The Other Side of Everything by Lauren Doyle Owens / Review by Joe Hero
The Other Side of Everything
By Lauren Doyle Owens
Touchstone
$25.00
ISBN 978-1501167799
Publication Date: January 23, 2018
Book of the Day
Here is some excellent work. Crotchety Bernard has been a hermit since his wife's passing. Amy is an artist whose marriage is on the rocks after her second bout with cancer. And Maddie is a fifteen-year-old girl who copes with her mother's leaving her family by cutting herself. What do they have in common other than living in the same Florida neighborhood? The elderly woman next door is murdered, spiraling them all into their own unique drama that Lauren Doyle Owens ultimately intersects in The Other Side of Everything. A second and then a third woman are victimized. Bernard emerges from his hermit's life to reunite with his former friends from the Baby Boomer generation. We begin to understand that out of his seemingly uninteresting past, the malice leading to the current murders may have been spawned. Amy paints pictures to cope with her own physical and emotional losses, but soon their impossible realism lands her under scrutiny from the authorities. And Maddie's new enigmatic boyfriend's demeanor draws suspicions, as well as a homeless Charlie, who may be just a bum down on his luck. Consider the genre, and this one delivers on all expectations. Literary without belabored prose, I wanted to keep reading to find out more about the well-developed characters. Mary Higgins Clark has gained a peer. A great comparison that comes to mind would be Moonlight Becomes You. The punch slightly lacked in originality, but still did not detract from the experience. The Other Side of Everything will be a sound addition to your suspense collection. Who murdered these women and why? Is this suspense-filled drama really Bernard's fault? Why is Amy drawn to paint series about the murders? How can a girl two generations removed from Bernard play a pivotal role? These questions had me eagerly devouring the rich and descriptive story all the way to the end. No lulls in this sound literary suspense. If you're a Mary Higgins Clark fan, you'll want The Other Side of Everything. A serial killing spree intertwining three generations, and done tightly with literary flare besides? I normally tend toward graphic thrillers, and I was absolutely fascinated and intrigued by the characters. You'll enjoy this.Joe served a dozen years in the US Navy as a nuclear reactor operator, worked pharma nanotechnology, and currently works taconite mining in heavy equipment operation. Having dedicated his career path toward writing fiction, he has spent the last four years writing over a dozen novels ranging in genre from military sci-fi, international action thriller, historical fiction/steampunk, and dark Americanized British comedy/drama, to dark suspense and psychological thriller/horror and is currently seeking agent representation.