Fun read - that is told from various points of view of a murdered woman and the people involved.

Found the detective and his colleges to really make this book tick and laugh.

The Other Half was one of my most anticipated reads of 2023; the plot sounded right up my alley!

Things I loved:
- the overall plot and pacing; I kept coming back every chance I could to read “just a few more pages.”
- the Help for Hippos plot point was super intriguing and I really liked how it was slowly revealed throughout the story.
- well developed characters (and fun character names: Minty, Clemmie, etc)

Things I didn’t love:
- this was more of a me problem, not an actual issue with the book, but because I’m American I often struggled with the British slang used throughout. Most of the time I was able to surmise what was being said, but I did notice it taking me out of the book at times.
- the ending leaving some questions unanswered.

Final rating: 3.5 stars rounded up! Overall an impressive debut novel that was hard to put down.

As a long time fan of the murder mystery genre, I enjoy trying out new authors. Charlotte Vassell, through her debut novel The Other Half, has found a place on my watch list. Her first book was extremely enjoyable, and deftly combines a skewering of certain British Millennial elite, over-wealthy and under-achieving individuals, with a very well-plotted murder mystery. Vassell’s twenty-something descendants of the landed gentry seemed generally unpleasant, and their dialog was irritatingly condescending, excessively snarky and not always believable, but her characterizations of the normal folk, i.e, the team of detectives involved in solving the murder of one of the beautiful people “influencers," made these characters likable, relatable and realistic. Leading the police team, detective Caius Beauchamp, was quite appealing , and I suspect he is a possible protagonist for a continuing series which I would be happy to follow. With the exception perhaps of being overly descriptive, too many metaphors and similes, the book was very well written. The pacing and plotting were polished, and the storyline remained very compelling throughout, despite some unnecessary side-stories that were not especially well developed or wrapped up. All in all, this was a fun and sophisticated mystery romp that kept me eagerly reading to observe the world of the British Other Half, and see how they lived and died.

Thanks to Net Galley for providing an advance copy.

Great storytelling and well-developed characters. I was hooked from the first page. Mystery and intrigue all wrapped up in a gripping tale. Definitely recommend.

Imagine how satisfying it would be to know that a posh birthday party in rented out McDonalds ended in murder! The evil rich in this book are easy to hate and I laughed throughout. A satisfying mystery, with strong commentary on the class system.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of The Other Half.

I disliked this book very much but this might be because I'm not the target audience.

It's hard to enjoy a narrative when it's full of hateable, elitist, overprivileged nincompoops who still act like bratty teenagers, but they're not.

As some reviewers have noted, the writing is good, but exposition is nearly endless and verbose.

Character development is decent, except the author is describing disgusting people so in this case, I actually wanted less description and to get to the point of the story.

Oh, boy, where to start:

Rupert is despicable, so are the women Minty and Clemmie, and pretty much everyone else. Nelly and Alex are okay, but I didn't care about them either way.

It's a filthy love quadrangle where the love is unrequited and this person loves that person who doesn't love him or her back and loves someone else who doesn't return their affections.

I have no idea why these morons like Rupert or why all these men are obsessed with Nelly. I just don't get it and I don't care.

I didn't care. I didn't care about anyone.

I didn't care about why Clemmie was killed and the drug dealing, though it was decently organized, though a bit convoluted with how many people were involved and how many people are related to one another.

I did like the detectives; Caius, Amy, and Matt. It was nice to read about competent, decent detectives on the case, and some of the British humor was amusing, kind of corny at times, but added a bit of levity when the tone of the narrative took a sudden, brutally dark tone.

The narrative was far too long, primarily due to the verbose exposition.

But the heinous cast of characters (minus the detectives on the case) and the tedious exposition and descriptions made this an underwhelming read for me.

The Other Half opens with a rich British playboy celebrating his birthday with an expensive catered dinner at the local McDonald's. He's annoyed when his girlfriend (who he's planning to dump the next day) doesn't show up, but it turns out that she has a pretty good excuse--she's been murdered. Coincidentally, her body is discovered by a police detective who ends up leading the murder investigation.

Unfortunately, this book didn't really work for me, which I think is more my fault than that of the author. I found the upper class characters to be absolutely insufferable, and didn't enjoy reading their constant snark. I realize that this book is more satire than whodunnit, but I just didn't enjoy reading so much about these awful people.

However, if you like reading about thoroughly self-centered people who may or may not get their just desserts, this may be the book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book FLEW by! I was immediately enchanted by Vassell’s humor, wit, and fantastic dialogue. The banter was reminiscent of Emily Henry - but British and involving a murder investigation 🤣 This one was fast paced, cheeky, and had me laughing out loud. However, the end of this novel felt rushed and also bizarre to me, thus lowering my rating slightly. However, if you need a fun murder mystery, definitely check this out!

