My main issue is that I never connected with any of the characters. While I felt for their struggles and inner conflicts, I always felt like an omniscient observer. It was ironic that they were so attached to each other, because I was not attached to them. I couldn’t stop thinking about the story’s incredible twist…like no crime novel I’ve ever read.” —James Patterson

This is also the story of Harriet “Harri” Kealty a disgraced police officer who loses her job after being unable to prove her innocence when she is wrongfully accused in a case-related incident . Harri finds a cryptic message in a book she finds in a library sale – a message that leads her to Elliot and his guardian Ben Elmys, a man with whom she once dreamed of a future. Her subsequent investigation into the Asha family and Ben results in her fate becoming inextricably linked to the lives of those she is investigating. Mind-bending! This intriguing and thought-provoking thriller is a profound exploration of how far some are willing to go in the name of love. A fantastic twist you'll never see coming. -- Liv Constantine, internationally bestselling author of The Stranger in The Mirror In a transcript of her journal, Harriet questions her perception of the night Sabih dies. She asks herself what she really saw, and if she can believe her own eyes (p. 156). How does the novel similarly make you, the reader, question what you’ve read and the characters you’ve met? The story begins with David Asha, telling the story of his biggest regret in life but also the stories of his best friend Ben, David's son Elliot and a woman named Harriet Kealty who was recently discharged from her duties as a detective.I was thinking I was reading a crime thriller with unconventional story telling technique! A writer named David Asha starts to tell his biggest remorse about losing his son as the narrator of the book; telling someone ruined his boy’s life: a suspended police office Harriet Kealty.

A: I found David Asha a pleasure and a pain to write. As the father of three wonderful children, I could feel his profound sense of loss, which made it a rich and rewarding emotional experience to write from his perspective. It was also painful because it took me to places no parent really wants to think about.Harri Kealty, a disgraced police officer, finds a note that says “Help! He’s trying to kill me!” in the margins of a book at a secondhand shop. Determined to get to the bottom of it despite having been dismissed from her job, Harri enlists her former partner to assist her. But when the facts lead her to ex-boyfriend Ben Elmys, she wonders if she’s gotten him all wrong. Was he a murderer? As clues mount, she begins to follow a path that will result in death. But is the truth one that Harri will even be able to wrap her head around? Absolutely brilliant. Weaving themes of the nature of time, love, loss and regret with elements of neuro-science into a genuinely wonderful plot line, Adam Hamdy's The Other Side of Night has taken his writing to another level. With a thriller-level sense of foreboding and tension, this is a genre-busting novel full of big ideas. I was blown away. -- Manda Scott Re-read the extract from the fictional book Happiness: A New Way of Life (p. 18). Knowing the big twist in THE OTHER SIDE OF NIGHT, how does this fictional book hint at the plot and its themes? A: I think screenwriting gives one a grounding in the importance of structure, action, and dialogue. Without voice-over, which has fallen out of fashion, screenplays leave little room for inner monologue, so one has to convey character and intention through action—show don’t tell. Dialogue has to feel plausible and realistic and work on two levels—conveying information, but also signaling emotion and/or true intention. And a great screenplay is often a master class in economy of storytelling and structure. Overall the pacing could have been a lot better. It could have had more straightforward storytelling rather than so much exposition and so little action. Yet my brain really appreciated the last 20%, to the point that I raised my rating.

It's impossible to say much more because it's a secret that can't be told. Ben knows the secret and so does Elliot. Ben is Elliot's guardian when Harri meets him again, months after he broke up with her and she no longer thinks Ben is as wonderful, anymore. I only understand part of what follows but it is still interesting and kept me going to end of the story...a very strange story.

Summary

The most richly accomplished of the brothers’ pairings to date—and given Connelly’s high standards, that’s saying a lot.

She ends up at the doorstep of the Asha family home, but the person who opens the door isn’t David Asha-it’s Ben Elmys-a man she thought was going to be the great love of her life, but who instead broke her heart. The Other Side of Nightbegins with a man named David Asha writing about his biggest regret: his sudden separation from his son, Elliot. In his grief, David tells a story. Mind-bending! This intriguing and thought-provoking thriller is a profound exploration of how far some are willing to go in the name of love. A fantastic twist you’ll never see coming’ – Liv Constantine, author of The First Shot Some characters feel other worldly at times and so it feels strange and perplexing as Harriet tries to piece together the clues she’s either witnesses or discovers, some of which are often in the form of poetry. I love this element which adds a little something extra!

Table of Contents

The novel employs structure to ensure the reader is never misled or deceived, showing everything, while at the same time concealing the heart of the story for the big twist. What do you think you might take from the book if you read it a second time? Q: Did you explore other scientific methods for Ben to help the Ashas? Why did you land on the cave as the location for where the big moment happens? Turns out David Asha is also dead. Believed to be suicide from jumping off a cliff in his grief for the loss of Beth and now Ben is guardian to their son, Elliott. However, Ben doesn't seem himself, certainly not the man she had fallen in love with. Now he seems unhinged as if he's about to have a mental breakdown and her concern for Elliott grows. This man should not be caring for a child in this state.