A review by amothersmusings1
The Other Side of Fear by Eoghan Egan

5.0

Irish crime writer Eoghan Egan is the author of “The Other Side of Fear”, the second in the ‘The Ganestown Trilogy’ and is an engrossing and addictive thriller that doesn’t hold back. Both this and the first book, can easily be read as a standalone.  Upon reading the first chapter I thought to myself - this is shaping up very nicely! - and knew that a first rate thriller lay ahead of me.

• Sharona Waters is determined to dig into a loan shark’s business and see him brought to justice. But when a young woman she's only briefly met goes missing, a much darker story emerges. Pulled into the ruthless world of people trafficking - a world built on violent brutality and sudden death - Sharona finds herself caught between crime and conscience, pursued by powerful and ruthless criminals and just one bad decision away from having her whole world crash down. —

With opening pages that wouldn’t go amiss in a Peaky Blinders episode, this often violent, hard hitting story really punches you in the gut for its emotional and traumatic sex-trafficking chapters.

I could clearly picture the scenes in my head as they unfolded and I was fully aware of the palpable fear radiating from the kidnapped girls and the brutal assaults on them. Rebecca was a very brave girl, she endured unimaginable attacks and it saddened me immensely knowing this horrendous crime goes on around the world. 

However, I liked how the author balanced a brutal storyline with a sympathetic thread, involving a character with a parent suffering from Alzheimer’s and how it mentally affects, not just the sufferer but the carer too, often a family member. This debilitating disease, which will resonate with many a reader, was handled perfectly and weaved its way into the storyline seamlessly, in a truly heartfelt and compassionate way. 

There was also a mental health theme regarding a criminal relocated to a mental assessment hospital, which the author obviously researched intensely.  

The amateur sleuthing of Sharona and Ronan was believable and their dedication and bravery were commendable considering the criminals they were dealing with.  The denouement was both tragic and satisfying in equal measures and quite literally broke my heart. A sure sign of a well written and executed story! 

If you’re sensitive to the subjects in this story, then I’d approach with caution but for me it was a five star read with hopes for further attention grabbing books from Eoghan Egan. 

#TheOtherSideOfFear - 5 stars 

You can order the book from the following link - https://www.reddogpress.co.uk/product-page/the-other-side-of-fear

Thank you to Sean Coleman at Red Dog Press for inviting me on the blog tour for #TheOtherSideOfFear and for my copy of the book in return for an honest opinion.