New to me author but it won’t be the last time I read a book by them! Very gripping and edge of your seat thrill!

Other People’s Lives is a psychological thriller about a woman, Sophie, who loses her husband. She starts seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Thacker, to talk through the fact that since her husband’s disappearance, she feels like she is being stalked.
When I heard about this book, I was told it was “Silent Patient meets Gone Girl”, two stories that I loved. I was very excited to read this book, since I loved both of those novels.
This book was very fast paced, and I read it within a day or two. Although it was a quick read, I wasn’t sure if I was actually enjoying what I was reading.
The plot was slow for me. I didn’t love the characters. There was no major twist. This one left me wanting more unfortunately.
Thank you to the author, the publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow I really enjoyed this book. It's hard not to give any spoilers but just when you think you have it all figured out it turns out you are wrong! A very well written book that deserves 5 stars!

Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

I couldn’t really get in to this one, there wasn’t much to go on when I requested this book so I thought I would give it a go.

It was an ok read, a bit slow to get in to at the beginning.

Other Peoples Lives
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Genre: Thriller
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 4/22/22
Author: J. E. Rowney
Publisher: Little Fox Publishing
Pages: 305
Goodreads Rating: 3.67

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Fox Publishing for providing a copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: “Let me ask you. Are you worried that someone is watching you, or are you worried that you think someone is watching you?” Sophie Portman has lost her husband, and she thinks she may be losing her mind. She seeks the help of psychiatrist Andrew Thacker, but as she starts to open up, the truth begins to unravel and nothing is quite as it seems.

My Thoughts: The chapters are short, making it breeze by. The book overall is shorter than most at 300 pages, so it was a nice fast thrilling read. As each chapter passes, the tension continues to build. The first half is repetitive and slow burning. However, the last half is fast-paced and suspenseful. You have to pay close attention because the turns are tricky. This was a suspenseful read that I enjoyed and I would read more books by this author.

A great premise but slightly hampered by it all being wrapped up so quickly. A perfect read for those that want a thriller and quick read.

Other People's Lives will keep you on your toes - some definite "wait, what?!" moments as the story unravels. A great read!

I can’t wait to read more by J.E Rowney. This was intriguing, engaging and thrilling. The plot was cleverly unravelled as the story progressed.

I really wanted to love Other People's Lives but it just wasn't one for me. I did appreciate the clever writing and twisty plot and I am sure some others will love this thriller.

An exciting read with some fun twists, this story centres around Sophie who has lost her husband and starts seeing Dr Thacker, a psychiatrist…. But not everything is as it seems! Give it a read!

Thanks #netgalley for this book. I was pleasantly surprised by the twist and then the next twist. Easy read and enjoyable. Recommend.

From beginning to end, this book was INTERESTING. I am shocked with some of the twists and also loved it. It kept me guessing and didn’t drag on. I would love to read more of her work.

I’m so sorry, this book was not for me. I didn’t find it compelling or the characters enjoyable to read about. A plus point in its favour was that it was fast paced, I enjoyed the tempo of the book. But the rest was not for me.

YES! The twists, THE TWISTS. A cast of unreliable characters: check, an unguessable twist: check.

I loved how Sophie was written. I truly felt pulled into her story as she seemingly unraveled with each page turn. The writing was crisp and fast-paced, and the little subtle drops of creepy interweaved were done so well.

Unusually for me, I struggled with this book. It’s not often I give up on a book but with this one I was tempted several times.

I found the story moves very slowly and the characters did not pique my interest as much as those in similar stories that I have read. Even of the book it reached its conclusion I had a lot of questions in my mind as to why the characters had acted in certain ways and done certain things. I found the characters quite unconvincing, they didn’t really come to life to me.

This book is definitely a slow burner and I have to admit that I struggled to stick with it in the beginning. It does pick up and you do become more engaged with the character later in the book, but I didn’t necessarily enjoy reading it as it felt like a bit of a slog. However, there is a twist near the end that I definitely didn’t anticipate!
It’s also well written, the characters are developed well and plot itself was an interesting one. I sadly just didn’t find it as explosively gripping as a lot of people did.
As an aside I do think this genre (Gone girl/Girl on a Train etc) has so many very very very good examples that anyone writing something for that audience has their work cut out for them.

Thank you to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial Publishing for sharing this free ePub with me in exchange for my honest feedback!

This story opens up with a therapy appointment between the patient Sophie Portman and her psychiatrist Dr. Thacker. Sophie is seeing him to get help working through her husband Jack's recent disappearance and her current feelings of paranoia that she is being closely watched and followed.

This story is told in alternating POVs - one is told from his perspective as she comes in for therapy and the content of their conversations, and the other is from Sophie as she writes letters to her husband while he's been gone.

Sophie is not going to work and spends all of her time at home alone, terrified of this person that is stalking her and has no close family or friends to talk about her feelings. In her letters to Jack, she talks about the inner workings of their relationship and begins to see all the cracks in their marriage.

My Thoughts:
This book was really well written and I really enjoyed this style of writing from the author. There is a huge plot twist near the end that I did not see coming at all! I loved getting to know all of the flawed but still very relatable characters and trying to figure out just exactly what was going on with Sophie and her husband.

Usually, with a thriller like this I will tear through it and read it in a few hours, but something was off with the pacing on this one that had me putting it down and picking it back up again every few days. It doesn't have that edge-of-your-seat vibe where you are just dying to know how it ends. All in all, I enjoyed reading this book but something just fell short for me with the ending. I would recommend others to read it because it really is an interesting story but for me, it felt like a lot of books that I have read before.

With so many books claiming to be a “psychological thriller” or the next “Gone Girl”, I always go into these with a healthy amount of trepidation. While the beginning of the story did move a little slow, it picked up around the halfway point and I’m so glad I stuck with it! I’m very happy to report this is in fact, a true psychological thriller! JE Rowney is an incredibly clever, evil genius in my humble opinion. She executed a truly phenomenal plot twist with absolute precision. Highly recommend!

I am struggling with this review. Most people loved it, and I seem to be an outlier.

It had a really interesting plot, a great twist, and it was well written. So why am I an outlier?
** First, I didnt like the characters from the start. I just had a disconnect.
** Secondly, as the therapist is telling her story, and she is with patients, and I can "hear" her thoughts, I think "wow - I am glad I am not in therapy - would mine struggle to pay attention to me too?"
** Third, I was just bored.. *ducks* Ok, I know nobody else was bored - which is actually why I ended up finishing it. I just kept thinking it would end up delivering more. I don't know if I have mystery-with-a-twist burnout or what, but I was not engaged.

I read this book last week, and when I went to write the review today, I actually had to go back and re-skim it to remember it.

All that being said it WAS well written - meaning, it was professionally written, (and let's be honest - these days we read a lot of self published drivel.) The story WAS interesting and I mostly did want to know what happened next.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review.

Other People’s Lives is a quick and clever read with a few good twists.

The story centres around Sophie, a teacher whose adventure-loving husband has recently gone missing. Sophie is finally seeking therapy to deal with the loss of her husband and her growing paranoia that someone is watching her. However, not everything is at it seems.

The book is rather short and as a result some bits feel rushed and some characters seem underdeveloped; however, the brevity maintains the integrity of the surprises along the way. Take it at face value as a fast and fun read and you will enjoy it!