This review will be vague because I do not want to give anything away and it is hard to describe this book without revealing the actual story. I can say that there was depth and a wonderful portrayal of themes, including family, fate/destiny, sacrifice, and truth. The characters have depth and are memorable - they move the story along through their actions and interactions, leading to a wonderful and satisfying ending. This book will exercise your mind and make you think outside what is normal. I would recommend this book to any adventurous reader looking for a very unique, heart wrenching story.

A huge thank you to the author, Atria Books, and NetGalley for a copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review. #TheOtherSideofNight #NetGalley

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria, and Adam Hamdy for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!**
To start, the publisher has asked to keep things on the hush-hush side in terms of plot, but to set the stage at least...We begin by meeting David Asha, who is reeling from the loss of his son Elliot. He warns the tale he is about to tell will sound like fiction, but is entirely true. After this initial intro, we meet Harriet "Harri" Kealty, a former police officer who has had to leave the profession after a tragic mistake during her time on the force. This blow leaves her without purpose, but things seem to take a turn for the better when she meets Ben Elmys, a stranger with a poetic soul who sparks her attention immediately. They begin a courtship, but Harri is devastated when Ben breaks it off and is left puzzling as to what she did wrong.
This one is difficult for me to rate, and it's hard to do a proper review without giving too much of the plot away. I loved Part 1 of the novel, but in Part 2, it goes off in a direction that you would never expect and it didn't really work for me.
The pacing of this book was also... tough. A lot of what feels like exposition or perhaps simply unnecessary maneuverings happens in the beginning half of the story and the real meat does not present itself until well after the halfway mark. The meat of the story is WORTH THE WAIT, but I do wish it hadn't taken so long to get there.
This book is not perfect, which I feel falls mostly on the editing and pacing.
By the end, I was so over the book, it just kept going, I couldn't wait to get to the last page. It felt like a massive chore.
Can’t say much more without giving it away but let’s just say this isn’t a thriller. This is an entirely different genre than you are thinking

Hmmm. I think The Other Side of Night is a book that I'll be processing for a long time, but I just finished it and wanted to review it while my thoughts are fresh.

This book is getting a lot of early hype, and I think it's warranted. It's a thoughtful, mind-bending, brow-furrowing read that's part crime thriller, part metaphysical meditation. The entire novel hinges on a "secret"-slash-twist, so it's really best to go into this read knowing as little about the plot as possible.

The fact that the whole plot is in service to the twist was the thing that didn't quite work for me with The Other Side of Night. It affects both the pacing of the novel (the first 80% is basically just setting things up -- lots of exposition) and the characters. There are attempts to give the characters depth, and I did find myself sympathizing with them, but mostly they felt like a vehicle to drive the plot to the twist. The characters' relationships and emotions felt very surface-level, and the the actual mechanics of the world of the novel left me a bit confused.

The more philosophical parts of the novel are heartfelt and thought-provoking, if a bit contrived, and there were a couple of lines of prose that made me catch my breath. I wasn't as blown away by this one as others, but I would still recommend it. It's going to resonate with a lot of readers, I think.

**Many thanks to NetGalley, Atria, and Adam Hamdy for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!**

"Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been..."-Truckin, The Grateful Dead

It's been two days since I finished 'truckin' through this one, and I'm still not quite sure how I feel about it...other than frustrated

To start, the publisher has asked to keep things on the hush-hush side in terms of plot, but to set the stage at least...We begin by meeting David Asha, who is reeling from the loss of his son Elliot. He warns the tale he is about to tell will sound like fiction, but is entirely true. After this initial intro, we meet Harriet "Harri" Kealty, a former police officer who has had to leave the profession after a tragic mistake during her time on the force. This blow leaves her without purpose, but things seem to take a turn for the better when she meets Ben Elmys, a stranger with a poetic soul who sparks her attention immediately. They begin a courtship, but Harri is devastated when Ben breaks it off and is left puzzling as to what she did wrong.

