Hi All,

Day 5 of firebreak lockdown and I’m feeling surprisingly comfortable with it all. I’m not sure if it’s work distracting me or just that I have now become so used to this crazy way of living. Either way, I’m not going out of my mind yet so I’m clinging onto those positive thoughts.

One of my other hobbies that I enjoy is cross stitching and I am currently in the middle of a huge project. It’s definitely helping to pass the time and the good thing about it is that I can stick my headphones on and listen to an audiobook at the same time. It’s helping to relax me in the evening and I get my book fix at the same time, which is awesome.

Book 📖

I’ve read a number of Louise Candlish books now and really enjoyed them so when scouring through my to read list when I was choosing an audiobook to listen to, I picked Those People to lose myself in.

Description 🔖

Lowland Way is just outside of London and a dream location for families. The houses are beautiful and the close knit community all look out for one another. Trouble starts to brew when new neighbours; Darren and Jodie move in and disturb the equilibrium. Darren runs a used car business from the street, they play loud music all of the time and they are not interested in taking part in any community initiatives.

The street is rattled to breaking point when a freak accident happens at Darren and Jodie’s house and a life is lost. The police are involved and as the investigation gets underway it becomes clear that there are secrets a plenty in suburban paradise.

General Thoughts 🤔

I enjoyed this book. It was like a modern day whodunnit. I really liked the way that the story was structured and found that it kept me on my toes throughout.

I cannot even imagine what it would be like to live in such a street (or any street in fact) and have neighbours like Darren and Jodie. I do believe that you should never judge people until you know them and I’m not sure the neighbours took the time to get to know them, but Darren and Jodie hardly made the effort to fit in.

Characters 👫👭👬

There are quite a few characters in this book but I was impressed that it wasn’t difficult to follow who was who, who lived where and the relationships between the characters.

My favourite character was probably Tess. I liked her because she seemed to me to be the most grounded person on the street, if not a tiny bit of a pushover. It was good to see her stand her ground at times and found myself rooting her on.

My least favourite characters were Ralph and Ant. Ralph because I generally found him to be unnecessarily aggressive. I think he enjoyed the battle with Darren more for the sake of it than for any actual moral reason. My feelings towards Ant are probably a little skewed to be honest; it was the voice for Ant in the narration that annoyed me more than anything. I don’t know what it was, but it really grated on me.

Writing Style ✍️

The structure of this book was one of the things I liked most about it. The first half or so of the book is written as a series of police interviews with residents at the time of the accident, followed by narrative from a time previous, all of which leading to the fateful day. It’s not revealed who dies until the point at which time catches up to the present. The rest of the book is in real time and follows the investigation and subsequent dramas.

I also really liked that the book is about something that all of us can relate to or know for a fact we could relate to if put in the situation; nightmare neighbours. It can be something that we may laugh and joke about but if you are living through it, I am sure it is horrendous.

Conclusion & Scoring 🎖️

This was a really good audiobook to listen to whilst doing something else at the same time. The storyline isn’t overly complex that you need to give it 100% attention and therefore can follow along easily. I have enjoyed Louise Candlish’s work up until now and will continue to read her future work.

😍😍😍😩😩