Laura Lippman meets Megan Abbott in this suspenseful literary debut about three generations of neighbors whose lives intersect in the aftermath of a crime.
Bernard White is a curmudgeonly widower who has lived in Seven Springs, Florida for decades and has kept to himself since his wife passed. When his neighbor is murdered, he emerges from his solitude to reconnect with his fellow octogenarians. These connections become a literal lifeline as a second, and then a third, elderly woman is murdered, and "the originals," as they call themselves, realize that they are being targeted.
Amy Unger is an artist and cancer survivor whose emotional recovery has not been as successful as her physical one. After the woman next door is murdered, she begins to paint imagined scenes from the murder in an effort to cope with her own loss. But when her paintings prove to be too realistic, her neighbors grow suspicious, and she soon finds herself in the crosshairs of the police.
And then there's Maddie Lowe, a teenage waitress whose mother recently abandoned the family. As Maddie struggles to keep her family together and maintain the appearance of normal teenage life, she finds herself drawn to the man the police say is the killer.
As they navigate their increasingly dangerous and tumultuous worlds, Bernard, Amy, and Maddie begin to uncover the connections between them, and the past and present, in a novel that ultimately proves the power of tragedy to spark renewal.
About the Author :
Lauren Doyle Owens is a Florida-based writer and reader. The Other Side of Everything is her first novel.
Lisa Flanagan is a classically trained soprano, comedian, voice-over artist, and Earphones Award-winning narrator.
Katie Schorr is an actor and writer in New York. Her one-woman show, Take Me. Seriously, ran for six months at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, and she performs throughout New York in new works at the Ensemble Studio Theatre and Ars Nova, among other theaters. She has appeared on VH1's Best Week Ever and costars in the web series Head in the Oven with Saturday Night Live actor Bill Hader. Her audiobook credits include narrating the novels in Alyson Noel's bestselling Immortals series. Of her work on the series, AudioFile magazine has said, "Narrator Katie Schorr has a wonderfully raspy, youthful voice, which she puts to good effect on the cast of teenage characters."
Jack de Golia has narrated over seventy-five audiobooks in a wide range of genres. His narrations include the Project series by Alex Lukeman and Remembering the Battle of the Crater by Kevin Levin.
Review :
"Owens' tense, rich debut follows the wide-ranging consequences of a brutal murder...A slow-burning thriller that explores the cost of love turned askew."
-- "Kirkus Reviews"
"A first-rate murder mystery."
-- "People"
"A literary thriller with everything book groups are looking for: fine writing, a flawlessly constructed story, and relatable characters providing plenty of questionable decisions rife for discussion."
-- "Booklist"
"A tantalizing literary thriller you'll want to finish in one sitting."
-- "Bustle"
