The New Neighbour has a great premise and promising start. It doesn’t entirely deliver but is still a good read.
If you got through that sentence, and it makes sense, I’ll try to explain better.
The book starts with an incident in the past (just a few months prior) then jumps to the present day. The plot is linear and easy to follow and has good bones.
With psychological thrillers, the devil is in the details. That is why The New Neighbour is tricky. There are a lot of details and not all of them are pertinent to the plot.
Green burials, autism, affairs, potential domestic abuse, secrets…there is just a lot going on.
Additionally, and not to give a major plot point away, there is an event that occurs roughly halfway through. It could definitely be considered a “twist,” but it sent the book in a totally different direction.
I feel there are two different stories, and the author couldn’t decide which one to actually write. So, they become one.
Again, without giving anything away, I kept expecting that twist to be the catalyst for more. And it was…just nowhere near in the way I thought it would be.
In retrospect, maybe that is all because I expected more out of the initial story. But because of the choices, it almost seems as if the first half was a waste of time because the pieces put in place are (for the most part) not followed through upon.
This is a twisty review, but I guess that’s what the book did to me. There is a hard time separating because it really does feel like two different stories to me.
I like where the author was going in the first half and would have been happy if that had panned out. I like the twists in the second half. There were enough that the story was redeemed.
I just wish that either one had been a complete story. I think it would have been more linear and there would have been more meat in the plot.
But that is all personal opinion. Other readers may have a completely different experience. That is why I ultimately recommend The New Neighbour.
Plus, I am a long-time fan, so I will always look forward to reading the next book from this author. Don’t believe me?
Check out these reviews as well: The Arrangement, Roses are Red, Deserve to Die, What She Knew, The Influencer, The Visitors, You Are Mine
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Author Bio
Miranda Rijks is a writer of psychological thrillers and suspense novels. She has an eclectic background ranging from law to running a garden centre. She’s been writing all of her life and has a Masters in writing. A couple of years ago she decided to ditch the business plans and press releases and now she’s living the dream, writing suspense novels full time. She lives in Sussex, England with her Dutch husband, musician daughter, and black Labrador.
Miranda is the author of psychological thrillers. This is her fourteenth novel with Inkubator Books.
