I really enjoyed this book. Character development was good. The plot was very interesting. Not a lot of typos.

This book was a slow read but overall not bad.

The story goes between the past and present, mainly diving into the life of Bonnie. Bonnie hesitantly agrees to put a small band together for her friends wedding. Soon you find out there has been a murder and Bonnie seems to be the one who killed this person, a person who is in the band, a person she may of had a fling with but why did she kill him? She drags her friend, Sonia, into helping her get rid of of the body and it all seems to spiral out of control from there.

This book is about someone that was killed. The book keeps going back and forth between past and present. I did not love this book. I did not like the characters. It was not a quick read for me as I didn’t really care what was going on. Unfortunately, this book was not for me.

I'm going to be honest, I hated this book for the first 3/4 of it. If I were a person to not a finish a book, it would have happened with this one.
Bonnie, the main character, drove me crazy. Actually there really weren't any characters I liked.
The storyline wasn't boring but I got so annoyed with Bonnie and her bad decisions and lack of thinking things through that it made me not care as much as I could have about what was going on.
The last fourth of the book Bonnie's personality didn't change but a few things happened that I wasn't expecting that made me have to know what happened next. The momentum of the book went up and that was enough to make me ignore Bonnie and the rest of the characters faults.
This book also left me wanting just three more sentences to see what happened next. The last sentence was so good!
The ending made this book for me, which is why I have to finish a book.
Thank you Netgally for giving me this book for a honest opinion.

I’m not sure what’s going on in my mind about this book. Admittedly it’s the first book I’ve ever read by the author, but based on this work, it will likely be my last.

It was a bit of a messy plot from the start, and honestly I couldn’t find one single character to relate to in it. The murder plot fell flat and in the end it was more of a drama between friends than a mystery. Very odd book.

What price do lies demand? When you think you know your friends but you all become twisted up in a lie when you each think the other did it.

The Other Side of The Door really didn't do it for me.

This is another book in my multitude of examples of when perspective/time-shifting doesn't work. It felt a little bit unnecessary and just a way for the author to make sure that we weren't bored throughout the middle and end... which didn't work for me.

Almost could just work better as a friend group drama without any murder, I was severely bored by the plot. I actually did enjoy the writing, it was relatable and easy to read. But, the plot was really lacking in almost all aspects, especially just being a thriller and lacking a good protagonist.

This is a case where I just don't think it's some of the author's best work. I'm sure there are other Nicci French books that I'd enjoy but this one isn't something I'd recommend.

I had never read this author before, but had seen some buzz around this title, which made me request it. I started it with high hopes as I enjoy the thriller genre. From the very beginning, I noted that it felt "dated" - "CD players" -really?? but I pressed on, through confusing chapters that jumped back and forth from "before" and "after", and I found the character Bonnie rather flat. But it was the "dated" aspect that kept pulling me out of the book. At about the half-way point, I quit reading & checked on the book - that was when I found that this is REALLY a 10 year old book called "Complict", which is just being re-sold under a new name!! Then I just felt kinda tricked, and it all made sense. I think if an author wants to update and re-sell an old story, they should at least take the time to "update" it a bit - tech & music and the like, at the very least. Will not be recommending. Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for the ARC

I didn't like how the book was divided between before and after. It is an interesting concept, but since i didnt feel a lot of concern for the characters at the beginning since i didnt know much about them, it was hard to care what happened to them.

This book is a renaming of a book that was released previously. The book was confusing to get into, as it went into past and present but the stories did not seem to relate. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy this book and would not recommend.

The Other Side of the Door – Nicci French

I love the Nicci French team (husband and wife) and have read every one of their standalone thrillers. They have been at the top of my fave author list for years.

I enjoyed The Other Side of the Door very much, with some caveats. One of the main attractions for me about their writing style is that they portray the day to day life of the protagonists in such a realistic, simple, minute by minute way, so that you can actually envision their lifestyle, their relationships and follow their thought processes. I find it mesmerizing to be inside someone else's life in such a detailed manner.

That being said, I had a couple of issues with this book. Some of the characters were very flashed out and there was no mistaking them with other characters in the book. Whereas, on the opposite side of the spectrum, other characters were not so distinct and I had a difficult time remembering who they were. The time flashes were not always clear and merged into each other in such a way that I was not sure if I was in the present or the past in some instances.

I also am not sure that I understood the ending.

