The Girl Before meets The Couple Next Door in a Hitchcockian thriller about a couple who moves into their dream neighborhood only to discover nothing is as it seems…The perfect couple. The perfect house. The perfect crime.Londoners Jack and Syd found their dream home: lots of space, a great location, and a friendly owner who wanted a young couple to have it. Everything is exactly what they … to have it.
Everything is exactly what they hoped for when they move in–except Jack makes a disturbing discovery in the attic, and Syd begins to wonder about the girl next door. And they each keep the other in the dark.
A mistake.
Because someone has just been killed outside their back door, and now the police are watching them.
This is their chance to prove they’re innocent–or to get away with murder.
Whose story do you believe?
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An intricate, powerful, and deeply unsettling thriller about the profound ways in which cruelty can change its survivors, and the creeping fear that nothing — not your home, not love, not even your own mind — is as rock-solid and impregnable as we all want to believe.
A raw, tightly wound thrill ride, a nightmare scenario about a home purchase that goes horribly wrong. And then some. This is a fast-paced, intense, and creepy novel that you won’t be able to put down until you reach the end.
I went to this book because of the recommendation by Tana French (whom I love). And there are some interesting, suspenseful elements to this story, but overall I was disappointed. There was way too much build up before the reader even finds out WHAT happened, much less, who or why. As such, it was hard to follow the characters’ motivation for doing anything. The book is, however, an easy read and may appeal to many readers.
Interesting format. Characters different viewpoints, feelings and secrets
I found the characters annoyingly hectic, the format contrived.
I really enjoyed this book…I will read more of this author.
I started out not liking it but it kept me reading it.
A masterpiece of duplicity, a psychological thriller of the highest order, in which the characters not only lie to each other and to everyone around them, they lie to themselves. With two highly unreliable narrators digging themselves deeper in every chapter, fans of he said/she said suspense will love this tense and gripping story. Highly recommended!
This terrifying thriller sent shivers through me!
Well done psychological thriller with twists and turns. Creepy and keeps you guessing all the way through.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review.
Meet your new neighbors, Jack & Syd. They are a bit of an odd couple. Jack is a pretty straitlaced social worker, and Syd has sown a few wild oats in her day. They have saved up to buy their “forever house” and fall into a bit of luck in finding the perfect place at a great price. But are things too good to be true? Pretty soon after moving in, things start to go awry. To document the happenings, Jack & Syd begin a journal, which is told alternately by each. The journal documents the strange things going on as well as the unraveling of their relationship. The writing is fluid, and the tale is told seamlessly between the two. Both are very likable characters, flawed for sure, but you really do want a happy ending for them.
At first I thought this would be a paranormal thriller (not sure where I got that idea), but it isn’t. It is a psychological thriller with a plot so twisty you won’t be able to figure out whodunit. The subject matter does become dark, then very dark. I did consider putting it down as it seemed to slow down and the focus was on the dark side of human nature. But I had to find out how it ended and the second half of the book picks up. The plot does a U-turn in a way that I had never imagined. All in all, this was a very satisfying and suspenseful read, with a lot of creepiness thrown in.
This book purposefully goes back and forth between the two main characters who actually read each other’s journal to understand ‘what’ happened – aka…the audience, us, still doesn’t know what happened at that point. The author loves circling around the issue while being as vague as possible.
You get the instinctive sense Syd has a dark traumatic past and obviously she wants to save the child which is a symbolic reminder of what happened to her while battling the past itself to come and take revenge. I know, I know. A mouthful, but That is what its like to read this.
Also, the ending bugged me. I can’t picture no matter how well intentions for someone to forgive a certain character especially if they put this character in danger’s cross hairs and threw them under the bus, so to speak. And also, to be concerned about this person even after knowing they were responsible.
Also, instead of using concise adjectives to describe characters, the author relied on actors or old movies so he wouldn’t have to.
Ultimately, I suppose I was letdown by the book, it didn’t really go in the direction the synopsis led us to believe and there was too much abrupt back and forth between time lines.
Not as gripping as I expected. The beginning was a little confusing as you’re kind of
Jumping into the middle of the story. Interesting twist at the end.
