Nicci French is one of my favorite Thriller writers. And this is one wild ride of a thriller. At the beginning of the book, we witness a woman Bonnie Graham has killed a man- a good looking musician Hayden who tells her himself that she doesn't want to get him involved with him, that he destroys the things he loves. Now calls her best friend Sonia to help her get rid of the body. Sonia does come reluctantly to help her. But this is net just the start of this book. What I like most about this book is its told from different POVs including the victim's, and it goes back and forth from before and after on what happens. It seems at first to be a typical murder mystery, but it has so many twists and turns it is much more that. Just when you think you have it all figured out, you may find out you're wrong. I highly recommend this thriller! Thanks to the author and Net Galley and the publisher Harper-Collins for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

Imagine if Nicci Gerrard and Sean French had written Genesis:
After: What is this you have done?
Before: God created the heaven and the earth
After: The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
Before: God said let there be light

The chapters were this choppy and frustrating. There was no time to connect to the characters or the story. Flashbacks should give you time to get to fully immerse yourself in the story so that when it switches to present you are stunned but invested in finding out more. Some of the past/present situations were so unnecessary and ludicrous, I said as much out loud. About 30% in I became so frustrated that I began to skim pages just to be done with it. After the 50% mark my skimming became more abbreviated and I went to the end of the story and worked backwards to solve the mystery and put my misery of this book to rest.

The "big reveal" was anticlimactic. I still had no sympathy for any character and was at the point I wanted everyone to go to jail. The book ends with a cliffhanger and I will likely not read anything by this author duo again. Thank you to NetGalley, William Morrow and Custom House for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have come to rely on Nicci French when I need a quick, easy, twisty thriller. I was under the impression that I wasn’t a fan of Ms. French’s for a long time and I am happy to have discovered I was mistaken.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book. The Other Side of the Door by Nicci French(husband and wife team) got off to a great start. There's a body and it must be moved. Great! The writing was awesome at this point, but then the author decided to do the whole alternating time frame thing, here the before and after without great effect. I found the before kind of tedious, few likeable characters, and the band aspect was a little tired. After was much more riveting and created more tension. Overall an interesting book, one that I had to finish, but I didn't care for the back and forth.

When I first started this book I didn't know what to expect. It took some time to get into it. Then I got a little lost with the before and after chapters. that I had tor reread some of them. Then I was surprised that I got very involved in the plot of the book and needed to finish it. I enjoyed the way the characters were written I pictured how they would look as I read on. Stories taking place in England are my favorites and the author didn't disappoint on the description of the towns, various flats and what happens to the main character Bonnie. I felt her pain and what she was going through not knowing what was happening to her and all because of a man.
I only wished the middle of the book was shorter. There was to many people involved in the story that made the story drag out. I wished they would have gotten into more of the character of Hayden"s background that made him the person he was and why he did the things he did. All in all i think it was a good read and would recommend it to everyone who enjoys a plot of twists and turns.

I

This is my first of Nicci French's non-Frieda Klein novels (of which I am a fan). The style of The Other Side of the Door is what I expect from this duo, more "intellectual" than fast-paced action. The mystery is gradually revealed through alternating "before" and "after" chapters that fill in the background and consequences but leave you uncertain about exactly what happened, who the killer is and why they did it (until the end), so you can start to try to piece it together yourself... and then see how you did. The characters are not always likeable nor are their actions always sensible, but both "feel real".

Love, obsession, murder, friendship. These are themes in Nicci French's psychological novel. Bonnie has promised her friend to perform at her wedding and has gotten together a motley group of friends to form a small band just for the event. The interaction among these people lead to unforeseen consequences that tests love and friendships.

A compelling read with suspense and an unexpected ending.

The Other Side of the Door by Nicci French
Also titled Complicit

Bonnie agrees to put a small band together to play in a friend's wedding at the end of the summer. One of her band mates ends up dead. And the story goes back and forth between the present and the past. It ended up being an quick and easy read. And I suspected the wrong person. So that's always good when you can't guess whodunit.

