The Other Passenger

I really enjoyed this book, David and Emma are running from something, but we aren't told what, through flashbacks we get glimpses of what lead to where they are now. Along the way the author leaves hints, could it be this, could it be that.

The characters are well written, and believable, and they plot moves on at a decent pace, I liked the back and forth as it gave hints as to why they might be in the situation they are in, without giving away too much.

This book is an interesting journey that has many far reaching meanings. It is told in multiple timelines with two persons. We finall learn a little more as the story emerges! While there were hints of certain twists sprinkled about, and there were many, I believe they are glaringly intentional. The author leaves us with a lot to think about, and I’ll have to take a deep breath before I start another book! I really enjoyed it!

The Other Passenger is a thriller that will leave you wanting more. A rainy night and dangerous roads, a killer on the road. Two strangers meet, both running from something but forced together because of bad weather and chance.

I really did not know where this story was going, and I have to say I was shockingly surprised by how it turned out! I quite enjoyed, not only the two different POV but how it also went back and forward in time. And slowly made you realise what had happened to bring both characters together. This was a very interesting book, and I really enjoyed it!
Thanks to Netgalley and BooksGoSocial for the arc!

Paranoia.
Jealousy.
Betrayal.
Murder.
Secrets.
Anger.

Quote: "He wished he had planned ahead but tonight was a night he hadn't expected."

In The Other Passenger by JE Rowney, we follow the journey of David and Emma. Their story is told between "now" and the hours leading up to "now." The journey starts off with a murder. However, we do not know who, what, or why.

In the "now" David is driving down a dark an isolated road in the rain. David has just experienced an unfortunate event at his work's awards ceremony. The ceremony in which David attended alone per usual. His wife Amanda just could not be bothered to support her husband, who was supposed to receive a prestigious award. David and Amanda used to be happy. That happiness has become more of just a game of cat and mouse. There had been a time when David was not a failure.

Quote: "Perhaps she had been lucky, but the night wasn't over yet. There was a storm to get through first."

Emma has had a really tough year. She is quite troubled, to say the least. She has migraines all the time, and her life is falling apart. She still talks to her sister, Angelina, who never responds because Angeliana really isn't there anymore. Emma sets off to search for answers as to why that is.

David and Emma are complete strangers from totally different generations. However, they are both running from something.

Along the road, David picks up a young female hitchhiker. She appears to be around the same age as his nineteen-year-old daughter, Charlotte. The girl is very focused on her phone but eventually her and David begin to talk. David is asking the typical "get to know you" questions when an alert comes across the radio. "The discovery of a women's body in a shallow grave..."

Will David and Emma get away from what they are running from? Do they have secrets they hope will never see the light of day?

Quote: "Sometimes it's better to be two strangers in the night sharing a ride."

The Other Passenger by JE Rowney is a quick read. The pace is well written. It will keep you engaged. I do feel like the ending was abrupt and could have been a little more detailed. All in all, I would recommend this book to my fellow thriller lovers.

This book has minimal foul language, which I really appreciate.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review The Other Passenger.

Having read books by J E Rowney before I had high expectations and this book certainly does not disappoint.

I loved this was totally enthralled from th first to the last page. Thank you for the opportunity to review. Solid 4 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for this Advanced Reader’s Copy of The Other Passenger by JE Rowney due to be published May 31, 2024.
A man and a woman are both running and forced together by the rain. When David picks up Emma on the side of the road neither one knows what secrets each of them holds. When they hear on the radio a body has been found on the road, they are both curious as to what the other’s real story might be. Are they both innocent or both dangerous?
The Other Passenger was a great read. It alternated from boy Emma’s and David’s backstories that caught you up on why they were in the car together and how they came to be where they were on that night. The story just sort of went along, and I wondered where it might be going. Oh. My. Gosh. The ending! It did not go at all where I thought it would. It was truly a shock just like a good thriller should be. This is one you will not want to miss!
#NetGalley #JERowney #BooksGoSocial #TheOtherPassenger

I enjoyed this book.. I love psychological thriller books and this book had my attention from the first few Pages.. I like how David and Emma are forced together by the rain, knowing that they are trying to get away from something they have done..I like how the story unfolds, as we get to know what they are doing on that Dark Road at Night.. the story is well written, but sometimes a little slow… So I gave it 3.5 stars😊thanks to netgalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review..

3.75 stars rounded up. This book is told from dual points of view of David and Emma. All we know at the start is that each of them are trying to get away from something they have done. Each chapter focuses on the past or present of each character. Because of this, the story unfolds slowly as the reader learns what brought each of them to be on that lonely dark road at night. For most of the book, you are kept in the dark about David and Emma's secrets and motivations until it all comes together at the end.

