How well do you know your neighbours?
When residents of a North London cul-de-sac enrol in a seemingly innocent social network, they soon find themselves embroiled in a murky web of sinister manipulation and murder.
From the outside, Caroline and Jason Swinton have an idyllic life. But when the cracks start to appear the residents of Riverside Close are drawn into a dangerous game.
When … into a dangerous game.
When Jason’s body is discovered in a house on the close, everyone becomes a suspect.
Could his lovely wife be responsible for his murder?
Or do the neighbours have a motive for wanting him dead?
As the secret lives of those living on the Close are gradually revealed, it becomes clear that someone is hiding something they will stop at nothing to protect…
4 Riverside Close is a compelling psychological thriller with a touch of mystery. If you are a fan of authors like Clare Mackintosh, Lisa Jewell and Lesley Kara, you’ll love this unmissable debut.
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What kind of wife establishes an online hook-up site so her unbelievably handsome husband can have sex with other women and make enough money blackmailing them that he doesn’t have to work? Caroline spends chapters touting her husband’s great looks and how much she loves him but then hires a PI when he seems to fall for one of his marks. Yes, he’s a sociopath–married to one as well. Is it any surprise he’s murdered? Do we really care? Do her reactions after his murder add a twist to the plot? Don’t think so. Two other female characters extol his great looks, but I was never got sucked into his magnetism. When the twist comes–and it is a huge twist–I feel a bit as if it’s there for shock value. (And the revelation has nothing to do with the killer–a very early and predictable suspect.). So, all in all, I recommend this book if you want a fast read and to see if you agree that the big twist is bizarre.
This is a domestic noir, a look into 4 couples lives and how the interactions, manipulations and lies end up affecting them all.
Only 3 couples live in the North London cul-de-sac. Two couples are well to do and busy with family, careers and status. Meet Alexis and Adam, just moved in the area, Adam is an excellent surgeon with a roving eye. You have Susan and Roger with 2 kids, a nanny and Roger as a banker is busy, older and unaware of just how bad Susan’s OCD and anorexia have become. There is an empty house for sale and then there are Olive and Bob older, retired and ignored by the others.
Throw in a compter website called “Join Me”, run by a married couple, Jason and Caroline. Jason seduces women for money and Caroline tries to keep him under controll.
The murder takes place in the first few lines of the book, you don’t know who is the killer or the killed! The book then sets you down in Riverside Close to watch the people.
Between, cheating spouses, domestic violence, beautiful homes and lifestyles of the well off, the tension mounts.
I must say the ending had me cheering! There are some twists and turns, surprises like Francine and Alexisand her dream to be a detective.
But for us older readers, there are Bob and Olive and their quiet strength and resolve to take a stand when others would pretend everyone is fine.
Tension, good characters, excellent plotting, red herring, insight into a community, marriages abd consequences leading to murder. You feel like a fly on the wall, peering into the homes and lives. 4 stars.
It started off very interesting but by the end I was getting bored.
4 Riverside Close by Diana Wilkinson is a captivating murder mystery. The prelude captures your attention and draws you into the hunt for the murderer at large and the identity of the victim. Learning there’s a possible eyewitness you’ll wonder what they know and if they’ll help catch the killer or become the next victim.
The ‘Join Me’ social website for meeting like-minded people and sightseeing around London is a pastime for many living in the Close. The neighborhood ladies have secretly fallen for a male profile on the site, each one knew him by a different profile name.
Caroline and Jason Swinton are schemers behind ‘Join Me’ with Caroline being the brains behind the business. The goal is to blackmail willing participants with offers of lucrative investments in exchange for Jason’s undivided attention.
The players are Susan Harper, the wife of a solicitor who is taken in by Vince’s charisma and enjoyed their naughty sexual encounters. Alexis Morley who learned her husband was cheating and was attracted to Eddie 300 and needed a diversion during their breakup. With a website with 1000s of subscribers, many were drawn to the handsome Jason under multiple aliases.
The mastermind Caroline is aware of their attraction to Jason and monitors the site for his interactions with subscribers. By allowing Jason to date married women on the site, it satisfies his sexual cravings and the financial payoffs are lucrative. Plus, she’s in control of who he dates, giving him freedom under her supervision.
When she perceives there’s more to his dates with Susan Harper, she hires Alexis Morley as a private eye to investigate knowing she’ll realize he’s the same man she’d met on the website Join Me.
An elderly lady, Olive, and her husband Bob live on the street. She meticulously tracks the coming and going of the neighbors and records it in her notebook. She and Alexis became friends and was supportive when learning her husband, Adam, was abusing her.
The police investigated the murder and the subscribers to Join Me were called-in for questioning. Alexis was a suspect for the call to the victim was made from her cell.
Caroline left when the police began their investigation and mailed a post to Alexis to find the killer of her husband. Alexis and Gary her cohort began their investigation when receiving the note and payment.
Olive was rushed to the hospital with breathing difficulties and Alexis followed knowing Adam was likely on duty. Olive whispered her secret and when realizing her phone had been removed from bedside panicked knowing she’d barely snapped a photo of the footprint of the killer when Bob found her collapsed and called an ambulance.
The murderer is identified, and you’ll believe the story is over, but it’s not — there’s more! A must-read for murder-mystery fans!
Author Carolyn Bowen, Sydney Jones Mysteries.