-provoking, “The Other Side of Night is one of those rare books that you’ll still be thinking about long after the last page” (Jenny Blackhurst, author of How I Lost You).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In the preface to this stellar thriller from British author Hamdy (the Pendulum trilogy), popular novelist David Asha reflects on the close bond he shared with his son, Elliot, grateful for their time together but lamenting the tragic events that drove them apart. In the main narrative, various pertinent letters and emails, court and police reports, and news clippings tell the story of disgraced police detective Harriet Kealty's monumental impact on Elliot's life. Though dismissed from the force over manslaughter allegations, Harriet conducts a personal investigation into the deaths of university physicist Elizabeth Asha and her husband, David, believing foul play may be involved. The couple's orphaned 10-year-old son has been entrusted to a family friend, Ben Elmys, a man Harriet once held strong feelings for, but who spurned her love. Mistrustful of Ben and concerned about the boy's safety, Harriet goes on a private crusade to uncover evidence of wrongdoing, with shocking consequences. Intelligently plotted and powerfully told, Hamdy's deviously twisty tale of fate and coincidence, love and courage, and profoundly tough choices will shock, stir, and haunt readers long after the final page. Hamdy has upped his game with this one.
Customer Reviews
So good until it wasn’t
This was a great read and highly engaging until the last 25 % of the book which took a complete left turn and went totally off the rails. Not only did the narrative take a path that was neither set up in the plot before, it was absolutely nonsensical and left plot holes and inconsistencies you could drive a freight train two. It became like two books poorly patchworked together and such a shame because it had been a well written and engaging novel
The other side of night
Instead of developing themes, the author just kept repeating the emotional dilemmas of the characters, relying on maudlin sentiment and superlatives to try to get his point across. The female protagonist came across not as a person but as a prop in the tragedy of the hero, a tortured genius. I think there was a good story in there but it got buried under that rubble.