Harri is in a bookstore, just casually browsing, when she finds a book with a disturbing message scrawled on one of its pages "Help me, he's trying to kill me." Harri's detective instincts kick in, and she winds up at the home of Elliot's guardian...but it isn't David Asha. Rather, it's a face she thought she might never see again: Ben Elmys. Ben and Elliot are bonded in a strange way, though...they share a dangerous secret. Elliot tells Harri he can't reveal it. But can Harri piece together what REALLY happened to David Asha, her relationship with Ben...and what about David's wife? What role does she play in this tangled mess of players...or is SHE destined to discover this dangerous secret all on her own?

This is such a strange book to try to review, and I mean that. I went into it expecting a mystery/thriller with a big twist...and then basically had to sit on my hands and hang in there for about 80% of the read waiting for that twist to happen.

The start was compelling enough, and I enjoyed Harri's character and her story, although it felt a bit long-winded to me at times. probably because I just keep waiting for things to pick up. We are given breadcrumb after breadcrumb, but after a while, I was getting hangry and just wanted some answers! This book honestly reads pretty much like a 'standard' crime thriller, and while I wasn't enthralled I thought it was leading somewhere interesting, so I held on hope for that AHA moment.

And then...the BIG twist (so to speak).

So at this point the book basically jumps from mystery to sci-fi/fantasyland and doesn't look back. All is revealed and 'makes sense' (after the big explanation) through referencing a bunch of very specific plot points, none of which I can discuss in any fashion without spoiling the entire book. Not only does this require a HUGE suspension of disbelief, but I was a bit bored with the explanation and accompanying mental gymnastics required just to piece everything together.

I also felt like the author went a bit off the deep end waxing philosophical at this point, probably to 'elevate the narrative', but I don't think TONS of rhetorical questions about life and all that lies beyond were needed in this one. Normally, I love books that make me challenge my perception of life and the world, all that came before us and all that lies beyond, but I honestly got frustrated after a while with all of the pondering because it seemed more like the author was fixated on trying to make a point for the sake of making one rather than leaving the reader with a more specific takeaway.

All in all, my experience with this one was like going to an art museum to see a much hyped painting where the artist's technique was intricate and respectable...but the resulting artwork was just a bit too OUT OF THIS WORLD for my taste.

3.5 stars

Maybe it's just an indication of my preference for realistic fiction, but I found the distinctly non-fantastical romance between disgraced ex-cop Harriet Kealty and her would-be lover, Ben Elmys, the most absorbing thing about Adam Hamdy's very-much fantastical "The Other Side of Night," which has Harriet investigating the deaths of a scientist couple and how their deaths intersect with intimacy problems she's been having with Ben. The explanation lies in a surprise twist which some readers have compared to the ending of "The Sixth Sense," and indeed the revelation is a doozy, but as I say I found Harriet and Ben's troubled relationship the most interesting part of the novel and in particular the sympathetic portrayal that's drawn of Harriet – it certainly had me pulling for her. All in all, an absorbing read, Hamdy’s novel, particularly for fans of more fantastical fiction, though perhaps not so much the cup of tea for those of us who prefer our fiction more firmly planted on terra firma.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @Atria and @Simon & Schuster for the eARCs in exchange for my honest review. When I first saw this book, I was so excited - I love the cover and the name of it intrigued me. I didn't read the synopsis and saw that on NetGalley; it suggests NOT reading it as it's the best way to experience the journey that is this book.

The journey for me was not a fun one. It was slow, boring, and unbelievable. It's going to be hard to review this one as per the publisher's instructions to leave any details or spoilers about the secret and other plot points that would give too much away, but that is exactly where the book fell apart for me. I am frustrated that I was completely sucked in because of all the secrecy around this book, and I fell for the marketing tactic hard, only to be disappointed in the end. It took me a week to get through this book (I usually finish a book in 2 days) because I was not jibing with it, and I was bored.

