I hate to give any negative reviews but I just couldn’t hang with this book. I requested it on NetGalley because the cover was awesome and the description sounded just up my alley. However, the actual book I couldn’t get into. It was a lot of banter and description of conversations and different classes. I was 40% of the way in and had no clue what had happened. I really just couldn’t keep up. An influencer was found murdered in the park, and her murder was investigated by Caius. It goes back and forth and discusses the upper class and their issues while solving the murder. This book wasn’t for me but it may be for you!!

The character of DI Caius Beauchamp and his staff are the saving grace of this book. The author did such a good job of fleshing out the main characters/suspects, but they are all so thoroughly unlikeable, I had a hard time caring who the murderer was. For me the ending seemed rather abrupt and incomplete. Overall, this book was just not my cup of tea.

The best mysteries are the ones that leave the reader wondering whodunit until the very end. Sadly, this was not the case with The Other Half. At least for this reader, the killer was obvious early on. And although there was a multi-layered plot featuring several mysteries, all were left dangling. Even if this book is the first in a proposed series, it needed a more satisfying ending than was written.

I honestly wasn't sure about this when I first started it - the protagonists all seemed pretentious and the literary metaphors were a bit much, even for this former English major. However, all the pretentious characters and even the metaphors grew on me over the course of the novel as I got to know the characters and figure out who was sincere and who was a jerk. At that point it became a satisfying whodunnit and a great set up for what I imagine will be a successful series.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. I was intrigued by the cover and the description, but this book just wasn't for me. I think it was partly because I missed a lot of the English and literary references. But otherwise it just didn't keep my interest. I felt like it went in too many different directions. I realize that the reader isn't supposed to like most of the main characters, but this just made it difficult for me to enjoy. If it weren't for the fact that I wanted to see who the murderer was I may not have finished it.

As a debut novel I think there is potential, especially for DI Caius Beauchamp. If he is going to be a recurring character, I think he could be quite enjoyable.

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.