My mind is blown!!! Wow, what a twist.....you need to read this book and the sooner the better!! I took a while to read this only because I'm a caregiver for my mom who took a fall and broke 7 ribs 8 weeks ago. Things are progressing, but my time is not my own right now. When I wasn't reading this book, I was thinking about it. I knew there was a secret, a huge twist, because everyone who talked about the book mentioned it. No one gave it away though and for that I am grateful!

The Other Side of Night is about The Asha's, a good friend Ben Elmys, and a detective Harri Kealty. The book opens with David Asha writing about his biggest regret, the separation from his son Elliot and the woman who ruined his son's life, Detective Harri Kealty. The book is told from different perspectives and as you're trying to guess the twist, you won't get there. It is revealed to the reader towards the very end of the book and you will be thinking about it long after.

I normally write more in my reviews about things that happened in the book, but I want everyone to have no idea about what's coming. Take my advice and curl up with this wonderful book as soon as you can. I'd like to thank NetGalley and Atria Books for an advanced copy of The Other Side of Night. I'll be excitedly waiting for the next book from Adam Hamdy!

The Other Side of Night begins with a man named David Asha writing about his biggest regret: his sudden separation from his son, Elliot. In his grief, David tells a story.

Next, we step into the life of Harriet Kealty, a police officer trying to clear her name after a lapse of judgment. She discovers a curious inscription in a secondhand book-a plea: Help me, he's trying to kill me. Who wrote this note?

Who is "he"?

This is all you’re going to get about the book. It’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma. You have to go in blind to read it. Interesting premise with a satisfying ending.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this eARC. The Other Side of Night is out now.

I was intrigued by this book when I read that the publishers were asking people not to reveal too much of the plot and the twist that contains the heart of the story. And this certainly was a good choice. The story starts in an intriguing way with a letter from a man who misses his son. We then meet Harri, a police woman who has been let go of her job due to an incident involving her former partner. Harri is at loose ends, missing her job and also confused because she met the love of her life in an online dating app and after three dates and professions of love, he breaks it off and cannot explain why. Harri then goes to a bookstore and buys a used book which has something written in the margins, "help me, he is trying to kill me". That is all I can say of the plot but it involves murder, police work, romance, science, poetry and philosophy.

I did not guess the big twist but the book is almost over before all is revealed and I guess some readers will be frustrated by having to wait so long for the twist. I did like Harri and felt for her losing her job and her potential love interest and also understood her interest in a possible murder that she begins to investigate. The chapters are short, some only a few pages long which made it easy to read. I did feel the ending was too long and kind of repetitive and I kept thinking I was at the last chapter only to find several. more. The poetry and philosophy were interesting but didn't really add to the overall story. I do like being surprised at a novel and I was very surprised to find out what this book was about and how everything fit together. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free book in exchange for a review.

A genre bending thought provoking read that's slowly paced and meticulously built. An exercise in how far a person is willing to go for love with a twist I didn't see coming.

In Adam Hamdy's The Other Side of Night, the lives of a young boy, a respectable citizen, and a disgraced police officer are intertwined through connections to a series of mysterious deaths.

A novel written to explore real-life tragedies, an enigmatic note written in a copy of the novel, a seeming suicide, a disappeared body, and other mysterious circumstances tie together the characters of Elliott Asha, Harriet Kealty, and Ben Elmys.

But one of them may be a murderer.

Much of the page time in The Other Side of Night is spent with characters who exhibit odd, unexplained behavior, who seem untrustworthy and whose accounts feel unreliable, and in a grim, twisted, mysterious world without resolution or answers. The pacing felt uneven to me, and shifts in mood and manner sometimes seemed abrupt, so that it was tough to pin down a scene's tone.

Because of this setup and structure--the reason for which becomes clear late in the book--I didn't feel particularly connected to Hamdy's characters, despite their tragedies, yearnings, lost love, and desperate desire for answers.

I didn't fully believe that the book's love obsession was warranted--I didn't see enough to understand its intensity or strength. Another element that didn't add up for me: the inexplicable oversight (which is absolutely essential to the plot) on the part of multiple characters. This lack of recognition regarding an essential point didn't feel at all plausible, especially when such close, extended contact took place.

The Other Side of Night offers an intriguing, dramatic twist that I definitely didn't expect as it edges toward its ending. The Twist and the fascinating concept backing it up was a highlight.

Yet for me, the text that follows The Twist feels like a "here's what happened; see, it really does make sense" summary, more than storytelling to get lost in. I found myself wanting to finally feel for the story's characters--who have really been through unprecedented trauma and drama by this point--but ultimately I never really did.