I'm a bit confused as to why I was approved for reviewing this book when it's been out for years under a different title. I don't understand why a author would change the title to one of their books. Is the story different I don't know. Is it a selling trick I don't know. But anyway Complicit and The Other Side of the Door are the same book.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the book to review.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

I really enjoyed how Nicci French put The Other Side of the Door together - the story is told in chapters of Before and After. While the charters are really well developed, the obvious question of why aren't the police contact straight away is one that lingers with me - but if they were contacted, of course, there would be no story.

The books starts off with Bonnie and the readers seeing a dead man on a rug. Bonnie takes action and figures out what to do, so she calls up a friend. Her friend is the logical thinker and they cobble together a plan - dispose of the body, clean up the apartment and get their stories straight.

Along with the plot of the book, there were a few things mentioned that really don't sit well with me to make the story 100% believable (crime junkie speaking here). Today, CTTV would have picked up the crime/disposal, the body would float to the top of the water, and rigor mortis likely would have sat in before disposing of the body -- all in all, the police would be able to track the events of the death, work out when/where everything happened and it would have been a clean-cut case.

I didn't fall in love with any of the charters or really relate to them closely, but I still kept reading. I wanted to learn more - who was the murderer, would they be caught, and I needed to know how the before/after would collide.

**The last line of this story, was a perfect way to conclude on a cliffhanger.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you Netgallley and William Morrow for allowing me to read this ARC. This was a new author for me, and I had high hopes, because the main character was a music teacher, and was going to assemble a band, AND be involved in a cover-up. It started out promising, Then the 'before' and 'after' started to get tedious and choppy. What Bonnie does is inexplicable, )not just when she finds the body, but even after) so that made her a unlikable character to me. And I don't think I liked any of the characters. I found out that this is actually a 10 year old book with a new title., which explains why it felt dated, like using Sting and Peter Gabriel as examples of successful musicians. How about making it more contemporary? Have a woman? Or a non-white person? Maybe get it re-edited to update it. On a personal note, as a huge Steve Earle fan, it was fun seeing him mentioned as what the band would play. I think it mentioned though that South Nashville Blues was an instrumental which it's not!
Anyway, the way it all turned out was good, it was just getting to the end was more difficult than I like.

A very predictable thriller with unpleasant characters, an unsurprising denouement and an annoying before and after narrative that swung back and forth in jarring fashion.

This is a sexy thriller perfect for summer: not re-inventing the wheel here, but scratching a very specific itch right where it counts.

I love this collection of books. This is another winner. I highly recommend reading this thriller.

Oh, that ending is going to frustrate the hell out of me, which earned it a whole extra star. Most of the characters are kind of regrettable people and, on balance, very little actually happens.

This wasn’t my favorite Nicci French read. I had a hard time getting into this book as I found the characters kind of annoying and not very relatable. The twist was good at the end but overall I was kind of bored throughout and it wasn’t as much of a nail biter as I expected.

I was very disappointed with this book. I read the co-author's Blue Monday series and some of the novels, so I was expecting something a little better. I see that this came out in 2009 under the title Complicit, so it was before the series. The 'before' chapters were very boring and I mainly had to skim them. The 'now' chapters were a little better, but the whole time I'm thinking RUG. Plus I hate the ending. Read the series and skip this book.. ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.

This is a reprint, the original was published in 2010. But, if you missed this story the first time around, it’s definitely worth a read. Music teacher Bonnie is spending the summer in London, looking forward to playing in a band at a friend’s wedding. It was supposed to be fun, but things take an ominous turn when Bonnie shows up at her boyfriend’s apartment she finds a body in a pool of blood.Instead of calling the police, she cleans up the scene and hides the body. Why? The husband and wife team that comprises Nicci French will keep you guessing