The Other Side of Everything

Title: The Other Side Of Everything

Author: Lauren Doyle Owens

Jacket Summary: Bernard White is a widower who has lived in Seven Springs, Florida, for decades. When one of his neighbors is murdered, Bernard emerges from his solitude to reconnect with his fellow octogenarians, forging literal lifeline as a second, and then third, elderly woman is murdered. “The originals,” as they call themselves, realize that they are being targeted. Amy Unger is an artist and cancer survivor who emotional recovery has not been as successful as her physical one. After the woman next door is killed, she begins to paint imagined scenes from the murder in an effort to cope with her own loss. But when her paintings prove to be too realistic, her neighbors grow suspicious, and the murderer seeks to silence her. And then there’s Maddie Lowe, a fifteen-year-old waitress struggling to keep her family together in the wake of her mother’s abandonment. As Maddie tries to maintain the semblance of a normal teenage life, she finds herself drawn to the primary murder suspect. As they navigate their increasingly dangerous and tumultuous worlds, Bernard, Amy and Maddie begin to uncover the connections between them, and the past and present, in a novel that ultimately proves the power of tragedy to spark renewal.

My thoughts:  To be honest when I first started reading this book, I was so fascinated at the description of the murder. I was captivated really, but then when I continued reading and the author didn’t continue talking about the murder I was really disappointed. I wanted to know all the details about the murdered woman so I can figure out who killed her before the author even told us who did. As an avid crime show watcher, I thought I can figure this out just tell me about who her friends were, what happened the night that lead up to the murder, and I can figure this out. So when the next chapter was about her neighbors and what was going on in their lives I was a bit frustrated because I wanted to know more about Adel and later on Helen! But as time goes on you see how they all become part of each others stories. What I also took away from this book was how little we actually know about what is going on behind close doors of every character’s lives. Their personal struggles, how they fight their personal battles. Whether it be their health, their marital relationships, or their relationships with their parents or lack thereof. We truly don’t know what goes on in people’s lives behind close doors.