Didn't love this one. I could see why people would like it, but the pretentiousness was a bit over the top for me. Granted, that was part of the point of the story, the rich, upperclass, highly educated and a murder in their ranks, but I just couldn't get myself to care very much about the mystery/murder part. The characters were incredibly unlikeable so I just didn't care. I was more invested in the potential relationship of Nell and Alex than I was who the killer was. I know that it was meant to be satire and mocking of the rich, but I just didn't like them so there was no investment in the story. Detective Caius Beauchamp comes back in another book, and while I liked him and his partner for the most part, I don't know that I will continue with the series.

4.5 stars. I really liked this book. Not necessarily for the plot, but for the characters. Caius Beauchamp, and his fellow detectives Matt and Amy, are all dedicated cops, slightly weird, and totally entertaining. I enjoyed the little side oddities, such as Matt getting into (and then getting the department into) lavender biscuits. As for the storyline- it was a bit convoluted, with some twists and turns that might have been a bridge too far- but I didn’t really care. Again, the character development. I want terrible things to happen to Rupert in the rest of his life. Unfortunately, he is exactly the type of entitled shit that makes our world suck. I really hope Nell ditches the whole scene and finds real people to be friends with. She is damaged by all of them. Lastly, I can’t wait to read more about Caius and his investigations. Hurry up and release another one!
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this as an ARC.

Everything about this one should’ve worked for me - British, high society, mystery, influence - but I just could NOT find a reason to give a fig about our MC. Such a bummer.

This one just wasn't for me. I'm not sure if it was the British focus or what, but I just couldn't enjoy this one.

Unfortunately had to DNF this as I couldn't get into the plot and didn't like the characters. Not the book for me.

Not my favorite read. This author is new to me and I did not like the prose and found it difficult to read.

This was a great mystery and could not believe this was the authors debut story.I love the modern day mystery with the aristocrats and of course the, influencers. The story keeping me guessing and the twists were great! This was a fantastic debut novel

#TheOtherHalf #NetGalley
Awesome.
Who killed Clemmie? Was it the blithe, sociopathic boyfriend? His impossibly wealthy godmother? The gallery owner with whom Clemmie was having an affair? Or was it the result of something else entirely All the party-goers have alibis. Naturally. This investigation is going to be about aristocrats and Classics degrees, Instagram influencers and whose father knows who.Or is it 'whom'? Detective Caius Beauchamp isn't sure. He's sharply dressed, smart, and thoroughly modern—he discovers Clemmie's body on his early morning jog. As he searches for the dark truth beneath the luxurious life of these London socialites, a wall of staggering wealth and privilege threatens to shut down his investigation before it's even begun. Can Caius peer through the tangled mess of connections in which the other half live—and die—before the case is wrenched from his hands?
Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage Anchor for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and the publishers for this early copy in exchange for a review. Sadly, The Other Half just didn’t work for me. I very much disliked the main character. To the point where I’m a little surprised that I actually finished the book. I just felt no investment in the story. I wasn’t connecting to any of the characters and the murder mystery was not keeping me interested in the story.

Book 1 of a new series featuring private detective Caius Beauchamp leaps out as the potential for a very engaging new series. Caius, mourning the his recent breakup, discovers the body of a socialite one morning while jogging. The story splits, taking the reader through the past birthday bash of Rupert Beauchamp (same spelling, different pronunciation) as he waits for his socialite girlfriend to show up so he can break up with her.

This book reminded me somewhat of Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series, but a little lighter and with more humor. A great new private eye/whodunit series if you are in looking for one. I'm going to be following this author (who is promised to be working on Book 2 by her editor!) and looking forward to more in this series.

Thank you Netgalley, author and Anchor books for the ARC.

DNF , when you cannot even force yourself to read more than 17 pages and I am someone who hardly dnf's books.
I couldn't follow through the story, words were in English but it felt like I was reading another language, when you have so many words in two pages that I have to repeatedly Google to find the meaning - 'Salvete', 'pleb' , 'cosset', 'triumvirate'. I lost interest.

I couldn't understand the satire, the characters couldn't even grab my attention enough to read further.

The Other Half is the first book in a police procedural series by Charlotte Vassell. Released 21st Nov 2023 by Knopf Doubleday on their Vintage Anchor imprint, it's 368 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. Paperbakc due out in Aug 2024 from the same publisher.It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

There are moments of levity and humor, but for the most part, the book is quite full of highly unpleasant characters upon whom readers will actually *wish* harm. The writing is well wrought and the plotting is well engineered, but perhaps a little less awfulness in the characters would have rendered the whole read a more pleasant experience overall.

There's also a large dose of social satire and poking fun at the upper classes which has more spite and snark than actual humor. There are numerous books which do the upper classes behaving badly trope with humor and delicacy (Crazy Rich Asians, Malibu Rising, and Big Little Lies for example), this, sadly, isn't one of them.