WRITING: 1/5

This book needs an editor, STAT. Or a second one. Whoever, because it is so poorly written and very confusing for the entire book. Throughout it, there are different formats of dialogue such as a courtroom, ones from videos, audio, emails, journals, and more. I just felt it made the book messy and hard to follow as if the author couldn't just choose one, so he did them all. The writing itself felt very cheesy at points and the characters came very flat for me, so it was hard to care about them. I also felt the author cannot write a believable woman character, as a lot of the dialogue and behavior/actions were laughable and off-putting. The writing and descriptions of something specific here were ridiculous. I recall thinking, "Hmmm, would a lawyer actually say that?" and I don't think that's a good sign. I was hoping the writing would improve, but it never did.

PLOT: 1/5

Again, I can't say what I want to for reasons. But, I feel duped. Heavily. This did not work for me at all. The plot itself was so confusing once again, which is a recurring theme in this book. The author threw everything but the kitchen sink in this book and it backfired. Part one drags on, and part two goes off the rails. It's very hard to say anything without spoiling, but I will give the author credit for how it wrapped up in the end and things came together, even if I hated it. The book started out with a police procedural vibe and I was on board with that, because I love a good police/crime thriller! This also is NOT a thriller, AT ALL. I don't know why people are marketing it in their reviews. They must have never read a thriller. This is a very, very, very, slow burn mystery if I can even call it a mystery, that has no payoff in the end. The romance plot in here was written so badly and felt so out of place, it was incredibly random. Why was the main character in love with someone after 3 dates? Lol.

ENDING: 1/5

By the end I was so over the book, it just kept going, I couldn't wait to get to the last page. It felt like a massive chore. As I previously stated, I give him credit for how things tied together, as it is evident he must've planned this out in advance with all the minute details, even if I hated it. Again, I cannot say what I want to say because of the whole secrecy around the book, but it didn't work for me at all. Highly implausible, absurd, and very confusing. I was hoping to be not confused by the final page, but I was left even more perplexed. I skimmed the last 15% because I couldn't take it anymore. I basically guessed the whole secret and twist, because I was thinking of the ridiculous possibilities and ways I didn't want this book to go.

I cannot recommend this book at all as I feel completely duped by it, and well, didn't like it at all myself. If you're an avid thriller reader like me, save your time for this one.

The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy
Publishing Date - October 11th 2022
Rating (4/5) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you Atria books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Typically, I tend to read thrillers / suspense since it’s my favorite genre! So when I saw this one on Netgalley , I actually requested it for its cover. Lol. No synopsis for this because I do not want to give anything away. This book was amazing and thought - provoking. Highly recommend this one when it comes out October 11th.

There's not a lot that can be revealed about this book without giving too much away. We have poor little Elliot Asha who has been orphaned when his mother passes away from cancer and his father commits suicide soon after. Then there is former police officer Harriet Kealty who has gone rogue and is investigating the deaths of the boys parents (she has been relieved of duty after an incident involving her former partner and a suspect...this part is left purposefully vague). Add to this mix, Ben Elmys, Harriet's former love interest and guardian of our orphaned Elliot. Can it get any more confusing? Perhaps, but rest assured that all will be revealed in the surprise ending and you will definitely want to stick around for the twist!

The author warns the early early readers to NOT spoil the big twist. What a genius way to capture the curiosity of any book lover! This story is intriguing and original and though it is a fast read it is a bit slow paced and it is not highly suspenseful to the regular thriller reader. This is more a story about love and how far someone would go to pursue it, it is about regret….oh, and there is a big surprise! All in all, it was a good read. Thank you NetGalley, Atria books, and the author for this eARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is available for purchase on October 11, 2022.

I was intrigued by the note from the publisher that said to go into this one without knowing anything about it. If you know me, you know that’s my catnip. Thank you to Atria and Netgalley for the advance reading copy. I also saw a lot of 5 star reviews from friends so I was excited to dive in.

Unfortunately this one just didn’t work for me. For the first half it felt really slow - but by then I was interested to see how it ended so I continued. There were some interesting twists and turns but it just wasn’t enough for me. I don’t want to say more to give anything away - but if you’ve made it this far I would say give it a shot and see if it’s a better fit for you!

