Lots of interesting folks in this book....but it was just too far fetched, for me. The music was understandable but noise from remodeling happens all the time!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even though I disliked basically every character. Good plot, solid pacing, and the end made me audibly say, “Wait, what?!”

A mew couple move on to Lowland Way. They are noHing like the people living there, neither affluent nor educated. First they begin to repair and sell used cars from their home. Then they start making extensive and noisy repairs to the house. While doing this, they play heavy metal music loudly. The neighbors, two brothers and their wives, a couple with a new baby and an older woman who is using her home as a B & B, join together in a series of attempts to get rid of the couple. Eventually there is a death when some scaffolding falls down and kills the pregnant girlfriend of the older woman’s son. The Police become involved and conduct an investigation into this death. I won’t go further into the plot because of spoilers, but there is more than one death, and values are challenged throughout as is complacency. This was a solid 3.5 stars raised to a 4. Thanks to Net Galley and Berkley for an ARC for an honest review.

I couldn’t wait to read Those People by Louis Candlish when I saw it. I loved Our House and hoped that this would be just as good and it was! I liked the premise, the characters, how the author structured the book and I had genuine sympathy for the people on Lowland Way.

Lowland Way is the suburban dream. The houses are beautiful, the neighbors get along, and the kids play together on weekends.

But when Darren and Jodie move into the house on the corner, they donʼt follow the rules. They blast music at all hours, begin an unsightly renovation, and run a used-car business from their yard. It doesn’t take long for an all-out war to start brewing. Then, early one Saturday, a horrific death shocks the street. As police search for witnesses, accusations start flying—and everyone has something to hide.

This is one of those books where you wonder how you’d handle the situation of terrible neighbors that affect your quality of life. Darren and Jodie are absolute nightmares! I like the characters in the book, everyone is flawed and has problems, like real life.

Put this one on your calendar and read it on June 11.

Loud death metal, crappy cars parked in the best spots, unceasing renovations, and a foul-mouthed bare-chested brute have lowered the tone of the neighborhood. The longstanding homeowners want to negotiate a peaceful resolution, but the new neighbors are not receptive to their forays. Black humor and a plethora of perspectives make for a delightfully twisted tale. With her second novel of suspense, Candlish deftly establishes herself as a force to be reckoned with.

Do you ever really know your neighbors? I live in a suburb just like the one in this book! I found it fascinating to read but a little hard to keep my interest. One of those books you enjoy but unfortunately forgetful. I’d rate this right down the middle.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel.
Lowland Way is the Street of Dreams. Home owners keep their properties tidy, they always lend a helping hand when a neighbour is in need and they even cordon off their street on Sundays so the neighbourhood children can play unencumbered. However, when Darren and Jodie movie into the unit at Number 1, things immediately turn sour. They seemingly have no respect for the unofficial rules; blaring music at all hours, parking unauthorized cars in front of other residents’ homes, and working on renovations day and night. All of the other neighbours have had enough of the behaviour of the residents of Number 1. But are they fed up enough to murder?
Louise Candlish is no stranger to psychological fiction, her previous work “Our House” won me over and earned a well-deserved five star review! Much to my disappointment, “Those People” did not hold the same power.
The story is told from various standpoints, so we hear how the story plays out for every neighbour affected <i> (except Darren and Jodie) </i>. This method did help advance the plot and character development, and it added a bit of suspense to the story.
That being said, the story started off very <i>SLOW </i> for me. With a large amount of characters, it took my nearly half the book before I was able to differentiate between them all. None of them were particularly likable <i> (even the ones we are supposed to like) </i> and all of them go to ridiculously dramatic means to plot against an annoying neighbour.
Halfway through this story started to pick up, and although I began to enjoy the storyline a bit more, the characters did not really go more endearing. They were simply background players, necessary to tell a half-decent story.
The who-dunnit twists and turns in this novel are unexpected, and the ending has its own suspense, making the overall mood of this novel enjoyable and mysterious. Fewer characters <i> (and likable ones at that) </i> would have earned this novel the five-stars that its predecessor easily deserved.