I received a prepublication copy of this book courtesy of Atria Books and NetGalley.

Adam Hamdy is also the author of the Scott Pearce series, the Pendulum trilogy, Battalion, and Out of Reach.

A mystery with philosophical and psychological aspects that intrigue and linger.

A very unique novel that introduces the reader to interesting characters who dominate the story. There's Harriet Kealty, a disgraced and fired police officer, who finds a cryptic note inside a book that leads her to initiate a personal investigation that has mind blowing consequences. Harri is surprised when her sleuthing brings her to Ben Elmys, a man she had fallen for and been dumped by, only to discover that he is now the guardian of a boy related to the person who wrote that note. Intrigue and suspense as Harri tries to figure out what is really going on.

The story was interesting as I kept trying to guess and speculate what was really going on. Although slow at times and occasionally a bit confusing, I can't say more due to spoilers and it's best the reader know as little as possible to appreciate the twist advertised although I am sure some will see it coming. I am not a poetry person so those snippets did not appeal. There's lots of foreshadowing and hinting about further action in the narrative that I found tedious, and it took me much longer than usual to read, but I was entertained. Far-fetched? Yeah. Overly sentimental? Yeah. But I am sure the whole of it will appeal to many readers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for this e-book ARC to read and review

"The world is a circle without a beginning,
And nobody knows where it really ends.
Everything depends on where you
Are in the circle that never begins.
Nobody knows where the circle ends."

There are multiple characters in the story.

What an interesting and thought provoking book that had me guessing through the bulk of the pages!

David Asha carries grief as he writes a letter to his son, Elliot, who he is separated from.
Harriet Kelty, a troubled former policewoman who has lost her job due to a mistake.
Ben Elmys, the man Harriet is in love with, who becomes Elliot's guardian after the suspected suicide f his father.
Elliot's mother who has died tragically.

This book is a clever mixture of characters, court transcripts, fantasy, reality, and love and loss. It is a story of treading a fine line between truth and reality, science and fiction, and the transcendence of love unlimited. It's a slow paced book, one that needed you to push aside your preconceived thought and make a leap of faith to believe the happenings as the author carefully but quite wordily takes us step by step into realizing all you thought was wrong.

It's strange indeed with many of the characters seeming to be on a whole different plane and of course there is a secret shared by only two of the characters which propel the reader to discover whatever it could be. Definitely a book that defines real love, sacrifice, and the will to live on.

Thank you to Adam Hamdy, Atria Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this unusual story, which published in October.

This book had twists and turns I wasn’t expecting. I enjoyed it a lot overall! The ending was so unexpected! I had some trouble following some of the plot but liked it overall.

Published by Atria Books on October 11, 2022

The Other Side of Night seems to be a story of crime and failed romance until it completely jumps the track. In the end, it is an unsuccessful mixture of genres, borrowing the worst of each to create a complete mess.

David and Elizabeth Asha had a son named Elliot. David’s best friend (and Elliot’s godfather) was fellow physicist Ben Elmys. Harriet (“Harri”) Kealty was crazy in love with Ben before he ghosted her for reasons she does not understand. David apparently ghosted Elliot by jumping off a cliff. Ben adopts Elliot and then ghosts him.

Harri is a former cop. She was accused for no obvious reason of pushing someone into the path of a moving train. No evidence supported the accusation but somehow a vindictive superior orchestrated the loss of Harri’s employment. Since then, she has been drifting, although she saw herself being saved by her deep love of Ben.

The descriptions of Harri’s feelings are the stuff of cheesy romance fiction: “His eyes told her everything she needed to know. They gazed into hers as though nothing else existed and she was in his world.” Gak. “She felt a thrill of excitement as he took her hand.” She “wished they could stay in this moment forever.” Trite much? “This is what she’d been searching for. A soul to complete her.” Seriously?

Harri wonders whether bitterness might cause her to suspect that Ben had something to do with David’s death as well as the disappearance of Elizabeth’s cancerous corpse and the death of a cop who used to be Harri’s partner. Although she is no longer a cop, Harri can’t stop investigating any suspicion that pops into her mind. She wonders whether the cancer that killed Elizabeth could have deliberately induced. She wonders whether Ben might actually be Elliot’s father. At some point Harri tells a monstrous lie about Ben for no clear reason, yet the reader is meant to forgive and even root for her. I never found a reason to care about Harri.

After dabbling in cheesy romance and the themes of crime fiction, Adam Hamdy turns the novel into a science fiction story, substituting philosophical gibberish for a sophisticated explanation of its premise. Since that premise comes late in the novel, I won’t spoil it by ridiculing it, except to say that science fiction only works if it is based on science rather than gimmickry. Hamdy relies on his implausible gimmick to explain Elizabeth’s disappearing body and David’s disappearance from Elliott’s life. It is no surprise when David reveals that he has abandoned physics for poetry since his ability to explain physics amounts to “all the secrets of the universe are inside this snow globe, but you can’t possibly understand them.” How convenient.

Apart from the failed attempt to save a dying story with an injection of B-movie science, the most significant problem with The Other Side of Night is structural. Point of view shifts a few times, which is fine, but relatively late in the novel, we get: “Readers, Ben has his version of what happened, but I think it’s tainted by his role in events. . . . I think it is important that you hear the truth from me.” Huh? “Me” is the person telling the first-person story, so why is there suddenly an overarching narrator with the power to overrule the story told by other characters? The über-narrator offers an explanation I can only describe as lame.

The story is soaked in melodrama. Dead mama melodrama, dead wife melodrama, abandoned child melodrama, lost love melodrama, all seriously weepy stuff. Even the science fiction that explains the plot is melodramatic. Overwrought melodrama, cheesy romance, and implausible science fiction combine in a novel that can’t decide what it wants to be and never finds its footing.

NOT RECOMMENDED

Former police officer Harriet Kealty is drawn to investigate the deaths of David and Beth Asha. They died from cancer and suicide, respectively, but Harriet begins to suspect that Ben Elmys, the guardian of the Asha’s young son Elliot, had something to do with their deaths.

This is a very strange book but it is difficult to explain exactly how it is strange without revealing huge spoilers. I’ll just say that this wasn’t the detective story that I was expecting. The plot was both confusing and extremely improbable, but the story never bored me. The instalove between Harriet and Ben was a little sickening, but necessary for the plot. I had absolutely no clue where the book was headed. It was fast paced, well written and entertaining, and it’s probably best not to know more about the book than that.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

The story begins with David Asha, telling the story of his biggest regret in life but also the stories of his best friend Ben, David's son Elliot and a woman named Harriet Kealty who was recently discharged from her duties as a detective.

Harriet Kealty happens to be in a book store when she discovers a scribbled note written inside the book she purchased that said "Help he's trying to kill me". Harriet decides this is not a prank and decides to make a case to work on that would utilize her detective duties. Her research brings her to the home of David Asha, his son and a man named Ben who she had not seen in over a year and may have been the love of her lifetime but when she finds David and his wife had suspiciously died, she realizes that Ben is the prime suspect in their deaths and he is now the legal guardian of little Eliot and Harriet is worried about the boy's welfare and possibly his life. Nothing makes sense in this case so Harriet decides she must follow all the leads because if Ben is guilty of harming Elliot's parents then he may be a possible serial killer!

This was an intriguing and strange story where nothing is the way it appears although the reader will not know this until the end of the book. The story was engaging and I kept thinking I knew what was going on but nothing could have enlightened me to the crazy (good) fast-paced last quarter of the book which I just couldn't stop non-stop reading. I have to admit I never read a story like this one because it sucks you in as a slow moving love and crime story gone amiss. WRONG! The author "Adam Hamby" brought in a wonderful science fiction edge that was unpredictable in every way, shape and form and I mean that literally as well as figuratively. If anyone studied physics in school then they will have a wonderful understanding of some of the techniques that were applied in the last section although the writer did a great job of making the ending easy for everyone to appreciate. Please make sure you read this novel until the very end or you will be missing out on a true rollercoaster of a most unusual quality and everything will be fully explained in the end. There were some problems that were not quite answered for myself (being picky) but if the reader just accepts the book as it was written then this will be a wonderful and possibly an unforgettable book that will take them on a journey of loss, heartache, mystery, sorrow, adventure and the most fantastical journey into what the meaning and power of what love could truly be.

I want to thank the publisher "Atria Books" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this novel and any thoughts or opinions expressed are unbiased and mine alone!

I highly recommend this highly imaginative book and have given a rating of 4 MYSTERIOUS AND MYSTICAL 🌟🌟🌟🌟 STARS!!

Thanks to Atria for the ARC.
I did end up waiting for the audio of this one, and I highly recommend that route if you're interested. The narration was superb. My interest was piqued with this book because of the recommendation to go in cold. Don't read the synopsis, instead keep an open mind and let the story take you where it needs to go. I was astounded by the book and the intricacies of it. By the end, I was 🤯 because the author pulled off such an elaborate book that came together seamlessly. I didn't ever feel lost, I just went with it and it paid off. I highly recommend you do the same. If you like some suspense and a satisfying story, check this one out.

