The Good Neighbor

The Good Neighbor is a thriller about a woman who begins to doubt everything around her when tragedy strikes. The tragedy happens early on so right from the outset we see that not everything is right in her marriage. I thought this was a pretty good read, and at around two hundred pages it's a quick one too.

After something happens to change her life Sarah starts to notice things. Her marriage seems great and she loves her husband, but she begins to have doubts- is he having an affair? And there's something odd about the neighbors next door, perhaps she didn't know them as well as she thought. It's difficult to say much without spoiling the story, but I will say I mostly liked the characters, although there were times when I thought Sarah needed to buck up a bit. She's a writer and works from home, so she has a lot of time to think about things, which is probably good since the more she looks the more she finds! Some of it though may be just coincidence. Right?

I think the cover of this one captures the setting very well, as part of the story takes place in a secluded location. I did think some of the clues or red herrings were a little obvious but it wasn't a dealbreaker. Sarah tries to do the right thing and make a difference in other lives and that gives the story a multilayered approach. It was mostly realistic although the ending I thought went off the rails a bit. The biggest question is- how well do you truly know someone? Your husband or your wife, your family, friends- do we ever truly know everything, the deepest, darkest secrets? Of course we don't, and this explores what happens when some of that comes out.