What do you think?
Rate this book
How the Other Half Die
'Succession meets The White Lotus. Absolutely enthralling' Antony Johnston
'Relentlessly page-turning' Philippa East
'Pure escapism' L D Smithson
Privilege has a price. But who will pay it?
On the eve of her seventieth birthday, Geri gathers her brother's spoilt adult children together on the family's private island and tells them that she's ready to name her successor as CEO of the lucrative global empire founded by their grandfather.
Her announcement triggers a frenzy of suspicion, rivalry and back-stabbing. Each of the three siblings believes the role should go to them - despite the dark secrets that they all harbour.
As Geri uncovers the black heart of her own family, will the best among them win the prize? Or will the heirs to the Chalice crown finally get what they so richly deserve?
Praise for Rachel
'Creepy and compulsive' Sabine Durrant
'A stonking page-turner' Emma Curtis
READERS LOVE HOW THE OTHER HALF DIE
'Watch out for the jaw-dropping moments' *****
'Couldn't recommend more for a slightly dark, but thrilling summer read!' *****
'A thoroughly absorbing smart thriller' *****
'Great read! Lots of twists and turns' *****
'A real page turner. I was gripped from beginning to end' *****
'Relentlessly page-turning' Philippa East
'Pure escapism' L D Smithson
Privilege has a price. But who will pay it?
On the eve of her seventieth birthday, Geri gathers her brother's spoilt adult children together on the family's private island and tells them that she's ready to name her successor as CEO of the lucrative global empire founded by their grandfather.
Her announcement triggers a frenzy of suspicion, rivalry and back-stabbing. Each of the three siblings believes the role should go to them - despite the dark secrets that they all harbour.
As Geri uncovers the black heart of her own family, will the best among them win the prize? Or will the heirs to the Chalice crown finally get what they so richly deserve?
Praise for Rachel
'Creepy and compulsive' Sabine Durrant
'A stonking page-turner' Emma Curtis
READERS LOVE HOW THE OTHER HALF DIE
'Watch out for the jaw-dropping moments' *****
'Couldn't recommend more for a slightly dark, but thrilling summer read!' *****
'A thoroughly absorbing smart thriller' *****
'Great read! Lots of twists and turns' *****
'A real page turner. I was gripped from beginning to end' *****
370 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 5, 2025
8 people are currently reading
46 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 6, 2025
All my reviews can be found at damppebbles.com
Extremely successful businesswoman, Geraldine Chalice, is about to celebrate her 70th birthday. She’s known for being a tough, ruthless and results-driven CEO. So when she invites her three heirs (her two nephews and her niece) to the family’s private island for the celebrations, they’re shocked to hear that Geraldine will also, FINALLY, after all this time, be announcing who she has chosen as her successor. It’s what Jonny, Juliet and Benedict have been waiting years to hear. Every devious, underhand deed, every dark secret, has been for this moment. But knowing their fate will soon be decided unleashes a torrent of rivalry, hatred and double-crossing between the siblings. There’s already been one death on the island. How many more will there be before the end of the birthday celebrations…?
How the Other Half Die is a drama-filled tale of sibling rivalry, entitlement and the lengths people will go to get what they believe is theirs. The Chalices are horrible people. They’re thoroughly spoilt adult brats who irritate and infuriate each other in a race to be crowned the chosen heir. They wound me up no end with their dogged, underhand drive to usurp their siblings. Are any of them really capable of being CEO of a global company? Well, that’s down to Geraldine to decide. Geraldine isn’t really all that much better than her niece and nephews, having successfully dethroned her younger brother, who was initially handed the company by their late father, twenty years ago. Ian Chalice is a bitter, resentful man who, thanks to one of the siblings, turns up on the island looking for his share of the pot. He’s repulsive, arrogant and a misogynist. The kind of character who makes your skin crawl. I do enjoy a cast of unlikeable characters and North has created some truly horrible people. Characters you’ll love to hate!
Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. How the Other Half Die is an intriguing family drama chock-full of intrigue and suspense. I was keen to discover how this was all going to end for the Chalices. Who would be the chosen one? I had several theories of my own, all of which weren’t quite what happened. But my theories were sort of along the right lines. I don’t want to go into detail as I could end up in spoiler territory, so won’t say any more on that. Moving swiftly on. The island setting was beautiful but also a little on the hostile side, which I loved. There’s a great scene in the first half of the book where the helicopter arrives on Isola dei Delfini. Rocking and swaying its way down to the cliffside helipad. This was one my favourite scenes in the book. Descriptive, vivid and ultimately surprising. All in all, I enjoyed the time I spent reading How the Other Half Die. The pace was a little slower than I initially expected but I’m a fan of slower-paced thrillers so that didn’t bother me at all. I enjoyed the multiple POVs from the family and the staff working on the island. The majority of the characters are terrible, unlikeable people but that only added to the book’s appeal for me. Enjoyable, suspenseful and highly intriguing. Recommended.
Extremely successful businesswoman, Geraldine Chalice, is about to celebrate her 70th birthday. She’s known for being a tough, ruthless and results-driven CEO. So when she invites her three heirs (her two nephews and her niece) to the family’s private island for the celebrations, they’re shocked to hear that Geraldine will also, FINALLY, after all this time, be announcing who she has chosen as her successor. It’s what Jonny, Juliet and Benedict have been waiting years to hear. Every devious, underhand deed, every dark secret, has been for this moment. But knowing their fate will soon be decided unleashes a torrent of rivalry, hatred and double-crossing between the siblings. There’s already been one death on the island. How many more will there be before the end of the birthday celebrations…?
How the Other Half Die is a drama-filled tale of sibling rivalry, entitlement and the lengths people will go to get what they believe is theirs. The Chalices are horrible people. They’re thoroughly spoilt adult brats who irritate and infuriate each other in a race to be crowned the chosen heir. They wound me up no end with their dogged, underhand drive to usurp their siblings. Are any of them really capable of being CEO of a global company? Well, that’s down to Geraldine to decide. Geraldine isn’t really all that much better than her niece and nephews, having successfully dethroned her younger brother, who was initially handed the company by their late father, twenty years ago. Ian Chalice is a bitter, resentful man who, thanks to one of the siblings, turns up on the island looking for his share of the pot. He’s repulsive, arrogant and a misogynist. The kind of character who makes your skin crawl. I do enjoy a cast of unlikeable characters and North has created some truly horrible people. Characters you’ll love to hate!
Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. How the Other Half Die is an intriguing family drama chock-full of intrigue and suspense. I was keen to discover how this was all going to end for the Chalices. Who would be the chosen one? I had several theories of my own, all of which weren’t quite what happened. But my theories were sort of along the right lines. I don’t want to go into detail as I could end up in spoiler territory, so won’t say any more on that. Moving swiftly on. The island setting was beautiful but also a little on the hostile side, which I loved. There’s a great scene in the first half of the book where the helicopter arrives on Isola dei Delfini. Rocking and swaying its way down to the cliffside helipad. This was one my favourite scenes in the book. Descriptive, vivid and ultimately surprising. All in all, I enjoyed the time I spent reading How the Other Half Die. The pace was a little slower than I initially expected but I’m a fan of slower-paced thrillers so that didn’t bother me at all. I enjoyed the multiple POVs from the family and the staff working on the island. The majority of the characters are terrible, unlikeable people but that only added to the book’s appeal for me. Enjoyable, suspenseful and highly intriguing. Recommended.
July 4, 2025
This was the kind of read that felt like watching rich people implode in slow motion….messy, toxic, and hard to look away from.
Think Succession energy but with more secrets, a private island, and a lot of buried resentment coming to the surface.
The setup pulled me in fast: Geri’s decision to name her successor is a perfect match to light the family fuse, and watching the adult kids scramble, scheme, and implode was fascinating in that “you people are awful but I must know what happens next” kind of way.
That said, I didn’t find myself truly connecting with any of the characters, they’re all pretty terrible in their own unique ways......but I think that was the point.
This was more about observing the rot behind privilege than rooting for anyone. I enjoyed the drama, the pacing was solid, and there were just enough twists to keep it engaging, even if a few of them felt a little convenient.
Good for when you want a decadent, morally messy escape with a sharp edge.
May 2, 2025
The rich are different, or so they say. And certainly this story, following the fortunes of the potential heirs - and the plan to bequeath them the family empire - would seem to indicate that there is some truth to this assertion!