Was just ok in my opinion. Had a hard time keeping interested in this one. I did finish because I wanted to know what happened. But no wow factor for me.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

Those People is book that will make you look at your neighbours in a different light.

The residents of Lowland Way are living the dream : until Darren and Jodie move in and they are the neighbours from hell.

Life is totally disrupted for the residents and then there is a death.

The police are investigating.

Everyone has something to hide. No one has a great likeablity factor on Lowland Way.

The pages turn quickly, you don't know who to believe or champion.

It's a dark tale that will have you looking at your neighbours with a suspicious mind.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the opportunity to read Those People. This book will stay with me for quite awhile.

Lowland Way is a street anyone would live to live on. The neighborhood is bucolic, tranquil, child friendly, everyone gets along. Sunday's the cars are moved from the street, the street closed off and children are allowed to play and have fun, without out fear. It's a wonderful neighborhood. Then, "they' move in, Darren and Jodie. In no time at all, the street looks like a used car lot. In fact that's exactly what Darren is doing. Parking used cars on their street and selling them. Also, renovations on the house are being done. In a hazardous manner by none other than yours truly! And the noise, rock music turned up as loud as it will go, all day and into the night. The power tools, the loudest power tools ever, a person can't hear themselves think.
A peaceful neighborhood is in chaos. He doesn't agree to no cars on the street on Sundays.
He doesn't adhere to the noise codes or the trash codes, or any codes. As the neighborhood falls apart so do the seemingly strong relationships that were there. Neighbors don't trust each other, spouses are at each others throats. And then someone dies. Then the real questions start.
Suspenseful and entertaining,

An excellent story about suburban life and its dramas. Talk about neighborly mishaps! Loved getting to know this community and piecing together what happened. Such a thrilling story!

Absolutely count not put this down. Reading it gave me actual anxiety, in a good way! Did not see that ending coming! Can't wait to recommend to library patrons that love thrillers.

I loved Louise Candish's book "Our House" and was hoping to be pulled into this one in the same way that I was pulled into that one. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for this book, but I lost interest pretty quickly. I may not have read far enough to get hooked. I didn't finish the book, but intend to give it another try sometime in the future.

I got this book because although a serious subject matter, I needed assurance that others have just as crazy of neighbors as I. I only hope my situation does not turn as dark as this book.!

Darren and Jodie move into what seems like a normal neighborhood. They however, are not. They play by their own rules (know the feeling!) by playing music loudly, making the place look like a big trash heap, etc. Therefore, when a murder occurs in their neighborhood, everyone suspects them. They have seemingly far more enemies than friends.

As the story unfolds however, we learn all of the neighbors have their secrets,. This is one of those stories that I personally felt did not give much away in clues as to the 'whodunnit' like I see all too often in mystery/suspense type fiction. I was guessing til the very end.

Great read. Will want to stay up and read it all just to find out all the little twists and turns throughout the plot

Those People by Louise Candlish. An ideal neighborhood with apparently peerless people living within is the setting of this domestic thriller. The drama starts when THOSE PEOPLE move in. Horrid describes the majority of the characters. Only likeable character was Amy and sadly she was a victim of the neighbors vendetta amongst each other. Like a train wreck you can't look away from the story as it comes to an unexpected ending. Be careful what you wish for.....

Thank you to the publisher, author, and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview the book.

