This was a fun read about gossipy nosey neighbors. It was a mid to fast paced suspense read for me and the characters were developed well! Read this if you love a domestic drama and may wonder what secrets your neighbors are keeping hidden from you! ( )

The Secret Next Door by Rebecca Taylor is a 2021 Sourcebooks Landmark publication.

Alyson wants her son, Andrew, to have the opportunities in life, she did not. To that end, she and her husband, Justin, have moved into an elite neighborhood, where Alyson can enroll her son in a choice school system.

Her perfect life doesn’t turn out to be quite the fairytale she imagined it to be. For starters, she gets off on the wrong foot with the neighborhood matriarch, Bonnie Sloan, and then her husband begins spending hours upon hours hiding out in the basement, while Andrew struggles at his new school.

Then the unthinkable happens-the body of a teenage boy is found by the neighborhood lake…

This book doesn't seem to know what it wants to be- a family drama, a psychological thriller, or a murder mystery? Combining all these elements into one novel is fine if one has the writing chops to pull it off, but sadly, in this case, none of the genres represented are fully realized.

A new personal review rule for myself is to avoid over-analyzing standard thrillers because I spend more time trying to write the review than I did reading the book. Still, I couldn't help but feel confused by some mixed signals here- but I'm probably just overthinking it, again.

So briefly- I really struggled with this one. To say too much might enter spoiler territory, so I won’t go into the details of every issue- but mainly, I thought making the family drama, which took up the bulk of the novel, and was tied to the psychological elements, was not the best focal point. The characterizations are overwrought, defensive and easily offended- and their actions are too implausible, even for me.

The murder mystery was especially bad, with a ‘Jessica Fletcher' style wrap up at the very last minute, without many updates about how the investigation was moving along - then all of a sudden there's a solution and an easily obtained confession. It was nothing short of miraculous. I could barely suppress a groan.

What the author was going for here is not entirely certain. Taking the story at face value is probably the best approach. Whatever the moral of the story was, might send me down a rabbit hole and I'll break my own 'over analyzing' rules, but if the novel was a dig at classism, it didn't quite hit the desired mark. Crime and tragedy reach us all in one way or another, though some feel more entitled or expect special treatment if they have some wealth or status, but the 'stay in your lane' moralizing fell flat for me.

Overall, this one was mostly a miss for me.

2.5 stars ( )

The Secret Next Door by Rebecca Taylor is a highly recommended domestic drama.

Alyson Tinsdale knows she and her husband Justin can't really afford the starter home in the upscale Enclave neighborhood, but she talks him into it knowing that their son Andrew will be starting kindergarten in their highly rated schools. Alyson, who is hesitant to try and make friends in this new community, has made one, Gabby. When Gabby gets her invited to the neighborhood book club, she accepts the invitation with hopes of meeting people. She meets people but also drinks so much that she has to be driven home.

One of the women Alyson meets is Bonnie Sloan. Bonnie is one of the leading members of the community who by all outward appearances is wealthy and successful. She has three children. Her oldest son is headed to Yale, and her youngest daughter is in Andrew's kindergarten class. Now Bonnie is running for the Senate, while her husband has no business sense and is quickly losing the family fortune. Their one financial hope is the Extreme Golf Facility her husband is planning to develop by The Enclave.

Alyson's sense of safety changes when Bonnie's thirteen-year-old son is found dead beside the lake. Adding to her conflicted feelings are Andrew's behavioral problems at school. While Alyson is just learning about the plethora of gossip in the community, Bonnie knows it well.

What makes The Secret Next Door a compelling novel is the excellent writing and the fast-paced plot. The real focus is the murder mystery, but swirling around it is the neighborhood full of people feigning outward perfection with no struggles.

The key to enjoying The Secret Next Door is to know from the start that it is a group of people behaving badly and trying to hide their flaws, as revealed by the question "How well do you know your neighbors?" The first hurdle to jump in this quest to appreciate this novel is accepting Alyson's deep and abiding insecurity and lack of self esteem coupled with her desperate desire to fit in. She was not a very sympathetic character during most of the novel. You will want to yell at her to grow up and snap out of it. Alyson does become more sympathetic. Bonnie is equally annoying at the start. She has the self esteem, but she's hiding her struggles. Once her son dies, she is a much more sympathetic character.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Sourcebooks.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2021/11/the-secret-next-door.html
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4323198917 ( )