**2.5 stars**

This seemed right up my alley: a locked mansion mystery, a group of strangers, and they start dying one by one. But it wasn’t. If I hadn’t gotten it from NetGalley and had spent money on it I’d give it 2 stars.

The action starts right away and we are introduced to our first stranger. I liked the beginning. But then more people are introduced with zero time for proper introductions to that person and it was very jarring and disjointed to me. It was very hard to follow and very hard to care about any of them. If the author had picked just one or two characters to tell the story it would have been much better. And the ending wasn’t terrible and I didn’t guess it which was a plus.

**Thanks to the author and Atria books for the e-arc I received via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.**

The mystery vibes in this one has the reader combing through the plot with a magnifying glass as they try to figure out the big twist at the end. When that twist is revealed, it is well worth the read.

Ten strangers wake up in a locked house with no memory of how they got there and only one way out: solve the disappearance of a missing girl. Oh and lol, there's also a killer picking them off one by one.

I've read a fair share of Agatha Christie-style locked-room thrillers, and this one landed somewhere in the middle for me. The setup is intriguing, but I never really connected with the characters, which made it hard to care too much about who was next on the killer’s list.

Thank you to Atria and NetGalley for the ARC.

i went into this completely blind and i highly recommend to do that. i i throughly enjoyed everything about this book!! the writing, the characters (most of them), the setting, all of it! the twist? DID NOT cross my mind that it was going in that direction.

this is a book i could see as a movie and i would 100% watch it.

Thank you to Atria Books and Simon Audio for the #gifted copies to review.

This was a wild one, the ending really made up for all of it, like I did NOT see it coming nor would I ever have guessed it. So like the whole time I was confused on how these unlikeable people got together in this house, (they don’t know either) and also confused on why they were behaving like normal when they are DYING but also trying to find a missing girl. But yet, I was intrigued and kept reading, and again, did I mention that ending? Yowza.

The audio was lovely for this one, the narrators did a wonderful job with the multiple POV’s, and I want to note my favorite was the “Beast in the Cellar”, a narrator who spoke to us readers, and was quite entertaining and snarky. So much so that I was chuckling a few times.

I super enjoyed this one overall and definitely recommend it, but am going to stop there as I could keep going, but if I do I will inadvertently spoil something.

This is gonna be one of the more difficult reviews for me to write. This book is compared to shutter island and while that's accurate-i hated that movie. I also saw people compare this to the movie Identity....i didn't care for that movie either :( I did not care for any of the characters in this book. There were so many characters it left me a bit confused as well.

I was confused by all the sexual escapades happening while we're in a murder house where people are dying. like....huh??

The plot twist was great! I really enjoyed that but i don't think it made up for all the things i disliked about the book. I don't really care for slow burn thrillers and that was this for me. Lots of repetitive writing and a few distasteful scenes for a thriller for me.

At times I found myself unable to put this book down and at other times a little bored. Overall, a unique read and wild ride with a wide cast of characters.

I really wanted to like this one but unfortunately it fell a bit flat. There were too many characters and none to like. If I could have like at least one …

From the Publisher's Synopsis:

Ten strangers.
An old dark house.
A killer picking them off one by one.
And a missing girl who’s running out of time…

Trust me when I say, I need no more impetus to pick up a book than lines like this in a synopsis. This is the exact set-up I love for a Mystery-Thriller. No matter how times I read them, they never get old for me. I have fun seeing how each author brings their own style and ideas to this classic set-up, and this one is definitely unique. No one can deny it that.

In The Other People, we have 10-strangers waking up and finding themselves in a locked country house. They have no recollection of how they got there, and yet they have personal items with them, and each of their rooms seems to have been designed with their individuality in mind.

They're tasked with solving the disappearance of a young woman, who none of them know. They must rescue her before time runs out. And I mean that literally. There's a timer ticking down every moment. Adding stress to the already stressful circumstances is the fact that a killer is stalking the house as well, and no one is safe from their dark designs. As the bodies start dropping, pressures rise and everyone is driven to wits end.

While The Other People had a very promising start for me, my enjoyment level ended up being all over the place over the course of the story. It had a great set-up and I loved the full cast of unlikable characters. They were all so different, what had brought them all together? I also thoroughly-enjoyed the meta-feel of it. It was delivering me a trope-filled Locked Room Murder Mystery, and it knew it. It felt like we were celebrating that fact together.