3-3.5 stars for this one. The first part of the book takes place before some mysterious incident occurs and switches between POVs of many unlikable characters. There wasn't really any particular character whose chapters I looked forward to reading, as they were all kind of unbearable and petty and it felt like the "before" section was dragging on. That is a shame because by the time we actually got to the incident they'd been referencing the whole time, I wasn't really invested in it anymore and the suspense was totally gone. The second part was a little bit better, but I still had a hard time getting into the story or really caring much about how it would turn out. I was probably most interested in the relationships among the characters and figuring our their dynamics, which were very well fleshed out even though the mystery/suspense element was lacking. It was a decent, mindless read but not one that I will reread or think much about after putting it down.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I usually try to vary my reading diet so that the genres alternate, but this time I managed to read two women authored thrillers back to back and no regrets. To be fair…totally different beasts. This one did feature a death and some other suspicious and criminal activity, but it isn’t a traditional formulaic murder mystery thriller, no, this book is an utterly original and profoundly unsettling psychological drama about social mores. Lowland Way is a lovely neighborhood, everyone knows each other, everyone is friendly, there are car free playdates on Sundays, it’s positively idyllic. The property values are high, the lawns are mowed and everyone’s happy. Until the wrong sort of people move in. We’re talking white trash from the estates, loud music, complete disrespect for everyone’s space, parties. Suddenly and abruptly the tranquil paradise of Lowland Way is destroyed and, once the rest of the neighbors find out that they are more or less on their own, council bureaucracy being what it is, things start to spiral out of control. Until someone ends up dead. And that death isn’t even the end of it, that’s just the middle. Things are going to get as ugly as things can get when proper civilized well mannered (very much so on all accounts, British in fact) people take it upon themselves to get their neighborhood back. In a way this is a tragicomedy, the tragedy is obvious, but the comedy of errors comes into play when good intentions fall on deaf ears. The more you get into the novel, the more layers are peeled back, the more frightening their reality becomes. Frankly, the complete inability of police to intervene is difficult to process and difficult to accept. Noise pollution is a serious concern, so much so that it is legally recognized as a form of torture, and for a police in a first world country to offer no assistance with this is abhorrent. It’s also pretty much why libertarianism would never work…left to their own devices with no supervision people would do terrible things to each other. Like they do in the book. You might find yourself starting to question who the good guys are…after all Darren and Jodie don’t actually do much outside of the constant noise, but that’s probably because you have never been in a situation where your comfort and peace of mind are entirely reliant upon another person or persons. Communal living is a complicated thing and it only works well when everyone plays by the same rules. Darren and Jodie don’t belong on Lowland Way and by the end of the book you wouldn’t want to live there either. If enough ugliness if forced upon people therefore forcing them to do ugly things, they change. The staring into the abyss thing and all that. Lowland Way will never be the same. Even before that killer, killer ending. And so this book was…awesome. It worked as pure entertainment first and foremost, but it’s also oh so clever as a work of psychological fiction, genius really. So many clever observations. The way the rational decisions didn’t come to the forefront until much too late…because obviously an angry exasperated brain can’t think rationally. The things that might have been avoided. The misunderstandings. The well intentioned missteps. It’s insane. It’s realistic. It really makes you think. For me, it was much too personal. Frankly, I’ve never given much thought to noise concerns in suburbs, but for apartment living it can be a nightmare. The thing with apartment living is that it’s completely contingent upon good will of others…you’re at mercy of your neighbors, your landlord, your maintenance team. With owning property one would think there’d be some peace. But no, not in Lowland Way. And to think I originally thought this would just be one of those social class dramas of manners. Oh no, this is so much more. Because for me it was too close for comfort, it created for a visceral uncomfortable at times read, but all the same a deliciously good one. And there goes the neighborhood…going, going, gone. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Wow.. This was such a twisted neighbourhood hahahahaaha..
If you've ever worried about awful neighbours moving in, or thought the existing neighbours were awful.. you will think yourself lucky you didn't live in this crazy little area.
The book was so well written, I felt like I was watching everything develop over the back fence.
The reality is that being in the situation these couples find themselves in would be enough to make you start to behave differently.
The twist at the end had me laughing out loud... Just when you think life will be returning to normal.
Really enjoyed this book.

I enjoyed this book. The book is well written. The characters are strong. The story is interesting. I give it 4 stars and I recommend it as a good read.

2.5/5 100% of this book was neighbors complaining about each other, hence the "Those People" title, and all I can say is that it really stressed me out. Not an enjoyable read at all. Still, not a poorly written book, just a book full of unlikable people who complain the whole time. On the upside, it did make me appreciate my own neighbors, who definitely aren't as bad as anyone in this book.