THE OTHER PEOPLE

A few years ago, Gabe Forman’s wife, Jenny, and 5-year-old daughter, Izzy, were killed in their home, but Gabe is convinced that Izzy is still alive.

Traversing England’s M1 in a camper van (which doubles as his home) in an endless search for clues to his daughter’s whereabouts is no way to live, but Gabe, who is a shadow of his former self, sees it as penance. During the attack on his family three years ago, Gabe wasn’t home. He was on the M1, where he insists he caught a glimpse of Izzy in an old car. His father-in-law identified their bodies, but Gabe’s sighting of Izzy that day, and a few other things, has convinced him that she’s still alive. He was a suspect for a short time but was cleared and couldn’t convince the police of his sighting. A tip on Izzy from a mysterious man who calls himself the Samaritan leads to a submerged car, a dead body, and an underground network that calls itself The Other People. Its website is only accessible via the dark web, and it offers a very exclusive service for victims of crime who feel robbed of the justice they feel they deserve. But the group's help comes at a terrible price. Meanwhile, a woman named Fran is on the run with a little girl named Alice, who has terrifying visions of a girl and an eerie beachscape. Who is the girl, and what is she trying to tell Alice? Tudor’s (The Hiding Place, 2019, etc.) narrative is saturated in menace, and the action, once it starts, barely lets up. Gabe’s urgency becomes the reader’s as he gets closer to finding out the truth about the horrible day that he lost his family, and Tudor skillfully weaves in poignant observations on the nature of justice and the power of grief. However, while the supernatural storyline is certainly creepy, it could have used a bit more meat on its bones—but that’s a quibble.

Dean Koontz fans, in particular, will find much to enjoy in this sinister, unsettling treat. Tudor just keeps getting better and better.