The other passenger: My first Louise Candlish read

Louise Candlish is a British author who has been writing for around 20 years. Her later books have won a bunch of awards, including Crime and Thriller Book of the Year for 2019's Our house that was later adapted into a television drama. Candlish has a BA in English from University College London and began her writing career with relationship novels. The other passenger is my first go at her crime/thriller collection. Read on for my review.

The other passenger | Published June 2019 | Read February 2025

I picked up The other passenger at my local library, largely because I was intrigued to read a story based around a group of commuters on the London river bus that travels around parts of the city with which I am quite familiar. There's Jamie, Kit, Gretchen and Steve who take the ferry at the same time each workday morning and have become firm friends as a result. When Kit fails to turn up after Christmas, it looks like something terrible may have happened to him, and Jamie falls under suspicion.

The other passenger is one of those unreliable narrator thrillers. The story is told from Jamie's point of view and the reader is not quite sure whether to root for him or whether to suspect him of having a hand in Kit's disappearance. I felt for Jamie initially, as he'd previously held a high-paying job but suffered from panic attacks while on the train so had to give the job up. He works in a café that he can commute to by boat, although his successful partner, Claire, would like him to find a new career pathway. She has inherited a swanky house on the Thames and Jamie has lived with her in a romantic relationship for 10 years, supported by her inherited and earnt wealth.

Claire and Jamie are in their late forties and form an unlikely friendship with Kit and his beautiful girlfriend, Melia, who works as a junior in Claire's real estate business. Kit and Melia are in the late twenties, and there's lots of stuff in the book about their financial struggles, the blame laid squarely at the feet of those from Claire and Jamie's generation. There's a strong theme of envy and entitlement running through the book, given Claire's obvious privilege, and it's interesting that it is Jamie who is the Kept Person.

I believe Candlish is known for her cast of unlikeable characters and The other passenger certainly has a boatload (see what I did there?) of those. I thought she cleverly engineered Jamie's character and I swung between liking him and not trusting him. The river boat commute and London setting were both vividly painted and I loved reading about places I know in the city.

The book takes the reader on a meandering journey through Jamie's backstory, juxtaposed with the present where he is questioned by the police over Kit's disappearance. There are multiple layers of lies, deception, and fabrication that made for a cracking story. I warmed to Candlish's writing and found her characters to be authentic and their interactions believable. I guessed the main thing that was happening but was thrown off by a later reveal. I liked the first part of the book as I was continually questioning Jamie's narration and wondering where the story would go. There is something that Jamie does midway through the book, though, (no spoilers here but you may be able to guess) that bogs down the narrative and makes the rest of the story less surprising.

The book became more predictable after the first turn of events is revealed and once the story ramps up to explore the machinations around Kit's disappearance. The ending was fine, it's just dragged a bit. There was quite a bit of delving into what happened post-climax that didn't seem necessary. I was waiting for One Final Twist that didn't really come, although I liked the way Candlish wrote the ending for Melia.

While not a book without its flaws, I was intrigued enough to want to read more of the Candlish collection.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