A review by cassiecat
The Other Side of Fear by Eoghan Egan

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

The Other Side of Fear Eoghan Egan 🎧4⭐️

The picture shows the back of a car with lights on in a snowy wood, in front of the car is a woman in a red coat. At the top of the image is a woman’s terrified face with a hand over her mouth 

#2 Ganestown Crime series. 

I had the audiobook read by Emily Rainsford. I do love Irish accents. The speed of the narration is fast. The tone is unchanging with no build up of tension, or variation in speed. There’s not enough difference between male voices for clear distinction. It didn’t make it one of the better audiobooks for me. 

A fusion between twisty gangland and twisty crime thriller. I must clarify that gangland isn’t my usual sub genre. 

We follow several characters Adam Styne finds himself in a mental health hospital following a violent attack on Sharona, and subsequent discovery of numerous bodies on his farm 

Ferdia finds himself up against loan shark Dessie Dolan

Hugh is trying to juggle a new job with looking after his mom Kathleen who has Alzheimer’s disease. 

Wanna be model Rebecca finds herself trafficked into prostitution. 

Sharona Waters is determined to investigate and bring down loan shark Dessie Dolan. 

They each have separate threads. It’s a dark, gritty, at times a viscerally raw delve into organised crime. It is also offset by some moving sensitive scenes especially around Kathleen. The chapters are long, I would have preferred the subdivisions to be separate characters. Ferdia is my favourite character. 

I enjoyed the storyline, it has a decent pace and interest throughout. I especially liked the ending. I think this is one where I would have preferred reading than listening.