The Other Side of Night

I didn't plan on reading two time travel books back to back, yet found myself in this position when reading The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy straight after The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. Given to me by a friend, The Other Side of Night is David Asha's story told from multiple viewpoints and a series of excerpts and extracts.

Harriet Kealty is a disgraced police officer trying to clear her name when she stumbles across a plea for help and a potential kidnapping. Deciding to investigate, she soon recognises a familiar name, Ben Elmys.

At times reminding me of the TV show Fringe, the layers build to create a story-within-a-story covering big life themes, like this character insight about our very existence:

"In a hundred years our show more suffering and tears and laughter and happiness will all be forgotten, replaced by another generation whose existences are equally transient and meaningless, and yet deeply meaningful and significant to them and those they love. Our ability to know we are nothing while perceiving we are everything has driven some mad, and it almost broke me during those dark days." Page 275

The story-within-a-story structure began to grow thin for me as I struggled a little with the time travel aspects of the novel. In fact, I chuckled in recognition when I read the following line:

"I'm not sure she ever fully understood how to think in four dimensions, the idea that what happens had to have happened, but she smiled sympathetically..." Page 323

In hindsight, I should have taken some time (pun intended) before punching my time travel ticket again, yet I enjoyed untangling the mystery to reveal the clever twist at the end. Hamdy makes the reader question what we think we know about the past, the present and of course the future:

"Time is an illusion our minds create to give us a sense of direction." Page 331

The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy is a stand alone science fiction novel about love, loss, sacrifice, fate, the passage of time and memories and is recommended for fans of The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. show less

Adam Hamdy's "The Other Side of Night" is a bizarre tale about David and Beth Asha, two physicists who have a son, Elliot, whom they adore. David and Beth's best friend, Ben Elmys, is another brilliant scientist, whom they consider to be part of their family. When Elliot loses his parents under mysterious circumstances, Ben becomes the boy's guardian. Another key character is Harriet Kealty, a police officer who lost her job after an altercation that led to a suspect's death. She dates Ben briefly and they feel an immediate and intense attraction, but Ben breaks off the relationship after three dates. Harriet is deeply hurt, and resolves to be far more wary of men in the future.

Among the protagonists, Harriet is the one with whom it is show more easiest to identify. She is a competent and devoted cop who is at loose ends after having been fired and, for reasons that are too complicated to explain, decides to look into what happened to Beth and David Asha. Was there foul play involved in their deaths? When she interviews Ben, he behaves strangely, makes cryptic comments, and writes abstract poems that are intriguing but unenlightening. Some of the book's prose is painfully trite, such as: "Time makes fools of us all" and "Our intentions are good, our outcomes bad."

"The Other Side of Night" ultimately veers off into convoluted, far-fetched, and arcane pathways. Ben and Elliot are keeping a major secret from Harriet, and we must slog through interminable exposition to get to the big reveal. One of the central questions that Hamdy raises is: What would you be willing to do to remain with someone you love? The author suggests that certain individuals would go to incredible extremes to stay with their soulmates. Whether or not you are moved by this sentiment, this novel is too muddled, arcane, and ponderous to fully engage us, either emotionally or intellectually. show less

Happy Publication Day! (October 11, 2022)

4.5⭐

“If you had the power to save the life of someone you loved, how far would you go?”

The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy is the story of a father, David Asha, an author who shares the story of how he came to be separated from his son Elliot, in his new book. It is also a story of his son, a boy who loses his father soon after his mother dies from cancer. It is also the story of Ben Elmys, a family friend and colleague of the Ashas, who is responsible for Elliot's care after his parents are gone.

This is also the story of Harriet “Harri” Kealty a disgraced police officer who loses her job after being unable to prove her innocence when she is wrongfully accused in a case-related show more incident . Harri finds a cryptic message in a book she finds in a library sale – a message that leads her to Elliot and his guardian Ben Elmys, a man with whom she once dreamed of a future. Her subsequent investigation into the Asha family and Ben results in her fate becoming inextricably linked to the lives of those she is investigating.

The story is told from the perspectives of Harri and Elliot as well as through chapters from David’s book that also includes court transcripts, police reports, passages from a book and journal entries from some of the characters. At times the narrative might feel disjointed but rest assured, it all comes together (and how!) in the end. If you decide to read this book it is best to go in blind! The pace is on the slower side, but the beautifully penned passages make this worth the read and be prepared to be confused, surprised, unsettled, heartbroken and then finally, filled with a sense of wonder at this thought-provoking and genre-defying novel. This is an unusual story –one that combines elements of family drama, a love story, mystery and speculative fiction. Though this is not a fast-paced thriller, I could not put this book down until I reached the very end.

Many thanks to Adam Hamdy, Atria Books and NetGalley for the digital copy of this incredible novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. show less

My head is spinning after reading this absolutely bloody brilliant book. On the surface it appears to be a crime thriller, but there are so many twists and turns to the plot that keep you can’t stop reading. As others have noted, it’s tough to review a book where the publisher requests that as little info as possible be given, and I agree that not having read blurbs about the novel helped immensely with my enjoyment of the book. Intricately crafted and one of the best books I’ve experienced this year.

In a Nutshell: Can’t reveal much without spoiling it, so all I’ll say here is: it takes a long while to get going but the ending is worth it. Better suited to those who prefer character-driven reads and aren’t fussy about genres. I am an outlier once again, but on the positive side – Woohoo!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plot Preview:

Harriet Kealty, a police officer, has just been suspended. As she tries to clear her name, she discovers a second-hand book with an inscription: “Help me, he’s trying to kill me.” Backtracking to the last person who borrowed the book from the library, Harriet discovers that Elizabeth Asha, the woman who possibly wrote the note, died a few months ago, followed soon after by her husband David,

show more

who jumped off the cliffs, leaving behind their six-year-old son Elliott. Harriet feels compelled to check on Elliott, when she discovers, to her great surprise, that his new guardian is Ben Elmys, the love of Harriet’s life who broke up with her after just three dates. Is this all just a coincidence? But there are no coincidences in police work, right?
Ben was just a colleague of the Ashas. Why is he the guardian of their son? Why did David jump off the cliff when he knew there was no one to look after his little boy? Why did Elizabeth write the note? As Harriet scrambles to find the truth, she realises a horrifying possibility: Ben Elmys might be a murderer. Can she leave her one-sided feelings for him aside and dig out the truth?

PSA: Go in blind!

Bookish Yays: show less

The Other Side of Night is an amazing story; part love story, part fairy tale, part police procedural. The story evolves around the idea of what you would be willing to sacrifice to save the life of someone you loved. To appreciate the story the reader accepts the theory that time is an illusion our minds create to give us a sense of direction. Very creative and thoughtful.
"Think of Elliot when your life is hard"

Thank you to Book Club Favorites at Simon & Schuster for the free copy for review.
This is a mind bending thriller. Harri finds a note in a book that leads her to investigate the suspicious disappearance of a man. Although she has been released from the police force, she asks her former partner to help her investigate. The investigation zeroes in on a man Harri once dated, Ben Elmys, and his involvement with the Asha family, physicists David and Beth. David disappeared without a trace shortly after his wife Beth died of cancer, and their son, Elliot became Ben's ward. Once Ben became Elliot's guardian, he told Harri that they needed to break up, and she was devastated. There was something strange happening and Harri knew Ben and Elliot show more held the answer.
The conclusion of the book will test your ability to believe in something that many have tried to pursue. Interestingly different, focusing on how far would you go for love? show less