This was a weird read, full of perspective (and voice) shifts and an odd timeline – but I quite enjoyed it even though I usually prefer my stories to run a tad more linear than that implies… I think it’s because I was so intrigued from the outset – there was a lot of “this is not a ghost story” and “I always thought it was something more…” teaser-language in the opening bits, and as they were written as diary entries and I couldn’t exactly remember what the blurb had promised beyond a thriller with twists and turns, it really seemed like anything was possible for a hefty chunk of the book. Would it be paranormal? Psychosis? Gaslighting? A super-villain?
Turns out there were elements of most of those, and the explanations – when they finally came – were teased out nicely, leaving my imagination running off on tangents of possibility until the final pages (literally). There were a lot of parts that were rough-reading – there’s a seriously dark underbelly here, and it’s tough to stomach. But the story was told in a frank, concise voice that made even those bits palatable (if still altogether disagreeable) and kept me engaged throughout.
One thing I found confusing and unclear even after finishing was the title. I must admit I don’t get it; in hindsight I found the title confusing and misdirecting. I suppose that may have been intentional, although I’m not sure why. Mostly I just found it an odd choice.
My review copy was provided by the Penguin First to Read program.
I won a paperback ARC from Goodreads.com and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.
This not my usual genre, but to be honest, I’m not exactly sure what this genre is, but the blurb sounding interesting and it was.
Jack and Syd meet at a conference and after dating for several years, had been saving for a downpayment on a house. Affordable housing seems to be very difficult to find in London as it is in most major cities, so after being outbid on 12 homes, they were shocked to have had their bid accepted on the most recent home they saw, especailly since they had underbid. The story behind why the house was being sold and that it was overfilled with all kinds of junk, was bizarre, but they were so elated to have a home of their own, they didn’t care. Then more bizarre things started happening, culminating in the dead body of a neighbor, who was physically abusive to his daughter, being found in the alley behind their home. The story is written as journal entries by both Jack and Syd, from their points of view, as they prepare their story for the police. Mystery and thriller, I had a hard time putting it down.
Moving into a house they never thought they would get.
Moving into a house with all the previous owner’s things left inside.
Moving into a house and finding things that should not be there and hearing things.
Syd and Jack were excited to move into the house they actually got for a bargain, but things they didn’t bargain for happened.
The neighbors were a bit odd as well.
THE NEW NEIGHBORS was difficult to connect with for me because of the writing style of the author. It was confusing when the chapters went from one character to one situation with hardly any connection for me.
There are many characters and many stories going on but it always comes back to that house Syd and Jack bought. Even Syd’s mother sees something in the house that made her upset when she stopped for the first time.
There also were some things that I wasn’t comfortable with like drug use and mental abuse, but I continued to read because I had to find out what the story was with the house.
THE NEW NEIGHBORS had many broken, hurt characters that all stemmed back to their childhood and to one person. Could it be more than one person causing all the grief?
This book is definitely a psychological fest. It plays on your mind just like the author has others play on the minds of the characters and story line.
Everything doesn’t seem to be what it appears to be.
If you enjoy characters that are secretly twisted and a story line that keeps you wondering, watching, and waiting, THE NEW NEIGHBORS is for you.
It is difficult to rate this book because it held my interest, but it also was frustrating. 3.5/5
This book was given to me free of charge and without compensation by NetGalley in return for an honest review.
The New Neighbors is written in a unique style. The chapters are in alternating points of view. Jack and Sydney share the responsibility of telling their story. The unique part is they respond to one another. Jack writes first, Sydney responds to what he writes. Sydney writes, Jack responds to what Sydney writes. I have never read a book in this style and I loved it.
I loved how much the reader gets to learn about Jack and Sydney but would have loved to have more information about the secondary characters. I felt like there was more of a story to tell with them. That being said I liked the story. I was able to connect to the main characters; I felt their fear for their future, their fear for what was happening in their new house.
Simon Lelix managed to write a psychological thriller with a haunted house twist that I enjoyed reading. I recommend picking up your own copy.