3.5 stars, rounded up

At 80% into this book I was prepared to give it 2 stars. It was very slow and had so much telling, I was starting to glaze over and get so very bored. Then came the big twist and it morphed into an even bigger twist and I was sold.

Overall the pacing could have been a lot better. It could have had more straightforward storytelling rather than so much exposition and so little action. Yet my brain really appreciated the last 20%, to the point that I raised my rating.

Just a warning to those who don't care for sci-fi, this book does have a sci-fi-esque resolution. If you don't like it, then you most likely won't like this book. I do like some light sci-fi (see my recent reads of Amen Maxine and Violet Is Nowhere) and so appreciated and liked the overall narrative of this book. However those who are expecting a straightforward mystery will be disappointed. I'm treading lightly here as to not go into spoiler territory, but UNLIKE Behind Her Eyes, which is billed as a mystery and veers sharply into paranormal woo woo, at least the storyline of this book seems potentially plausible to me.

I encourage you to read it for yourself and see what you think. It's overall a pretty quick read and definitely entertaining in the end, taken as a whole. I'd like to go back and read it again now that I know how it all turns out.

The Other Side of Night is one of my most anticipated Fall 2022 read. It’s best to go into this one with a open mind and without to much context, which always makes for an interesting read.

There are a few different ways this story is told. David Asha, a well known author is the first narrator we meet, who is writing about one of his biggest regrets in life, which has to do with his son Elliot. Harriet Kealty, a former police officer and our second narrator we meet is Harriet. We get to know her through both a court room trial and as she deals with the aftermath of that said trial. Both David and Harriet’s lives meet when they encounter Ben Elmys, who we do get as a narrator within the story as well. And that’s basically all the summary I’m going to give, because once again it’s best to go without to much info.

Ugh, this review has been extremely difficult for me to write. One one hand I think it’s well thought out and can see why so many readers are raving about it. On the other hand I found parts of the story to be slow, and while I never had the urge to DNF, I did find myself bored at certain points. As a science fiction, mystery, I expected more…suspense I think, and I never found the story to be all consuming or exciting. With that said, I did need to know the answer to the mystery and was intrigued enough to continue reading. Maybe I read to much, but the big reveal didn’t exactly surprise me, though that could be because I was hoping for a more ‘thrilling’ read.

I’m not 100% sure what didn’t work for me on this one. I do think it is unique, and the writing is good, if not a bit wordy for my taste. Not knowing the ‘secret’ for so long and with how much it was eluded, that I think I got a bit frustrated with waiting, but then again I’m pretty impatient, so that’s probably a me problem.

This one was just a 3 star read for me. I think this book is for a very particular type of reader, and for readers that enjoy more atmosphere and slow burn stories than anything else. It wasn’t really for me, but there are so many other reviews out there loving it, that I would check out their reviews to see what they loved before deciding against reading this book.


The Other Side of Night comes out October 11, 2022! Huge thank you to Atria Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.

Definitely thought this was a thriller going in - it was good, but NOT a thriller. Slower but very good - I liked the last half better than the first & I had no idea where it was going. This one was excellent & would make a great book club discussion.

Thank you @netgalley and @atriabooks for this advance copy.
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This story was so unique and original - like nothing I have ever read! I had no idea what was going on for much of the book, but I would encourage other readers to just go with it. The style of storytelling created so much suspense, I could’ve read this book in one sitting if given the chance. I won’t say much else to avoid spoilers, but I can’t wait to talk about this book with other readers!

4.5⭐

“If you had the power to save the life of someone you loved, how far would you go?”

The Other Side of Night by Adam Hamdy is the story of a father, David Asha, an author who shares the story of how he came to be separated from his son Elliot, in his new book. It is also a story of his son, a boy who loses his father soon after his mother dies from cancer. It is also the story of Ben Elmys, a family friend and colleague of the Ashas, who is responsible for Elliot's care after his parents are gone.

