Until Darren and Jodie move in, Lowland Way is a suburban paradise. Beautiful homes. Friendly neighbours. Kids playing out in the street. But Darren and Jodie don't follow the rules and soon disputes over loud music and parking rights escalate to threats of violence.
Then, early one Sunday, a horrific crime shocks the street. As the police go house-to-house, the residents close ranks and everyone's story is the same: They did it.
But there's a problem. The police don't agree. And the door they're knocking on next is yours.
Title: Those People
Author: Louise Candlish
Published By: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: 27th June 2019
Our Review
I can only say I am completely in awe of Louise Candlish. Her writing style is sleek, slick and stylish. The characters are mostly unlikeable but strongly developed and that only seems to draw you in further to the story.
Those People is about a well to do neighbourhood in London, the neighbours all get on so well and live in a perfect suburban bubble consisting of play out Sundays when all the cars are moved off the road to allow the children to play outside safely.
Everything is running smoothly until the horrible neighbours Darren and Jodie move in. I felt myself raging at these neighbours as they were as obnoxious as you could possibly get with their loud metal music and second hand cars parked everywhere.
But then empathising with the other neighbours made me look at myself as the snob within me made me feel that this man was less that human and I hated him and I didn’t like that aspect of myself. The same happens as the focus is turned on all of the nice neighbours in the book and you wonder just how nice they actually are.
Louise has the ability to dissect the human psyche and push it to the limit. The effect those people had on the relationships that once appeared to be happy is truly amazing.
The book describes how far people will go if they are pushed to the edge which these neighbours were. It also shows the futility of the law abiding neighbours when faced with people like this who have no fear of the law and no regard for the extreme antisocial behaviour they are carrying out. It also makes you wonder who the law is actually protecting.
This book is actually quite scary and I hope that I never get neighbours like this.
The plot is so clever with its twists and turns but the observational psychology is completely genius.
I loved Louise’s previous book Our House which was also devastatingly clever.
I think Louise’s piece de resistance is the fact that at the end of the book we are always in for another heart sinking shock which leaves us thinking Oh Sh*t!
Absolutely bloody brilliant.
Sincerely
Book Angel x
About the Author
Louise Candlish is the bestselling author of twelve novels. Her thriller Our House was a number one bestseller in paperback, ebook and audiobook and is shortlisted for a 2019 British Book Award - Crime & Thriller Book of the Year. It has been optioned for TV by Death in Paradise producers Red Planet Pictures, and was picked as a Book of the Year 2018 by the Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Real Simple, the Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Sunday Express, Red and Heat. Louise lives in London with her family.
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