The novel "The Other Thing" was first published in the weekly "Al-Hawadeth" magazine, which was published in Beirut, in nine consecutive episodes starting from Friday, June 25, 1966, under the title "Who Killed Laila Al-Hayek". Kanafani did not republish the novel in an independent book, perhaps due to the change in political circumstances after the June 1967 war. The novel "The Other Thing" is a narrative fabric we are unaccustomed to in Kanafani's previous or subsequent works. He writes a detective or semi-detective work, and transforms the narrative plot into moments of tension to uncover the killer and understand the circumstances surrounding the crime that led to Laila Al-Hayek's demise.