This is also the story of Harriet “Harri” Kealty a disgraced police officer who loses her job after being unable to prove her innocence when she is wrongfully accused in a case-related incident . Harri finds a cryptic message in a book she finds in a library sale – a message that leads her to Elliot and his guardian Ben Elmys, a man with whom she once dreamed of a future. Her subsequent investigation into the Asha family and Ben results in her fate becoming inextricably linked to the lives of those she is investigating.

The story is told from the perspectives of Harri and Elliot as well as through chapters from David’s book that also includes court transcripts, police reports, passages from a book and journal entries from some of the characters. At times the narrative might feel disjointed but rest assured, it all comes together (and how!) in the end. If you decide to read this book it is best to go in blind! The pace is on the slower side, but the beautifully penned passages make this worth the read and be prepared to be confused, surprised, heartbroken and then finally, filled with a sense of wonder at this thought-provoking and genre-defying novel. This is an unusual story –one that combines elements of family drama, a love story, mystery and speculative fiction. Though this is not a fast-paced thriller, I could not put this book down until I reached the very end.

Many thanks to Adam Hamdy, Atria Books and NetGalley for the digital copy of this incredible novel. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The Other Side of Night is due to be released on October 11, 2022.

im a cold hearted bitch so it takes a LOT for me to get teary eyed in a book, much less a thriller…but this one achieved breaking my stone heart so i can’t give it any less than 5 stars.
it has a bit of a slow first half but STICK WITH IT, the payoff is so worth it and it really makes you think.
also go into this one completely blind, even one of the genres listed is a bit of a spoiler

It's hard to blurb about a book that really is about love and what someone would do for it.

This is a story about regret and loss and a major secret. I don't want to spoil anything about the plot. It's just one of the better books I've read this year.

Thank you to Adam Hamdy, NetGalley and the publishers.

I read through 75% of this book and I just could not finish it. I knew it had some sci fi in it but it seemed to veer off into something else, I'm not sure what.

At any rate since I didn't finish it I won't be posting to any purchasing sites.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this title, just wasn't for me.

Hmm, I'm not quite sure what to make of this book. It was original for sure. The publisher asks that we don't give away too much so its hard to explain. This is the kind of story that doesn't make much sense then bam, it all comes together. I think my problem with the story was that I wasn't wholly invested in any of the characters and the twist, while good, came in the last minutes and I was disappointed that it was all wrapped up so quickly with little explanation. Then to top it off the last two chapters felt repetitive. I went into this thinking it would be a mystery/thriller but the book does switch genres and I wasn't a fan of that. It wasn't bad by any means, maybe just not for me.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“The Other Side of Night” by Adam Handy ⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery plus ??? Location: Staffordshire, England, and Arthog, Wales. Time: Covers at least two decades in the near present. NOTE: The publisher requested that readers not spoil the surprises in this book for others.

The lonely boy, the disgraced police officer, the odd, creepy scientist. Each has a dark secret and each has a terrible problem to solve. The book is narrated by a person who writes a book to share their dark and twisted story, based on research and personal experience. And that’s about all I can share without spoilers.

The book includes 1st person narrative by the writer character, 3rd person narrative about other characters, philosophical musings, multiple transcripts, and many pages spent quoting a book one of the characters reads. There are very lengthy descriptions of scenery and landscapes.

Story narrative about the disgraced female police officer is a bit overblown and stereotypical. Is this seriously how author Handy imagines she would think and sound? Or is this how Handy imagines his male writer character thinks she would sound? If so, Handy may be purposely writing this type of description. I don’t know. But I do know it makes her seem romantically clichéd and stereotyped compared to other characters.

Despite the above, I found myself sucked into this weirdly addictive story, and kept reading until the early hours of the morning. The book starts slowly, rambles around, frequently changes points of view, hints at dark secrets, moves into thriller mode, causes claustrophobia, and then changes genre again in a bizarre twisted ending. It’s 3 solid stars from me for this mysteriously secretive book.🌵📚💁🏼‍♀️. Thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Schuster, Atria Books, and Adam Handy for this early copy.