Louise Candlish's Those People is the riveting story of a tight-knit, South London community driven to desperate measures by a neighbor from hell.
The story begins eight weeks after an incident causes the Metropolitan Police to go door-to-door interviewing witnesses to determine what happened. The characters give statements, then Candlish reveals what they aren't telling the police.
Welcome to Lowland Way. It's a lovely street where people are nice, swans flourish in a beautiful park pond and a nearby stand sells refreshing lattes. It's the kind of neighborhood where everyone knows everyone, and they share babysitting duties, host community cookouts and strive for the betterment of the community. This utopian scene is shattered when Darren Booth moves in. He's labeled one of those people--construction noises and dust emanate from his place, he plays loud music at all hours and starts running a used-car business on his lawn. When property values are threatened, local power couple Ralph and Naomi organize a community meeting that includes not-quite-so powerful couple Tess and Finn (Ralph's brother), new parents Em and Ant (closest in proximity to Darren) and Sissy (a longtime resident who runs a B&B from her house). They attempt all legal courses of action to rectify the situation, but their efforts yield no results. Things escalate and the novel becomes a dark whodunnit.
Perspective shifts seamlessly from character to character, challenging the reader's notion of who Louise Candlish (Our House) is referring to in the title Those People. --Paul Dinh-McCrillis, freelance reviewer