I like how this book is told through a series of files. American missionary and ROTC cadet Tyler Ahls, long missing in Pakistan, has just surfaced, proselytizing in an Afghani terrorist propaganda video. For Omaha nurse Elisabeth Holland, it’s a shock that her brother is even alive. Now she must ask herself a more grave question: Is he a hostage or a traitor? For the most part, I liked this book, but there was something I was looking for that I can't quite put my finger on. Overall, I still recommend this book.

In Our Other Lives is a very modern story of the effects of terrorism on a culture and loss on an individual. The book takes lace mostly in Nebraska where Elizabeth Holland lives. She is a single mom after her husband abandoned her and their son shortly after his birth. And her brother disappeared in Pakistan some time ago. Then her brother, Tyler Ahls, show up on a propaganda video bringing the FBI to town.

FBI Special Agent Frank Schwaller arrives in Omaha, Nebraska, to investigate the family of Tyler Ahls, a young man who disappeared in Pakistan but has now shown up in a terrorist propaganda video. Schwaller’s task is to determine if Tyler is a hostage or a traitor who poses a threat to American people.

The novel is told in a series of 12 files which detail the information gathered through interviews and surveillance. The book emphasizes the trail of information that each of us leaves behind every day. Elizabeth lived a quiet life off the radar before her brother's activities and yet the FBI agent builds an extensive file on her.

Elizabeth is a stoic woman who seems to have taken everything in stride. She is simply and quietly moving on with life, not trying to understand the actions of her brother or her husband. Unfortunately, the FBI agent wants to understand everything. He is easily frustrated when he thinks people are uncooperative.

The interesting dichotomy here is that despite all the ways each of us is surveilled on a daily basis people remain mysterious and unknowable. Even though Elizabeth loved her brother she doesn't understand what his motive was to travel to Pakistan, or her husband's for leaving her.

I think this is a smart and interesting story, but have a couple complaint:

1. This is a completely American book. It is based on America's laws, culture, fears. It relies heavily (and assumes you have the knowledge before opening the cover) on the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I found it ethnocentric and a bit jingoistic.

2. None of the characters inspired much compassion or empathy. I didn't particularly connect with any of them or care what happened.

2.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you to Netgalley, Little A publishers and the author for the digital ARC in exchange for my review.

It's an okay thriller / drama type of story and book.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. All the best to the author.

In Our Other Lives was a fantastic read.

When Elisabeth Holland's brother Tyler, a proselytizing Christian from Wisconsin, turns up in a Middle-Eastern terrorist's video, the FBI becomes very interested in Elisabeth and her circle in their quest to learn more about Tyler. What they find is that Elisabeth's life has been heartbreaking and is quite removed from that of the family she was born into.

How well do you know your siblings? When Elisabeth's brother (who she thought had died while hiking in Pakistan) turns up on a terrorist video, not as a hostage, but as a terrorist himself, she doesn't know what to think. How could her brother have becomes so radicalized? Was there something in their upbringing that led to this? Now the center of scrutiny by government agencies, Elisabeth come to realize that her life will never go back to normal. Beautifully written and perfect for the moment, Wheeler's book will stay with you.

Theodore Wheeler has written a novel that captures from the first page. I didn’t want to put this down once while reading it. In Our Other Lives revolves around a young man that has been missing in Pakistan and a video has surfaced of him in an Afghani terrorist propaganda video. The novel moves in time before he goes missing and after. It tells the story of not just him but his families members and how they are impacted. A must read for anyone in the post-9/11 era.

Amazing, sad, and insightful. Not a strictly straight-line narrative, this still pulls you through the story of a young man and the impact of his surprising actions on his family. It's both heartfelt and sympathetic. Thanks for the ARC.

Beautifully well told. With it's flawless plot and written in a prose that flows effortlessly. This gem of a book deserves a spot on your TBR stack. Happy reading!

FBI Special Agent Frank Schwaller arrives in Omaha, Nebraska, to investigate the family of Tyler Ahls, a young man who disappeared in Pakistan but has now shown up in a terrorist propaganda video. Schwaller’s task is to determine if Tyler is a hostage or a traitor who poses a threat to American people.

Much of the investigation focuses on Elisabeth Holland, Tyler’s sister. We learn of her marriage to Nick Holland. Nick abandoned the marriage soon after the birth of their son Caleb who then died shortly after Nick’s disappearance. Elisabeth then decided to leave Chicago and pursue a nursing career in Omaha. She claims not to know where either her brother or husband is or what their reasons for disappearing were.