Book review: 'The Other Side of Night' a brilliant, genre-bending mystery
ASHLEY RIGGLESON FOR THE FREE LANCE–STAR Oct 15, 2022

The publicist of Adam Hamdy’s new novel, “The Other Side of Night,” reached out and told me I would love this novel. They told me I should go into it knowing nothing at all. Needless to say, I was intrigued. And I was not disappointed.

“The Other Side of Night” is a perfect escapist novel.

After the preface, readers follow a disgraced former detective named Harri, who gets more than she bargained for when she enters a book shop. She buys a book about happiness and finds a mysterious and sinister message scrawled inside. Harri cannot help it, she is intrigued and she begins an investigation on her own terms, without the police department behind her.

Meanwhile, Harri’s personal life is in shambles. Though it seemed she and the man she was dating, Ben Elmys, had chemistry, he breaks up with her without an explanation. And when Ben shows up in the midst of her investigation, Harri begins doubting her instincts.

The further Harri digs into the case, the creepier this novel becomes until, like Harri, the reader is unsure what to believe.

Don’t get me wrong. I love a good crime novel, but as “The Other Side of Night,” morphs into something quite different and very special. Though the mystery remains at the heart of the novel, Hamdy’s work becomes quite philosophical, asking and attempting to answer huge questions about the nature of life, death and time.

At the halfway point, I expected it to be a run-of-the-mill horror story. But Handy’s latest is a true genre bender, blending elements of mystery, romance and science fiction to create a brilliant hodgepodge.

Though “The Other Side of Night” does not have the lyrical prose I usually love in my favorite novels, this book is cleverly constructed. Hamdy makes great use of Postmodern pastiche to ratchet up the tension in the plot, and readers will surely be kept guessing until the last page.

While this novel is a mystery at its core, Hamdy’s resolution is also quite poignant, and by the end readers will feel sated, having finished a book in which, though multiple themes are juggled, none of the balls are dropped. I have never read anything quite like it before, and I think readers of every genre will appreciate this entertaining philosophical novel.

This review was originally printed in The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, VA.

I tried both this netgalley kindle version and the audiobook once it was published, but I couldn't get into the story. There was too much mystery and too many discriptions at the beginning without anything for me to grab onto for a longer plot line. It just wasn't for me.

I definitely like the cover of the recently published THE OTHER SIDE OF NIGHT by Adam Hamdy. Unfortunately, I found the story too unsettling to complete. At first, I was curious about a former police officer named Harriet (Harri) Kealty and her efforts to investigate the deaths of two scientists, Beth and David Asha. But Harri seems obsessed with a man who jilted her; Ben Elmys is a strange and threatening presence in the novel and she keeps returning, like the proverbial moth to a flame. Despite bestselling author Hamby's quality writing, I lost patience with the characters and the numerous references to past events which were not explained. THE OTHER SIDE OF NIGHT received a starred review from Publishers Weekly which called it a "deviously twisty tale of fate and coincidence... will shock, stir, and haunt readers long after the final page." If that sounds appealing, go for it; if not, there are plenty of other intriguing mysteries to "solve."

Wow! An easy 5 stars from me. This is a really smart crime novel that takes what could have been a straightforward story and turns it on its head. This was absolutely my kind of book. You have to sit with a bit of confusion and trust that it all comes together in the end- but i loved that the author gave you just enough to stay engaged, but not so much to where it was obvious. I loved Harri as a character- shes flawed and sharp and really good at her job- and i was rooting for her to unpack things and find a way to carry out without this job that had turned into her identity. When people say if you like puzzles you might like this book i usually shy away, but i do think this would be a good one for people who like to put the pieces together to figure out what’s going on in a story. This was really well done and I can see myself reading it again to see what else i discover after i have all of the information. Really well done and - 5 stars!

This is one of those books that you are better to go into it blind. I really can’t say much about it, because even saying a little would ruin the experience I think.

…seeing other people say the same made me immediately bump it up my TBR. I learned something about myself as a reader from that - if someone says “I can’t tell you anything about this book” - it means I NEED to know what that means IMMEDIATELY and have to read it. Do you have the same FOMO?

Anyways….back to the book.