An elderly woman gathers her brother's grown up children to a the private island to discuss inheritance issues. Perhaps unsurprisingly, none of them is inclined to play fair when it comes to claiming what they all view as their birthright, and devious machinations ensue...
Entertaining and razor sharp, this is thriller that provides plenty of twists along the way - even as it illuminates the decaying moral state of the human condition. Worth a read, it gets 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
An elderly woman gathers her brother's grown up children to a the private island to discuss inheritance issues. Perhaps unsurprisingly, none of them is inclined to play fair when it comes to claiming what they all view as their birthright, and devious machinations ensue...
Entertaining and razor sharp, this is thriller that provides plenty of twists along the way - even as it illuminates the decaying moral state of the human condition. Worth a read, it gets 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
July 22, 2025
I can't say that I liked this book. Only slightly enjoyed it.
It had a great beginning and a very good ending but the middle half dragged big time.
I had to use my Kindle dictionary ALL the time for very confusing words, or the use of very strange English.
Like what's "toadied" "pontificating" "tawdry" "overt" "averse" "adjacindes" "acuity" "evisceisction" "ebullient" etc etc etc. And what the hell is 'stellar trajectories"
I did like the multiple descriptions of various meals, some of the food sounded really impressive.
Happy to just complete it.
Not sure I'd read any other book by Rachel North.
More than enough already
It had a great beginning and a very good ending but the middle half dragged big time.
I had to use my Kindle dictionary ALL the time for very confusing words, or the use of very strange English.
Like what's "toadied" "pontificating" "tawdry" "overt" "averse" "adjacindes" "acuity" "evisceisction" "ebullient" etc etc etc. And what the hell is 'stellar trajectories"
I did like the multiple descriptions of various meals, some of the food sounded really impressive.
Happy to just complete it.
Not sure I'd read any other book by Rachel North.
More than enough already
April 14, 2025
A CEO’’s 70th on a private island leaves her heirs desperate to be the next one in the top job.
Geraldine’s heirs are her niece and two nephews. None of them are keen on each other and you won’t find any likeable characters in this family.
While I enjoyed the plot generally, I found the reveals quite predictable but I would put this down to having read way too many books in the last couple of years.
If you like a private island and you like watching the rich fight, you will love it.
Thank you to the publisher’s and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for and honest review.
Geraldine’s heirs are her niece and two nephews. None of them are keen on each other and you won’t find any likeable characters in this family.
While I enjoyed the plot generally, I found the reveals quite predictable but I would put this down to having read way too many books in the last couple of years.
If you like a private island and you like watching the rich fight, you will love it.
Thank you to the publisher’s and Netgalley for the e-arc in exchange for and honest review.
July 14, 2025
I love books by Caroline Bond, so was excited to read this, written in her pseudonym, Rachel North. If you’re older (like me) this is like Dynasty meets Dallas (I’m sure there are more modern equivalents!), full of unlikeable characters with despicable, manipulative behaviours.
The isolation of the setting, on the family’s idyllic private island, adds both glamour and suspense, alongside a locked room drama feel. Some characters gave me lurking suspicions that all was not as it seemed, and whilst I was right with two characters, I was so wrong with my suspicions.
A book full of dark events which somehow end up feeling totally justifiable. Very readable!
The isolation of the setting, on the family’s idyllic private island, adds both glamour and suspense, alongside a locked room drama feel. Some characters gave me lurking suspicions that all was not as it seemed, and whilst I was right with two characters, I was so wrong with my suspicions.
A book full of dark events which somehow end up feeling totally justifiable. Very readable!
July 20, 2025
This was such a compelling and intriguing mystery, there were so many plot twists i didn’t see coming. The characters were a perfect mix of some terrible people, some broken but strong individuals and some people just trying to do their best. I loved all the different POVS and I thought the writing style was fantastic. So fast paced and easy to follow.
September 7, 2025
The concept hooked me right away—Succession meets White Lotus sounded irresistible. I definitely got the sharp Succession vibes, but not so much the White Lotus atmosphere I was hoping for. It was a good enough read, entertaining in places, but unfortunately it didn’t quite wow me the way I wanted it to.
August 29, 2025
A dysfunctional rich family on an Italian island where skeletons fall out of the closet. An entertaining holiday read. None of the characters were likeable unfortunately and the plot was a bit far fetched therefore three stars.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews