I have read several of Rowney's books before and thoroughly enjoyed them, but sadly this one didn't do it for me.

It's very well written, the premise of the plotline drew me in from the word go, and it has some fantastic characterisations. But nothing was happening to hold my attention.

I like my psychological thrillers to be fast paced, and was over halfway through this one before anything happened.

It's had comparisons to Gone Girl, so maybe that's why I struggled, because GG was a dnf for me.

Many thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for my tour spot.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐

Thank you so much to @netgalley & JE Rowney for the ARC of this book.

I flew through this book as I just had to know what happened. It was filled with suspense as you heard from multiple POVs. There were twists, short and easy to read chapters and a plot that was cleverly written.

I really enjoyed this book!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Intriguingly told from a variety of perspectives and drew me in completely. It was a stunning psychological twister that demanded you kept guessing until the end.

Blog Review: https://drizzleofjoyblog.wordpress.com/2022/04/23/other-peoples-lives/

#netgalley #otherpeopleslives #booksgosocial publication date 22 April 2022
This is a page turning physcological thriller. It is quite short with short chapters and very fast paced. Overall I enjoyed this book, it definitely gave me a mind trip and I didn't predict the ending. 4/5 stars

Sophie’s husband has been missing for almost a year. To help handle her grief, she begins to attend therapy. During her weekly sessions, she raises her concerns about feeling like someone is always watching her. She feels as if she sees her husband everywhere she goes. Is it her husband following her every move? Or is it all in her head?

If you love the show You, or the The Silent Patient then this is the perfect next read! This book is a QUICK thriller, short in length and so fast paced it’s hard to put down. I really enjoyed it! It was so good I didn’t want it to end.

I found this one difficult to like . The story made me uncomfortable and I didn’t finish it. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

Sophie starts seeing Dr. Thacker, she feels like someone is watching her. Is she delusional or is she really being followed? Her husband Jack went missing months ago, he left on an expedition and never showed up. Where is he?

Dr. Thacker becomes obsessed with Sophie, would like more than having her as a patient.

Another patient of Dr Thacker is Jonah Washington, and He wouldn’t mind if Jonah stopped coming.

This is a twisty suspense that pulls you and your left with what the…. The author does a great job of playing with your mind and slapping up alongside the head.

Thank you to Netgalley and BooksGoSOcial for an advanced ecopy in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book! It kept me hooked from the very first sentence and truly made me want to FLY through it. This was my first read by J.E. Rowney and it DEFINITELY won't be my last!

Up until the very ending it had me saying.... what the hell did I just read?.... I thought I knew what was going on the whole time and I really didn't. Books like that make me just the happiest ever. Very good read and definitely one I would recommend!

Thanks for the approval!

"Other People's Lives" is unlike any book I have read in quite some time. I struggled at the beginning to figure out who the narrator was. I liked the back and forth between the main characters, but it was difficult for me to figure out exactly how the characters were inter-related. Even though it sounds like I struggled through the book, I rather liked the story development through different points of view and different times in their lives. This is not my usual, preferred style of "mystery", but I can say it was a welcome change once I got into it. I struggled between giving this book 3 or 4 starts, and I am not sure that I would recommend it to most people. However, I did think Rowney offered a unique story that was worth my time, especially since it was a fast read. I thought the ending would be predictable, but there were some nice twists that kept me guessing until the end, at which time I was somewhat surprised how things turned out for all these people.

So far, this is my favorite book I've read this year. I was a little concerned when I opened it for the first time and saw that it was so much shorter than most of the thrillers I've read, but that concern was for nothing. The length of this book was absolutely perfect for the story. I honestly think that if it had been any longer that the ending would not have hit as hard as it did. I did figure out most of the twists about halfway through, however, the story was so masterfully woven that that did not take away from my enjoyment because while I did guess it, the author kept me from being sure about whether I was correct until the big reveal actually happened.

A lot of authors in recent years have tried to use unreliable narrators to tell their story after the success of Gone Girl, but very few have done it as well as J.E. Rowney did in this story. I knew that at least one(and probably more) character was lying to me, but that didn't stop me from going down the rabbit hole with them just to see where we would end up.

This is the first book I've read by this author, but I highly doubt it will be my last.

To be honest I struggled in the beginning with this book. It wasn't written as a straight forward 'story' , but just because it was different from my usual books, it didn't mean I was willing to give up on it and I'm glad I didn't. Once I settled down to reading it from the characters viewpoints, I found I was reading faster and the ending surprised me. It's worth reading in my opinion

Sophie has lost her husband Jack.. What's interesting is that one isn't quite sure in the very beginning...is Jack missing, dead....has he left her....the writing is very ambiguous...well to me at least. Sophie's narrative is told in the form of letters that she writes to Jack, about their love, their past and their relationship. Sophie is also seeing a therapist, Dr Thacker, to help her process what has happened to Jack. The problem is that Dr Thacker also seemingly has feelings for Sophie. Sophie thinks she has a stalker, could it be Dr Thacker? Dr Thacker also has a patient, Jonah, who bores him to no end and we are privy to their sessions every Thursday.

The first 60...70% of the book was a repetition of:
Dear Jack....I miss you.
Somebody is following me. I think. Maybe not.
AN obsession with Sophie. An unhealthy one.

While initially I found the narrating style and plot interesting, I really just wondered where the book was going...and WHEN it was going to get there. Now there was a huge plot twist around 70/80% of the book, but it did not land for me until a few pages later. I was so confused....and when I finished the book I actually needed to go back and reread some parts. Now this was done absolutely BRILLIANTLY by the author, but there was some confusion, so I didn't have a gasp moment, I had a genuine WTF is happening moment. I think a lot of people found it really brilliant, and a few people found it confusing.... you'd have to read for yourself to decide how you feel.

A very thick mystery felt out in three POVs. Each chapter was the thoughts or inner monologue of one of three main characters. At first it's totally unclear how their lives weave together or how they connect to the main plot of Jack's disappearance. Things quickly unravel and twists are revealed after the 70% mark. I liked the unique writing style and how fast-paced and quick this read was. The first twist at the end was a gasp but the second had holes.

2.5 is as much as I can go on this one because I really didn't like it much at all. I get it. I understood what supposedly happened in the end but it took far to long to get there and when the reveal was made it was almost like a slap in the face after having to endure all those doctor sessions in the first 60% or so of the story and have it not really mean much to the story. I feel like a whole chunk of the first half of the book could have been deleted and made shorter and I would have enjoyed it more.

One big thing that made no sense to me is <spoiler>How was she able to keep him hidden in the backyard for so long without anybody knowing? I mean you'd think the police would have at least done a missing persons search? and usually the first place searched is the missing persons home? Also after the big reveal how would she have explained not knowing he was hidden in her backyard the whole time and her not know it? </spoiler>

I wanted to enjoy this so badly but it was so slow to get to the point and I disliked all the characters. None of them were interesting to me.

Sophie is seeing psychiatrist Dr. Thacker to help her deal with the disappearance of her husband, Jack during an expedition in the Artic. She believes she is being followed everywhere. But Dr. Thacker seems to be obsessed with Sophie story. The Doctor seems unbalance and has a unhealthy relationship with Sophie.
This book is full of twist, turns and a amazing ending. It is well-written psychological thriller, and in the end, we realize the author manipulated our perceptions and interactions of the characters. The first half of the book moved very slow but the second half of the book was very suspenseful.

Ummmm!! Mind blown. Going to take me a while to recover from that twist. I have to take a break from reading because I don’t think anything is going to compare for a while. It’s not easy for a twist to get me but this story was amazing. Thank you to NetGalley for the arc!

I read this taut thriller in one sitting. My first book by J. e. Rodney but certainly not my last. The main character, Sophie, seeks psychiatric help as she feels someone is watching her all the time. Much of the backstory comes from letters she writes to her missing husband. There are many twists and turns and “Oh no!” moments where, somehow, my fingernails disappeared. Such a convoluted path, right up until the end.
Make sure you set aside a few hours with nothing else to do as once you start reading you won’t want to stop.
Many many thanks to J. E. Rowney, Little Fox Publishing, and NetGalley for the absolute heart stopping pleasure this thriller provides. Make sure you put this one on your TBR pile soon, as it is being published on April 22. Four stars!

It bothers me SO much to give a negative review, but I will always be honest.

I was not a fan of this one. I almost DNF’d multiple times. I’m giving it 3 stars because there was a bit of cleverness to writing of the denouement- but that small achievement was not worth slogging through the story.

It’s about a woman working through issues with her Psychiatrist and you don’t quite know what to believe….

Quick paced and short chapters made this book a very quick read. The mystery kept me reading with everything only getting solved in the last 10% or so. The story was written as an inner monologue sort of narrative which I felt left me w bit disconnected from the characters as there was no real back story or set up to the book, it just dove right in. The story also didn’t really kick in until about 60% of the way through but as I said the short chapters and mystery were enough to keep me reading.

I am going to be in the minority here with my rating because honestly? I don't see it as exceptional as most other people have. And they are like raving about how "freaking awesome" it is. Maybe I missed something because it didn't speak volumes to me at all. In fact, while I did enjoy it, it was still just an average read for me to be honest. And the reference to "The Silent Patient" just falls flat with me as I've never read that book so cannot compare it at all.

OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES...where do I start? It's such a difficult book to review without giving too much away...particularly a major plotline reveal running throughout that has readers believing one thing and it actually turns out to be another! In fact, I suspected this facet of the story early on when certain aspects seemed suspect in the narrative. That's all I can say without giving anything away.

What I can say is this...

She lost her husband. Now is she losing her mind?

Sophie Portman is a thirtysomething teacher seeking psychiatric help because she believes she is being watched/followed/stalked. She reported her fears to the police but without any tangible proof to back up her claim there was little they could do. So she seeks help from psychiatrist Dr Thacker hoping he might have some answers and help her move on.

Seven months ago, Sophie lost her husband Jack who had been on a geological expedition to the Arctic. And as she continues to struggle with the loss she begins to wonder if she is losing her mind. Cue in Dr Thacker. Throughout her sessions, Sophie continues to maintain her feeling of being watched. But is her perception real, paranoia or delusional?

It takes time for Sophie to open up to her psychiatrist and even then, she isn't being completely honest...only telling him pieces of truth. But one thing is clear - she is haunted by whatever happened prior to his disappearance. So what happened to Jack? Is he dead? Is he alive? Or has he left his marriage and abandoned the expedition he worked so hard to win?

Listen carefully. Watch closely. Trust nobody. Nothing is as it seems.

Although it is an exceptionally quick read, OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES is a book you need to pay close attention to as nothing is really as it seems. Having said that, how I interpreted the ending didn't hit me like a bolt of lightning as it appears to have done so with others. Which makes me wonder if I somehow missed something...but I don't think I did. I see what she did. I see what he did. I see what they did. I see how it played out. And I see each of the characters in their completely deluded worlds. And yeah? So...?

So yeah, I was pretty much underwhelmed. Although I did enjoy it, I just wasn't WOWed by it. I especially like the letter form that portrayed Sophie's narrative - it was done very cleverly...as was the interweaving of each of the narratives. Again...watch closely and listen very carefully.

I can't say I liked any of the characters and for a quick read it was incredibly slow to take off. Still, I finished it within four hours but it's not be a memorable read for me unfortunately.

A very clever concept and equally ingenious plotline, OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES is an entertaining psychological thriller that is a quick read to while away a couple of hours. But that's it.

I would like to thank #JERowney, #BooksGoSocial and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #OtherPeoplesLives in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.