February 7, 2025
Kyle Tanner, a mild-mannered grad student, wakes in a mansion with seemingly endless rooms and tunnels. The place is dark and full of others in the same predicament. Diana has spent her life working to be beautiful and powerful, Ramona is an educated American who pole dances on the side, and Cerys is a young mother. Also present are Len, an accountant, retiree Sylvia, army captain Jimmy, and Desmond, a creepy deviant. Their meals are perfectly made to their likings, and their rooms are impeccable, but there are no staff behind the scenes. Before the group can seek answers, the first murder happens in the dining room. The bodies pile up, tortured in different ways, and the confused cast must do everything they can to escape. Meanwhile, a mysterious "Beast in the Basement" provides commentary with dry and morbid humor. While ostensibly a locked-room mystery, The Other People reads like horror. Fans of gruesome psychological thrillers such as Carissa Orlando's The September House (2023) will enjoy this book.
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