Another book in the series released April 2nd 2024 and has considerably higher ratings overall. It's probably worth slogging through the first book in order to give the second book a fair try; as said, it's generally well written and moderately well plotted.

Three stars. Worth a look for readers who enjoy hating most of the characters and don't mind some serious -stupidity- in action from the same.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I couldn’t get into this book. I don’t think I’m the specific audience for the book. I recognized the satire and humor but it wasn’t really for me.
There wasn’t anything I disliked about the book, I just couldn’t get in to it and wasn’t enticed to keep reading. I DNF it at 1/3 of the way through.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy of this eARC.

This book had a lot of twists and turns. It was hard to stay engaged. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and I found my self having to go back and remind myself who was who.

Despite the many notable quotes, this book was not a winner for me. British satire but far too slow and plodding. Not a police procedural despite including a DI as one of the many narrators. I would not recommend to fans of the genre. The characters are silly and over the top and although I did laugh and notate a few quotes, I would not continue with this series or the author. YMMV

Could you please explain what a tofu scramble is?
‘It’s sadness on toast. Also, the toast has no butter.’

‘Then fuck ’em. It’s not your problem any more. Best thing you can do right now is get your hair cut, listen to a few hours of Beyoncé’s angriest songs and get twatted on Friday. Maybe make out with someone that you’ll never have to see again in a dodgy nightclub where you lose a pair of good shoes to the sticky carpet.’

I’m aware that I’ve gone over that invisible line in your late twenties where you go from “you’re pregnant eek” to “you’re pregnant yay”. I should grow up. Breed. Get a mortgage.

...like a feral pack of malnourished pugs.

‘Smugness doesn’t suit your bone structure. You don’t have the cheekbones for it,’

‘Hereward Trollope- Bagshott is the most English name I have ever heard...'

Pizza: is it just pretentious cheese on toast?

‘To be mixed race is to carry the burden of your History as a proper noun, an ancestral wound, while being complimented on your tan in January and the thickness of your hair.’

‘Don’t marry him. I know the house is something else, and that ring is spectacular (I’d pawn it if I were you), but he’s a Wickham not a Darcy, and you’re definitely an Elizabeth Bennet.’

Wanted to DNF multiple times and only didn’t because I’m stubborn… which was a mistake. The characters were all over the place, the dialogue and writing in general felt so rushed and oftentimes confusing in the second half of the book, the resolution of the murder mystery was too obvious, and I thought what social commentary existed was both surface-level and hitting us over the head.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Rupert's 30th birthday party is a black-tie dinner at the Kentish Town McDonald's—catered with cocaine and expensive champagne. The morning after, his girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered on Hampstead Heath, a single stiletto heel jutting from under a bush. And there is not much else to say about this book other than it did have some funny moments, it's full of awful people and it's pretty short. Also there were way too many characters.

When I first heard about this book, I was beyond excited for two reasons: 1) it's a thriller that's the absolute embodiment of rich people problems, and 2) THAT COVER. While it's undeniable that the cover is an absolute slay, the rest of this book didn't quite do it for me. Rupert's 30th birthday party is a black-tie affair, full of champagne and cocaine. The morning after, Rupert's girlfriend Clemmie is found murdered, a single stiletto poking out from under a bush. The race is on to figure out who killed Clemmie: was it Rupert? His wealthy godmother? The gallery owner with whom Clemmie was sleeping with? Everyone from the party has an alibi, but Detective Caius Beauchamp is determined to figure out exactly who killed Clemmie, even though the socialities in question will do whatever it takes to shut down his investigation. I wanted to love this book because it sounded SO good, but the beginning was an absolute slog for me. This is a personal thing, but I thought this book just read SO British that I forgot it was written in English. Once I was about 25% through and was more acquainted with the characters, this stopped bothering me so much, but it was a bit of a pain point for me in the beginning. Nearly every single character in this book is incredibly vapid and unlikable - this has never bothered me, the patron saint of rich people problems, but if you're someone who is turned off by loathsome characters, then you might want to skip this. This isn't an overtly long book, but there are so many characters to keep track of that it feels longer than it actually is.
Vassell is rather funny, and (once I got past all of the Britishisms), I found this to be a voice-y read packed with social commentary. Pretty fun, but not an absolute must.

DNF @ 34%

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book, unfortunately, I just did not care about any of the characters and found myself not wanting to continue reading.

I loved everything about this book: the voice, the satire, the Jamaican detective. I had fun, it's a thriller/mystery that doesn't take itself too seriously even though some of the themes were quite heavy. Can't wait until book two comes out. Going straight to the top of my favorite books of 2024, for sure.