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A review by myweereads
The Other by Thomas Tryon
5.0
“Beware when mad dogs lurk, for lurking they shall bite, and biting, shall bite again.”
Have you ever read a book which seems straight forward that leaves you hauntingly unsettled? Let me introduce you to The Other 😟
It’s the summer of 1932, the twins Niles and Holland Perry with their entire extended family are living in New England coping with the tragedy of the death of their father. Niles and Perry are close like most twins and they can to an extent read each other’s minds however they are also quite different. There are sudden deaths and freak accidents beginning to surface in this town. Grandmother Ada who came from Russia is a women full of wisdom and many tales. She looks after Niles and Holland and helps them with their mother.
After finishing the book I was back tracking and going through each character and looking for things I had missed to explain why I had not foreseen the ending. The characters all have strong personalities and the world through their eyes was written in such a way I felt I was there. Grandmother Ada after the twins is a prominent character. I was torn, I seen her as a sweet grandmother but also as a villain but mostly felt sorry for her. The twins have a unique bond but the main factor of the story is how well Niles is coping with grief and is he on the border of sane/insane. The story is chilling and haunting in a Shirley Jackson way. It is a psychological horror there’s no doubt however it requires a lot of patience from the reader. The first 2 parts are full of wonderful imagery with snippets of disturbing scenes like a dangling carrot in front of a rabbit to keep you reading 🙈 Part 3 hits you like a car crash. Everything comes to the forefront and all at once. It’s like a disturbing assault on the reader which is why it left me unsettled. I wanted to put the book down but I couldn’t, even though it fell that way I had to know what was happening. An unusual but clever way of telling a story of horror but as creepy as it was I enjoyed it at the end and again a five star read for me. 👍🏽
Have you ever read a book which seems straight forward that leaves you hauntingly unsettled? Let me introduce you to The Other 😟
It’s the summer of 1932, the twins Niles and Holland Perry with their entire extended family are living in New England coping with the tragedy of the death of their father. Niles and Perry are close like most twins and they can to an extent read each other’s minds however they are also quite different. There are sudden deaths and freak accidents beginning to surface in this town. Grandmother Ada who came from Russia is a women full of wisdom and many tales. She looks after Niles and Holland and helps them with their mother.
After finishing the book I was back tracking and going through each character and looking for things I had missed to explain why I had not foreseen the ending. The characters all have strong personalities and the world through their eyes was written in such a way I felt I was there. Grandmother Ada after the twins is a prominent character. I was torn, I seen her as a sweet grandmother but also as a villain but mostly felt sorry for her. The twins have a unique bond but the main factor of the story is how well Niles is coping with grief and is he on the border of sane/insane. The story is chilling and haunting in a Shirley Jackson way. It is a psychological horror there’s no doubt however it requires a lot of patience from the reader. The first 2 parts are full of wonderful imagery with snippets of disturbing scenes like a dangling carrot in front of a rabbit to keep you reading 🙈 Part 3 hits you like a car crash. Everything comes to the forefront and all at once. It’s like a disturbing assault on the reader which is why it left me unsettled. I wanted to put the book down but I couldn’t, even though it fell that way I had to know what was happening. An unusual but clever way of telling a story of horror but as creepy as it was I enjoyed it at the end and again a five star read for me. 👍🏽