I shouldn’t have liked this. If you read it and if you know my tastes, you’ll get that.
But somehow it just worked for me. It’s enthralling, intriguing …and as a friend described it - “it’s quiet” and I can’t think of a more perfect word to describe its uniqueness.

Definitely one of a kind and I think one worth checking out!

Friends, I have absolutely no clue how to write a review for this book without spoilers. Nearly anything I can think to say about it spoils something. The synopsis is intentionally vague. I do believe that there is a very specific group of readers that will love this book and a group that will hate it, but I can't say which is which, and even saying which group I am in will be a spoiler.

It definitely kept me interested. I was a little confused at the beginning in regards to who was narrating, but once I got it figured out, I was hooked by the plot.

One thing I didn't love was this weird fixation Harriet had on her lack of love life. She spent an inordinate amount of time whining about being single for a thriller, and while it made sense why in the end, those passages very much gave "men writing women" vibes.

Adam Hamdy’s The Other Side of Night is one of those rare books that is truly unclassifiable, which means that it is also the perfect book to be Exhibit A in any discussion of why the whole concept of categorization is illogical, reductive, and ultimately pointless. A novel can be – and likely is – many things at once; and what that meaning is to each reader will vary vastly. Nowhere is this more evident than with The Other Side of Night.

David Asha was last seen stepping off the cliffs of the Peak District. Most assumed he was overwhelmed by the loss of his wife, but why would he choose to leave his young son parentless? Harriet Kealty is a discredited police officer, not because of what she did, but rather because she is unable to prove what she did not do. Linking these two lives together is Ben Elmys. Ben is Harri’s ex and an old friend of the Asha family who now serves as the caretaker for David’s son, Elliott.

A cryptic note written in the margins of a secondhand book lead Harri down an audacious path that is both frightening and comforting in equal measure. Is this message an indication of murder? Or might it mean something completely different?

There are at least three stories at play here. David Asha’s decision to write a book about his greatest regret – his separation from his son. Harriet’s police work – both past and present. And Ben Elmys’ guardianship of Elliott – and the secret he shares with the boy which changes everything.

Spoilers would be impossible to avoid by going any deeper into this story. The Other Side of Night is best consumed with as little expectation and foreknowledge as possible. This is not the story it seems to be from the start, but it will be the story you need by the end. I use “you” here intentionally because The Other Side of Night is a book that will have very personal ramifications for each reader, but those effects will be different depending on the life led by each particular reader.

Adam Hamdy’s prose elevates what is already a very lofty novel to incredible heights – at times feeling like poetry. Along with the standard viewpoints expected, The Other Side of Night includes transcripts from a trial, extracts from a book, journal entries from multiple sources, private letters meant for specific eyes only, and so much more.

The Other Side of Night is a mystery in the sense that life is a mystery. Sure, there is a crime to be solved, but what really matters is the metaphysical quandaries that surround the core. It will be a rare reader who can get to the end without some type of deep emotional reaction – perhaps wonder, sadness, confusion, love, delight, awe, empathy, envy, or fear. More than likely, it will be a combination of some or all these core emotions and countless ephemeral asides as well. It’s a mystery; it’s a love story; it’s a tragedy; it’s a thriller, an adventure, and a quest. It is all of that and none of that.

Make no mistake, The Other Side of Night is a book that is meant to heal on whatever level you need healing. A thought-provoking meditation on existence that resonates in the reader’s mind long after the final pages are turned. In a true feat of storytelling magic, the slowly unfolding story must be consumed as quickly as possible, almost as though the answers will be out-of-reach if one doesn’t get there fast enough. But perhaps it is in the seeking of answers where we all get it wrong. Who’s to say?

Easily the most unexpected book of the year, Adam Hamdy’s The Other Side of Night is unforgettable – and it is more than feasible such a statement, devoid of specifics, is all the recommendation that is needed.

This book got me good! I mean, I just finished it and I'm in awe...I keep thinking over how the book developed to get to that ending and I loved it! This is a book I will remember for a while! Such a unique premise that you don't know what you're reading until that certain moment!

David Asha begins by telling his story and his grief of his separation from his son. We then meet Harri, who was recently removed from the police force because of an unfortunate incident. Harri can't quite get away from her police work though as a mysterious situation arises and she's certain she is needed to help save someone.

The story builds and builds, and you wonder what and where it's going...I felt this sense of expecting something, yet continuing to patiently wait to be taken there....THEN! Wow. All I have to say is if you like mysteries, thrillers, and books with a new concept and idea--READ this one!

Rating it a 4 because I did feel it was a bit slow until a certain point but then it became a 5 star book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the e-copy of this book.