The Other Half Lives

What I love about Sophie Hannah's books is how expertly she confuses me. I never have a hold on where her stories are going, I'm never able to predict the ending, no matter how many psychological thrillers I've read before. She doesn't follow a formula, and each book is a unique ride of twists and turns that somehow all make sense by the time the last page is turned.

In The Dead Lie Down, Hannah starts from what seems to be an impossible premise. Ruth Bussey's boyfriend, Aidan Seed, has confessed to murdering a woman who is still alive. Ruth, hiding a terrible past of her own, is desperate to figure out the truth and somehow protect the life she has built on shaky foundations.

Art, class, love, sins, survival, resilience, and family all show more intertwine in an incredibly suspenseful story. Hannah beautifully uses alternating points of view, upping the tension even more. Just when something is about to be revealed, a new chapter starts, and the information you've been wanting to know so much is now another chapter away, making it impossible to put the book down.

If you love authors like Tana French, and are looking for another great psychological thriller to add to your to-be-read shelf, I highly recommend The Dead Lie Down. show less

(aka - The Other Half Lives; don't get me started on Hannah's dual titles for EVERY book.) First, I love most of Hannah's books. TDLD is the 4th in the series, the 4th I've read and it was disappointing. The first half provides a lot of character background, told in the usual non-chronological order and by multiple points of view, including the protagonist speaking in alternating chapters in the first person. But this is Hannah's style and I usually get into it after a bit, but this time it was too much of who knew what when and is what they knew or thought they knew true. Well, at the end, I felt I could pass a "facts of the case" test with marks in the low 90's. But I have to admit, I would score in the mid-thirties on "what were the show more characters' motivations" ( I was concentrating too hard on getting my facts straight). It was all too much like work and there were moments when I felt like I was just plowing through. And I don't get Simon, a character no one likes, and he's rather critical since the Simon-Charlie romance thing is a significant piece of this book (maybe some readers see him as a project for Charlie and are hooked by the prospects of a turn-around, or tragic moment, but he really started to bore me in this one). All that having said there are many excellent moments in the book, including a fight between two women in their thirties, slinging rapid-fire insults at each other, spewing prize-winning lines that we mere mortals only think to say hours after the narrow window of opportunity has closed. All this concluding with the perfect climactic gesture. Then a nice moment when Charlie professes her love for her dolt of a fiance during a rather incredible moment. I'll read the next one in the series but I'll wait a bit before doing so. show less

I have read and enjoyed three other Sophie Hannah books, and this was the next for me to read in the Zailer/Waterhouse series. I had taken note of the many poor reviews, but was prepared to make up my own mind.

It's a long read, but I enjoyed it very much. It's about Ruth Bussey, a damaged woman whose boyfriend, Aidan, tells her he has murdered a woman who Ruth knows is definitely alive. This is the sort of storyline this author excels at, taking something seemingly implausible and making it into a gripping read.

I was left guessing throughout the majority of the book, and couldn't see how the story could be resolved. As it happens, it did get resolved in quite a convoluted fashion, and I admit that I found the end quite confusing, but at show more no point did I get bored with the story or feel the need to skim or even give up, which is the acid test for reading enjoyment for me.

This isn't her best book, but I still enjoyed it and look forward to reading the next in the series. show less

In the beginning, this book does not make sense. The characters' actions do not make sense. By the end of the book, it all becomes clearer in a kind of murky, cloudy way. Every main characters is seriously disturbed and scarred, and there are more than a few convenient coincidences along the way.

The premise of the book is that a man told his girlfriend that he killed a woman many years ago, but then she realizes this can't be true because she has met the allegedly dead woman. Several months after this intimate confession, both of them (on the same day, no less), make separate visits to the police to report/confess to this murder that may or may not have happened. (See previous paragraph if you are confused.)

Hannah is an obviously show more imaginative writer and skillful at weaving a plot together that seem impossible, but all comes together (mostly) at the end. She jumps back and forth between various characters' p.o.v. and writes through each of their eyes convincingly. show less

I can say, in all honesty, that this book could do without 150 pages easy. The premise is there, the twisting plot delivers in certain points; but the constant repetition and the endless rambling makes this book a disappointing read in the end.
Ruth´s boyfriend, Adrian, confides in her by telling her that he murdered a woman years ago. Ruth is left speechless; but when she realises that the woman Adrian claims to have killed is very much alive and well, everything starts to fall apart. Detectives Charlie and Simon start doing some digging and things just get more confusing and complicated. After much reading, we get to the end, which is terribly delivered! It kept reminding me of when you are watching a bad movie and the killer starts show more confessing to everything at the very end so that it´s all crystal clear. Very poor closure. I recommend skipping this one. show less

but not right away...this 4th in the series has the twistiest plot yet. Maybe a bit too much, but once again, the characters in the mystery are full of depth and intrigue. And as for Zailer and Waterhouse: don't miss the worst engagement party ever!

I was so intrigued by the first Sophie Hannah book I read, 'Little Face', that I've caught up with all her crime fiction and with some of her early novels too (she's also a respected poet).
I'd have to say, though, that 'The Other Half Lives' has left me wondering whether I really want to read any more. Her familiar preoccupations are there in force: obsessive behaviour, dysfunctional relationships, bizarre coincidences and chance meetings. But whereas, in her previous novels, these elements were kept slightly more in check, here they dominate the storyline to a wearying extent. Time and time again I found myself thinking 'but sane people just don't behave like that!'. Several of the main characters seem to teeter on the verge of show more craziness, and the contrivances of the plot are so impossibly Byzantine that they fail to convince. Apparently Sophie Hannah believes that it's interesting to start off with a seemingly impossible situation, then gradually work out an explanation during the course of the book. That's how this novel feels to me - and not in a good way. I still think she's an interesting writer, but the fact that I thought about abandoning this book not once, but several times - something I very rarely do - says a lot about its shortcomings. show less