The novel consists of twelve files detailing information gathered through surveillance and interviews: “Everything that happened could be recorded and coded. Everything that could be known and filed was known and filed.” The book emphasizes how all Americans are under surveillance: “In . . . any big city, that’s millions of people . . . and nearly every minute of their lives was recorded, their phone calls, any digital activity, all metadata, their stories. Even someone like Elisabeth Holland, who was off the radar . . . before her brother’s activities made everyone in her family a person of interest, she still wandered in front of surveilling eyes hundreds of times. Her file built frame by frame, byte by byte.” Schwaller’s case is considered counterterrorism and he admits “That loosens the rules of what we can do” so he can do virtually whatever he likes and “Worst case, I’m caught poking where I’m not supposed to: throw the Patriot Act in their face.”

Elisabeth is a foil for Frank. Her way of coping is simply to stoically move on because trying to understand others or God’s plan (if there is one) isn’t always possible and doesn’t help: “’Some families fall apart and some stay together, and it doesn’t always make sense why one is one and another the other.’” Frank, on the other hand, wants to understand everything: “Was there any point in tracking the every gesture and disgrace of these people? Sure there was.” He becomes frustrated when people are not co-operative: “These people, they couldn’t just answer his questions, they always wanted to take something from him instead.” Even after the investigation is over, Frank “kept tabs on them, from time to time because he came to see them as his people. That’s the way it went after an investigation.”

The theme of the novel seems to be that despite all the surveillance and information gathering, there are mysteries that cannot be solved. People often remain mysteries even to those who love them and should know them best. Elisabeth and her parents do not know what Tyler’s motivation was in travelling to Pakistan. Likewise, she does not know why Nick left her without any explanation. A man dies and investigators cannot determine whether his death was an accident or suicide. Why would a man abandon nine children?

The style of the book, especially its long sentences, is sometimes annoying: “It would have been suspicious that Tyler went missing, given what Nick knew – that Tyler was aware of the geopolitical danger of moving to Peshawar and hiking the Hindu Khush, that Tyler’s emails were increasingly erratic, made frequent references to David Koresh and John the Baptist, and how Tyler wanted to be part of their tradition, his own destiny as a missionary, a revolutionary (as he saw it), though Tyler had trouble explaining how three trips to Pakistan fit in his vision – or how hiking foothills there made him either insurgent or evangelist.” Yikes! Meaning is lost in such verbiage.

This book is very much American, so it is sometimes confusing to this Canadian reader. References to things like the Patriot Act, and FISA mandates and warrants mean little to me: “There’s FISA, you know what that is? There’s mandate. Before, if I wasn’t sure it was okay to access a file here or there, I had to get permission from a prosecutor, then they talk to a judge. Each time! Now there’s no prosecutor involved. There’s hardly a judge, just a signature to request and then I get carte blanche for ninety days.” How many people, even Americans, are going to be familiar with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, its amendments and its constitutionality?

The book was in some ways an uncomfortable read. I kept looking over my shoulder wondering who was recording my activities and whether they would be considered “normal” or not.

Note: I received a digital galley from the publisher via NetGalley.

Received an advanced copy of this book, not knowing what to expect.

And I was surprised, in a good way. I quickly got sucked into the story, which reads as a true account of events. I had to keep reminding myself that is was a novel.

Thank you #Netgalley #inourotherlives

Thank you to Little A and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book left me feeling unsettled. On the surface, you think, or rather are told, it's a story about a young, naive American evangelical proselytizer who disappears in Pakistan/Afghanistan and then suddenly reappears in an Islamic propaganda video, and the federal investigation that ensues.. But really, it's a story about the young man's sister, and how she deals with a series of shattering blows and events in her life. The story unfolds through the recounting of surveillance and interview data collected by a federal agent, who tries to unravel the connections between the brother and sister, the sister and her husband, the siblings and their parents. What emerges is a portrait of a strong, stoic woman who has had to learn to get on with her life, regardless of her circumstances. Some of the elements didn't gel for me, particularly in terms of the surveillance of private citizens - but then again, what do I know?

Arranged in a series of files, this book is centered on Elisabeth Ahls and her extraordinary journey through grief as those close to her leave in one way or another. One of those would be her brother Tyler who, after being thought dead while hiking in Pakistan, has surfaced in a video that may or may not denote a terrorist connection. The story is of today, and the concept, original, with a federal agent keeping close tabs on everyone yet becoming a participant himself. There is much that is enigmatic about this book, but some of it didn't hold true for me, and while I enjoyed it, I was aware of its flaws.