Complicit

Nicci French always delivers a gripping read and this is no exception.
At first I found it difficult to get into the rhythm of the book with the constant switching between Before and After, but soon found myself enthralled in the mystery. I have to admit I felt slightly sick when things spiraled out of control so quickly. How would I have coped with suddenly becoming a 'criminal'? As circumstances gathered momentum so did my desire to get to the bottom of the mystery and I found I couldn't put the book down.
Another triumph for the husband and wife writing team.

This is only my second Nicci French book, but I’ve already noticed a pattern: girl falls unexpectedly for man who is not good for her. Bad things ensue.

However, that doesn’t mean this book was the same as the first. There’s a unique structure here. The book opens with Bonnie and a dead body; after that, the chapters alternate between before the event and after. In the before, Bonnie is putting together a rag-tag band (literally, a music band) to play at a friend’s wedding. In the after, Bonnie is dealing with the aftermath of the death and what she chose to do about it.

I ended up with mixed feelings about this book. I wasn’t particularly drawn to any of the characters. I was more frustrated with Bonnie than worried about her show more or supportive of her. But then something interesting happened. Just as I was starting to get bored with the story and thought I knew exactly where it was going, bam! Everything changed, and I got sucked back in.

So if you don’t mind not loving the characters, it’s worth a read! show less

I have very much enjoyed all of Nicci French's books, but have the feeling that they are now becoming a bit formulaic. The thriller is as ever well set up, with the lead character found at the start standing over a dead body, and the action unfolding before and after the event, and the writing is smooth and reliable, with the requisite twists and turns throughout. There's nothing at all wrong with it, and it's a good read, but I would love to see the authors branch out into different territory - perhaps a male protagonist? Or a third person narrative? For the first time, I think, they have created a heroine who can't cook (I rather miss the food writing), so perhaps that's a first step...

How is it possible I didn't see it coming, yet when it came, I was slightly underwhelmed; and still...I really liked this book??!!?? The story is told in a back and forth before and after style which I liked, but since I was listening to the audio was sometimes a bit confused so had to keep pulling up the ebook to verify where I was in the story. That was my fault for not giving it 100% attention, but what can I say, I'm at work so my attention is divided. I truly did enjoy this story, the characters and the mystery at the center of it all and from the beginning I was convinced I'd figured it all out. I was so, so, so wrong! Love when that happens! I do recommend this book, it's a good tale and you'll like several of the characters.

Think of this book as the novel version of the tv show "Friends" with a side of "Murder She Wrote". You see,
a soon to be married woman asks her friend, Bonnie, to provide the musical entertainment for her wedding reception. Bonnie agrees to it but doesn't realize just how much it will change her life.
The ragtag band she forms, which includes friends, old and new and unfamiliar musicians, become entangled in murder and deception.
This novel's delivery has a little spin to it, in that the chapters are divided by "After" and "Before" and secondly, though much is revealed about the crime scene little is known about the murder itself and a few key points are not immediately revealed so the reader is urged on to the reader on to discover show more the details.
A fairly good story yet the conclusion might be too tidy for some.

Thanks to NetGalley, author and publisher for allowing me to read the Advanced Copy of this novel for my honest review. show less

The story starts with Bonnie Graham standing in the apartment of a friend. In front of her lies the corpse of her lover. Then the story skips back and forth between the events before the murder and the time immediately afterwards.
In the chapters about the events leading to the murder Bonnie forms a band in order to play at her friends wedding. We learn a lot about the relationship between these characters. Many of them seem to have a motive for the murder or had problems with the victim. The chapters taking part after the murder deal with the same characters, trying to cover and protect each other while not knowing who really committed the crime.
I liked the book, although I sometimes felt the urge to shout at the characters for show more behaving so stupid. Although I suspected the real murderer quite early in the After chapters, it was fascinating to gain small bits of information in each chapter forming the whole picture at the end. I was a bit disappointed by the motive, though.
Overall, the book is a capturing thriller, focussing on problematic relationships between the main characters. show less

The Other Side of the Door by Nicci French is a highly recommended who-dun-it and a re-release of 2009's Complicit.

The novel opens with Bonnie Graham seeing a body on the floor, but instead of calling the police, she calls a friend to help hide the body and clean up the crime scene. Then the novel flips back and forth in time between the present in "After" chapters referring to events after the body was taken care of and "Before" chapters following the events that happened before the death. Bonnie is a music teacher who, before the death, gathers together a group of musicians to form a band to play at her friend's wedding. Hayden is a professional musician who joins her band and the two become involved. Hayden is the man found dead in show more the opening and the investigation is in the After chapters.

The unfolding of the plot is a complicated knot of interpersonal problems, misinformation, and misunderstandings in both timelines. The alternating between before and after helps keep the suspense up and the tension high. In the after chapters we follow the investigation into the death but in the flashbacks also learn more information about the characters in this book and the events that lead up to the death. There are actions by the characters and abuse that is tolerated that seems questionable, but as more information about all the characters is carefully presented there is a lot of satisfaction in the final twist. Since this is a renamed re-release of a previously published novel, I'm uncertain if the original novel was rewritten or revised before publication.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins in exchange for my honest opinion.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/04/the-other-side-of-door.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3926274572 show less