It is well written, and the author does a good job of bringing the characters to life, although I feel that we get to see far more of David's situation than Emma's. It is also fairly claustrophobic as for a lot of the book, they are travelling in David's car. I didn't mind this as it added to the uncomfortable tension between the characters.

It is tense in some places, but I found that the pace was slightly disrupted as the characters' POV changed. It is an enjoyable, easy to read thriller, and I liked the ending as it tied everything together. I would try more books by this author and would recommend if you like a twisty thriller with dual POV.

Two strangers meet on a desolate road during a downpour, both heading away from something.

David expected this night to be the night everything fell into place, the night all of his hard work came to fruition. Slaving away at work, ignoring his family and becoming unimportant in return, was all for the chance at this award.
Emma hasn’t been the same since her sister left. She’s spiraling but she won’t give up. Angeline is still there, and she needs their bond again.

The story is told in dual POV, switching from the past (5-1 hour ago) to the present situation, the two in the car together. This book is definitely a page turner. The prologue hooks you right from the get go, it’s engrained with the frantic anxiety of a killer. Makes you look for clues in everything to figure out which of the two are the killer.

The first few chapters were a little clunky but it quickly sped up and became more engaging as David and Emma’s lives unraveled. Definitely recommend this book if you’re in a reading slump, an easy to read, fast paced, thriller to get the mind going.

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC!

The story started off very interesting but slowly started to die down I was not a fan of the jump time lines with two POV. I feel as though this had great potential to be a 5 with the way it began and the mystery it shared but being that it was a short read I lowered it to 4. Overall great suspense to keep you on edge but gets lost with PoVs.

Dark and ominous - two strangers on a rainy night. Two different reasons to be out in the rain, two roads converging almost as destiny. A quick and curious read, draws you in - and is there a HEA?

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 written by JE Rowney is marketed as a psychological thriller that follows two characters, David and Emma, two strangers driving in an isolated stretch just a couple miles outside a city, where they’re both hiding a dark secret. I was shocked with the way the book ended—although I wasn’t entirely happy about the ending—but it was a fun read nonetheless.

I was immediately drawn in by the opening sentence of the book and wanted to know what just happened and why. The dual POVs were interesting—although it did fall flat a bit as we rarely go to see into Emma’s perspective as much as we’re able to see through from David’s eyes. I liked the flashback/present chapters that made me question what the characters did before their first interaction and how their past would connect to the present issue. The author has very lovely descriptions throughout the book, but it is a little overdone most of the time as it reads like purple prose. I often found myself wanting to skip entire paragraphs just to get to something that actually was part of the plot and not just flowery constructed sentences of a character doing a basic thing. I didn’t have many issues until the halfway point of the book.

Once the cop made his appearance, I was instantly bored with where the story was going. We still had the two characters stuck in a car together while not really knowing why either of them are out in the middle of nowhere so late at night. I quickly figured out what David had done early on in the story and was a bit surprised when I learned what Emma had done given the history of her sister.

All in all, the ending blatantly sucks. I was hooked from the first sentence and was pleased until about the mid-way point when things went pretty slow for the characters, but I absolutely hate how the author ended the book with not just one character dying, but both of them. I didn’t like how Emma just murdered David and then killed herself. It just felt kind of pointless in terms of how I perceived her character and her mixed feelings with what happened to her sister . . .

I would definitely recommend others to read this book, it was definitely worth reading, even with my issues with it. It was an easy/quick read for a thriller book and didn’t leave me asking questions that never got answered.

Thank you NetGalley and JE Rowney for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Maybe I should not read books with male perspectives during that time of the month because I was immediately tired of David. He is just driving his car and whining. "oh no this cupcake smell is stressing me out." Like David your grandfather probably fought in awar and your great grandpa likely worked in a mine and you're whining over a cupcake scent in your car with the nice leather interior. UGH! Anyway, as the story goes on you see more reasons for his whining but he still comes off as a whiner.
"I am so alone" he whines after a woman tries to take his hand and offer him some support.
Emma is a teen dealing with her own stuff when David finds her on the side of the road and offers her a ride.
David only has a single debit card and he left it with his wife. Is that normal where they live? Because We all have tons of cards and payment methods here. Anyway, he can't get gas in his company car. Emma won't let him use her debit card.
Then we get a huge twist. It was delightful!
The end is sad tho.

It was pretty good. I would like to see more suspense. I would recommend to my friends. If you like authors like Rosie Walker you will like this one