4.5 stars rounded up; This was definitely my favorite book of 2023 thus far. Charlotte Vassell can set a scene and character build like no other. The heavy themes of this book juxtaposed with our modern-day, social media obsessed society made for incredible allegories. Caius, Matt, and Amy were breaths of fresh air. My only qualm with this book is that I thought it ended rather abruptly, but that could just be me left wanting more.

One the one hand, this is smarter than I expected by half, but that's made troubling by the fact that it's also horribly sad...or...mauldin? The over under is that this cheesey/chintzy cover does not do any part of this book justice.

This was a well written mystery, with unique characters. I got a bit tired of the snobby rich people and the trying too hard to be cool not-rich, but overall it was a good book.

I enjoyed this quite a bit. I really liked the character development for many of the main characters. The mystery itself was interesting too.

Lots of dry humor as the plot and characters develop.

I have mixed emotions about this book. On one hand, the writing is great, the storytelling and character development was as well. However, I was a bit bored in the first quarter of the book and really had to push myself into continuing on until the mystery all really started. I also was a bit disappointed in the way it ended.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. Really enjoyed this mystery/thriller…different than the usual thrillers I read and different than the mystery/detective books I’ve read recently as well. Loved the different characters personalities and the setting. Highly recommend!

What a fun read! The Other Half is a satirical, witty novel with strong commentary on the upper echelon of society. Charlotte Vassell‘s voice has a crisp energy that pulls you in and does not let go - she is a new author to watch for me.

Caius, our protagonist, really shined, and I never wanted the chapters with him to end. He felt real, and his interactions with his colleague Matt were some of my absolute favorite moments and one-liners in the novel. Vassell teases bits of Caius’ background, and I hope we learn more in a future installment.

The novel takes a couple chapters to get into a rhythm, but once it does, I did not want to put it down.

Thank you to NetGalley, Charlotte Vassell, and Anchor Books for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I thought this book was pretty good, it really does show that extreme side of both the people behaving badly, and in the end they did get what they deserved.. the book itself was written very well, and even though it was a bit slow going to start it kept me reading on because I wanted to know what happened next, the end itself didn't really do it for me but I would definitely give this book four stars! Really good book for a debut from this author! Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for this Arc in exchange for an honest revie

This book has divided readers. It was a bit like reading an Onion piece for me. I enjoy British humour but this book was just stiff snobby conversations by the party guests and then commentary by the police. It would've worked better if there was some middle class people to balance it out bc the book was at 2 different extremes.

This is a debut mystery novel but you would never guess! Vassell pulls out all of the stops - complex characters, multiple suspects, mysterious circumstances, glamor and of course likable detectives with flaws. Everything you want in your mystery but unique and exciting.

When the very wealthy hold a birthday party in McDonalds of all places, something unusual is likely to happen. In this case it's an unfortunate death - a murder. Detective Caius Beauchamp is called to investigate and must hustle ahead with his team as the Other Half, the incredibly wealthy and connected work to shut down any investigation. It's filled with sardonic wit, hilarity and mystery just what any Brit Mystery Lover could ask for ! If you like British Mysteries, love to hear about the exploits of the rich, or just want a engaging police procedural, The Other Half is for you!
#TheOtherHalf #vintage #Vintagebooks #CharlotteVassell

The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell started of striking all the right cords to grab my interest.
I found it funny that Rupert (one of the main characters) had a big 25th birthday celebration party at a McDonalds in a private room. After this party is when it gets intriguing.
There are many characters in this novel, but it was pretty easy for me to keep them straight.
The ending was not satisfying to me, but I’m “hoping” that is because there will be series of books off of this one.
#TheOtherHalf
#CharlotteVassell
#NetGalley

eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A girl is dying.

While her well-heeled friends are partying in the upstairs room of a McDonald's of all places, Clemency O'Hara, influencer and aspiring photographer, is being dumped in Hampstead Heath. With a cast of increasingly unlikable characters, Charlotte Vassell barrels through the investigation into Clemmie's murder, told through her frenemy, Nell Waddingham and DI Caius Beachamp (no relation to Clemmie's unsavory beau, Rupert-- it's pronounced differently of course).

While I enjoyed this book and managed to read through it in a day and a half, I had a hard time not picturing the most recent season of "You" with Joe and his wealthy, aristocratic, hedonistic new circle in swinging London. Clemmie is very reminiscent of Lady Phoebe Borehall-Blaxworth while Nell has a bit of Kate in her, including her addiction to the classics. The plot in general was predictable, as was the twist revealing the unexpected murderer who wasn't as unexpected as one might think. Vassell takes her time leaning on Rupert Beauchamp's atrocious abuse of every woman in his circle and it isn't a shock to learn that that included women on the fringe of their friend group, leading one to kill.

This book is an enjoyable read and Vassell achieves a lovely, witty satire of the landed gentry.