I’m not sure where to start. I do want to make the comment that every book I’ve read set in England has characters with depressing dreary lives and places they live. I’ve always wanted to move there thinking it would be wonderful but now I’m scared lol. But I think it’s all in what a person makes of their life and the choices they make, as you will find in this book.
This is a MUST read. It has the suspense of Gone Girl and Girl On A Train, or whatever that book was called. Only this one didn’t leave me disappointed. This one pulled me right in and kept me glued. It was all I could do not to skip ahead to see who was responsible. But don’t do that. It will ruin two surprises.
It is written where it tells the story and after a few chapters throws in the police interviews of possible suspects and witnesses to the murder of one of the characters. Then goes back to telling, what I take it is the witness at the times side of things. It all blends together gracefully. At first I was taken aback by how it was laid out but it wasn’t hard to follow. There were a lot of characters and back and forth so if you want to make notes as to who is who in beginning it wouldn’t hurt.
Joey, the main character, has just met someone and married then moved home. While her and her hubby Alphie get on their feet, they move in with her brother, Jack, and his wife, Rebecca. Jack is a surgeon and the only really sane one of the whole neighborhood. We don’t see much of him. Rebecca is aloof and not very welcoming to the new couple. While Joey is happily married, she still can’t help but be taken aback when she sees Jack’s neighbor, Tom, out the window. It’s like an instant attraction. She becomes obsessed with watching him. As she is out in the neighborhood and sees him they speak in passing. This is a nice neighborhood with pretty houses each painted a different color. Tom is a teacher and well liked among his peers and students. He’s what everyone considers perfect. Or his life anyway. Also his looks and dameaner. No one knows what really goes on inside someone’s life though. Tom’s wife Nicola is sort of a snob and doesn’t have friends. She stays to herself. Their son, Freddie, is a freak. As in he is constantly spying on the whole neighborhood from the window with his binoculars and taking photos of everyone. He also has a book he writes the date and times in and who and what he’s seeing. He has all this and the photos saved in his computer.
Another neighbor is bat s@** crazy. Always thinks someone, a ‘gang’, is out to get her and coming in her house. Also watching her from outside, which she’s not so crazy after all about this part. Her young daughter Jenna more or less keeps her together and has to put up with this and make sure her mother eats. Jenna’s friend Bess is obsessed with Tom also.
So all through the book we find out more and more of what happens with Joey and her feelings and her struggles with conscience. And freaky Freddie who is also a genius. He’s only like 14. As the story goes on, we learn more and more things about each person and it opens up more questions. The murder is what starts at the beginning. We don’t learn until the end who is murdered. I spent the whole book thinking it was a certain character but it wasn’t! This floored me. Then I got another shock as to who did it. Only to be shocked a third time as to why.
In the end, no one is ever as we seem. This makes the book even more real as this is how real people are. We all have skeletons in our closet. Nothing is ever as it seems and no one is ever as they appear.
This is a MUST read. It has the suspense of Gone Girl and Girl On A Train, or whatever that book was called. Only this one didn’t leave me disappointed. This one pulled me right in and kept me glued. It was all I could do not to skip ahead to see who was responsible. But don’t do that. It will ruin two surprises.
It is written where it tells the story and after a few chapters throws in the police interviews of possible suspects and witnesses to the murder of one of the characters. Then goes back to telling, what I take it is the witness at the times side of things. It all blends together gracefully. At first I was taken aback by how it was laid out but it wasn’t hard to follow. There were a lot of characters and back and forth so if you want to make notes as to who is who in beginning it wouldn’t hurt.
Joey, the main character, has just met someone and married then moved home. While her and her hubby Alphie get on their feet, they move in with her brother, Jack, and his wife, Rebecca. Jack is a surgeon and the only really sane one of the whole neighborhood. We don’t see much of him. Rebecca is aloof and not very welcoming to the new couple. While Joey is happily married, she still can’t help but be taken aback when she sees Jack’s neighbor, Tom, out the window. It’s like an instant attraction. She becomes obsessed with watching him. As she is out in the neighborhood and sees him they speak in passing. This is a nice neighborhood with pretty houses each painted a different color. Tom is a teacher and well liked among his peers and students. He’s what everyone considers perfect. Or his life anyway. Also his looks and dameaner. No one knows what really goes on inside someone’s life though. Tom’s wife Nicola is sort of a snob and doesn’t have friends. She stays to herself. Their son, Freddie, is a freak. As in he is constantly spying on the whole neighborhood from the window with his binoculars and taking photos of everyone. He also has a book he writes the date and times in and who and what he’s seeing. He has all this and the photos saved in his computer.
Another neighbor is bat s@** crazy. Always thinks someone, a ‘gang’, is out to get her and coming in her house. Also watching her from outside, which she’s not so crazy after all about this part. Her young daughter Jenna more or less keeps her together and has to put up with this and make sure her mother eats. Jenna’s friend Bess is obsessed with Tom also.
So all through the book we find out more and more of what happens with Joey and her feelings and her struggles with conscience. And freaky Freddie who is also a genius. He’s only like 14. As the story goes on, we learn more and more things about each person and it opens up more questions. The murder is what starts at the beginning. We don’t learn until the end who is murdered. I spent the whole book thinking it was a certain character but it wasn’t! This floored me. Then I got another shock as to who did it. Only to be shocked a third time as to why.
In the end, no one is ever as we seem. This makes the book even more real as this is how real people are. We all have skeletons in our closet. Nothing is ever as it seems and no one is ever as they appear.