Unfortunately, it did start to lose me toward the end. I still feel like it was a good book, it just wasn't consistent enough for me to give it a higher rating. Frankly, I'm sad about it considering the strong start. It did have one very unconventional perspective that I really appreciated though; the omniscient nature of it was refreshing and I thought it added to the overall intrigue. I don't know. I would still recommend this, for someone looking for a classic-feeling Locked Room Murder Mystery with a Psychological Thriller twist.

Thank you to the publisher, Atria Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I liked the risks the author took with this, and I would definitely be interested in reading more from them.

A locked room mystery, so if that’s your jam you may like this one more than I did. I’m hugely opposed to having things be the voice in a book and this one also has that. The characters were not pleasant and I struggled to find things I liked in any of them. The twist was good, but by that time I just wanted it to be over. Thanks to NetGalley for the read.

There were way too many characters to keep this straight. I did not find it engaging and didn't like that I couldn't figure out what was going on.

This sounded good but there was a large cast of side characters and try as I might I just could NOT get into the story. It was good on audio with a full cast of narrators but even that didn't help. Life's too short so moving on. I ended up DNFing at around 60%. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc of this one in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I found the characters to be annoying and unlikeable. I also found the twists to be obvious and just not good overall.

I hope others love this one!

While The Other People may not resonate equally with all readers, it offers a compelling and distinctive reading experience that is likely to captivate those open to its particular narrative style and thematic ambitions. From the outset, the novel establishes a gripping premise, immersing the reader in a mystery that sustains tension and intrigue throughout the text. The central enigma—why ten strangers have been brought to an isolated mansion and who is responsible for their entrapment—serves as the driving force of the plot and is skillfully paced.

Suspense is masterfully sustained across the narrative arc, creating a persistent atmosphere of unease. Though it functions within the well-trodden “locked-room thriller” tradition, The Other People subverts predictability through innovative plot developments and a startling conclusion. The climax—unexpected, emotionally charged, and intellectually provocative—defies typical genre resolutions. It is likely to polarize readers, provoking strong responses that fall on either end of the spectrum: admiration or frustration.

A word of caution is warranted regarding the novel’s depictions of violence. The deaths portrayed are rendered in graphic, often disturbing detail, more characteristic of horror literature than conventional thrillers. Readers sensitive to such content may find these passages challenging; however, for readers accustomed to horror tropes, these elements will likely enhance rather than detract from the immersive experience.

Among the most compelling narrative devices employed in the text are the chapters delivered from the perspective of “The Beast in the Cellar”—a cryptic, sarcastic, and darkly humorous figure whose identity remains concealed until the final pages. These interludes not only offer pivotal clues and narrative momentum, but also introduce incisive social commentary and psychological reflection. While at first seemingly digressive, these thematic layers are ultimately integral to the novel’s philosophical underpinning, adding depth and resonance to what might otherwise be dismissed as genre fiction.

It is strongly recommended that readers avoid the official synopsis, which prematurely aligns the novel with a well-known literary and cinematic predecessor. Such a comparison imposes a reductive frame that may undermine the experience of discovery that this book so effectively cultivates. Entering the narrative without preconceived parallels allows for a more authentic and impactful engagement with its twists and revelations.

In sum, The Other People is a bold and unorthodox thriller that experiments with form, voice, and genre conventions to deliver a narrative that is both intellectually stimulating and emotionally arresting. Its polarizing ending, richly drawn characters, and metafictional wit position it as a noteworthy contribution to contemporary suspense fiction.

Ten strangers wake up in a strange estate in this locked room mystery. In order to leave the house, they must find and rescue a missing woman. However, a killer stalks the halls of the estate, silently killing guest after guest. And don’t forget about the monster in the cellar…..

This was a very strange book. It jumps from guest to guest, including the monster in the basement. The ending was unique and I did not guess the situation at all.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for a copy of this novel.

This book was kinda okay. Didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me but the writing was interesting as well. Not for everyone.

I was so excited for this book. It has so much potential! I just did not feel it, you know? I did not care about any of the people in the house. I didn't care about the house. I did not even care about how they got there.
It just did not fit me.

My full review will be posted shortly.

This was a book I was excited about reading, but it was not what I expected. I will say that the ending totally blew my mind!

Interesting premise, "meh" execution honestly. I think there's a lot of potential to be found here, however I just didn't connect with any of the characters or the story the way I thought I would— it just seemed to be missing that spark. Would still recommend to others because perhaps this just wasn't the book for me, but ultimately I found it to be a bit of a chore to get through.

This was enjoyable but I didn't find myself hooked on this as much as other novels in this genre. I thought the premise was interesting but I struggled to connect with the characters.