London set thriller – The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish
The London commute has never been as exciting!
London set thriller – The Other Passenger by Louise Candlish – It’s something you do most days (well pre and post Covid) but that daily commute to work can get boring can’t it? What would happen if you discovered that this was the event that would change your life, where someone who travels with you suddenly goes missing….
Now imagine you’re on a boat on the Thames with many passengers aboard…..so this means that your mate could have gone overboard…
What can you tell the police about that day?
Setting – On a boat on the Thames..on the way to work
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A thriller set on a slow passenger boat going up the Thames…what could be thrilling about the journey to work! Well, a LOT as it turns out. Louise Candish does like mixing things up and putting ordinary people in extraordinary situations. A commute on the river was a nice premise and someone going missing on the morning run? Tell me more!
The novel starts with a gripping premise but that’s just the start. What we get is a character-driven insight into London life, the resentments between the haves and have-nots, keeping up with the Joneses and showing others that you are living the London dream. The characters are all awful but people we love to hate. They’re the ones who if you overheard moaning in a pub, would be talking about how shocking it was that during Covid, Waitrose ran out of avocados.
Jamie narrates the novel. He used to be a high achiever but is now working in a cafe whilst he looks for something else. He takes the river boat to work and on one of these mornings, he disembarks to find two detectives. They want to question him about his fellow commuter, Kit Roper. He was the last one to see him apparently.
BookTrail Travel to the locations in The Other Passenger
What makes it worse is that their last time together, there was a fight at the pre-Christmas drinks. The investigation continues and the police investigate Jamie and his wife, Kit and his wife, and their friendships. The two women work together and have dinner. This is a dinner in a Georgian townhouse in the heart of London and the implication is that the level of wealth between these two couples is starting to grate. The couples keep friends and chat constantly but there is that resentment that rises and crashes from then on in.
The novel flits between the growing friendship and resentments mixed with the present day police investigation. I don’t know why the couples stayed friends to be honest. Money causes so many problems and jealousies! Age gaps problems too. There’s a lot of inward looking here, twisty discussions between the couples and each other and even twistier consequences.
I was happy to read a thriller so unique in its premise and denouement. The locations fit in well with the intrigue and add that sense of claustrophobia too. Going missing from a moving boat…it doesn’t look good for anyone does it?
This was like a chewy sweet of a novel that the more you chewed, the greater the taste of things to come. All the while, this chew never let up and kept you working at it. And then, as you swallowed that ending, you almost cough in shock, but then it’s ultimately satisfying….a popping candy kind of ending.
Read this on a boat commute for maximum effect!
BookTrail Travel to the locations in The Other Passenger
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More books set in London
Novels set on boats, trains and other modes of transport
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Twitter: @louise_candlish Web: www.louisecandlish.com/