But I love Nicci French so much, that I will always be first in line to read any of their standalones and absolutely was thrilled to be reading and reviewing this one.

The plot involves a murder and the aftermath and what led up to this event. I don’t like spoilers so will not spoil it for you.

I recommend it and hope you become a big fan also. This is a rerelease and it has also been published under the name COMPLICIT.

3.5 Stars

This book wasn’t the ‘thriller’ that I was expecting. In fact very little happened plot-wise. There was an ‘event’ (the death of a musician) and the chapters alternated back and forth from before the event to after the event. This back-and-forth made it hard to engage in the plot. There was a slight twist about 70% of the way in, but not enough to make this a favorite read.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7185628-the-other-side-of-the-door

This book has been out for several years, under the title Complicit. I am not sure why it was changed, or maybe they changed the story a bit. Regardless, this one comes out April 2021! I liked how the story was told from a before and after perspective. I also enjoyed the story line because it was a bit unique. Each character found themselves trying to protect the other while covering up their involvement in their friends murder. This is a quick read that gives a little twist. I was disappointed in the twist though because I cannot usually guess what’s going to happen but this one I had figured out about 3/4 the way through. I also did not feel like I could connect with any of the characters and found the main character Bonnie a bit annoying.
I received this eARC free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I like the general storyline of the book. With that being said I think it was horribly excecuted.
Soooo many questions. it’s just endless questions the main character kept asking themselves. It was not very engaging and was frankly pretty annoying. There was also way too much dialogue. It jumped around so much. I found it very hard to follow a realistic/legitimate conversation.

I feel like the book could have done a way better job of setting the scenes and making them feel more real. There were some paragraphs that I loved and felt were very descriptive but mostly they fell very flat.

There didn’t seem to be any real character development either. At the end of the book I still couldn’t tell you two things of importance about any one character other than their profession and who they may have been dating.

As far as the before/after timelines, I have no problem with having it split like that but most of the passages seemed quite useless ?

If it was any other book I have randomly picked up. I would have DNFd it fairly early on.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for gifting me an e-book arc of The Other Side of the Door.

I'm going to start by saying that I don't know why they are republishing this book with a new name and making it seem like it's new. This book is about Bonnie, who decides to get a band together for her friends wedding. The story opens with Bonnie and a dead body, who ends up being one of the members of the band. The story is set in both the present and the past, and to be honest it does get a little bit tiring after a while. I will say that I didn't guess who the dead person was, so I guess the author accomplished throwing me out of the loop. It ended up being an okay read for me.

I usually don’t read a lot of thrillers/mystery but I’m glad this was a book I read going more
Into them! The storyline definitely kept you at the edge of your seat wanting to know who & what happened next! Such a fun & exciting read!

My favorite aspect of this novel was also the most confusing aspect. As half of the book is in the "before" time frame and half is in the "after" time, you learn so much of the background in those chapters to try and develop the character development. The switching back and forth between time frames every chapter can get a bit confusing and forced some rereading on my end, but I did like the concept and would love to read other novels by French.
See more detail on Instagram @rightleyreads !

I enjoy Nicci French's writing because it always leaves you guessing but if you really pay attention she drops the clues that will allow you to figure it out. My problem is I am so enthralled with the reading that I totally miss the clues and am surprised with the "who dun it" when it is revealed. In this book once I got used to the before and afters and could recognize the characters it was a great read and fast paced which kept me reading to the end. Friends all come together and try to protect each other because they all think the other one committed the murder of the outsider who has become part of the group only nobody is talking about it except to pretend surprise that he has been murdered. Each of them has a different relationship with him and some more reasons than others to see him harmed or at the very least no longer a part of the group. As always another great read from Nicci French.

What a fun read this was! So many twists. Present: When Bonnie arrives at her sometimes boyfriend's apartment (which she arranged for him) she finds his dead body lying on the floor. But does she call for help??? No, she cleans up and hides the corpse. Past: Bonnie is a music teacher, and a friend has asked her to get a band together to play at said friend's wedding. Reluctantly, she agrees, and then Hayden, a talented musician with a nasty disposition but good looks, joins the group. Back and forth we go in the story, and figuring out what is really happening is the fun part. Doesn't everybody lie?? It seems so.

This book had me turning the oages faster and faster. Once the story gets going wirh all the twists and turns , you are completely engrossed. The characters are engaging and interesting. This us a thrill ride waiting to happen