#BookReview ‘Good Neighbours’ by Sarah Langan

About the book…

Welcome to Maple Street, a picture-perfect slice of suburban Long Island, its residents bound by their children, their work, and their illusion of safety in a rapidly changing world.

But when the Wilde family moves in, they trigger their neighbours’ worst fears. Arlo and Gertie and their weird kids don’t fit with the ways Maple Street sees itself.

As tensions mount, a sinkhole opens in a nearby park, and neighbourhood Queen Bee Rhea’s daughter Shelly falls inside. The search for Shelly brings a shocking accusation against the Wildes. Suddenly, it is one mom’s word against the others in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood.

For readers of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng, in this addictive thriller full of dark secrets and their darker consequences a sudden tragedy pits neighbour against neighbour and puts one family in terrible danger. A riveting and ruthless portrayal of suburbia, Good Neighbours excavates the perils and betrayals of motherhood and friendships and the dangerous clash between social hierarchy, childhood trauma, and fear

Hugest of thanks to the awesome Sarah at Titan for asking me to participate in the blogtour for ‘‘Good Neighbours’ which is out in ebook and paperback from July 13th, go get yourself a copy!

It is one of the best books which I have read so far in 2021 (Jul-Dec you have a lot of competition), neatly skewering the suburban landscape with surgical precision.

The gap between appearance, reality and expectation is pared back to the bone in this thriller, where you led down a rabbit hole of misunderstandings, cross-communication and elitist opinions until a crescendo of a finale.

The epistolary style opening has alerted you to the fact that something, a possibly inexplicable something, has occurred in this exclusive enclave, over a blistering summer, where the appearance of a sink hole accurately reflects the growing stench of dissension and division from the top on down. But how has this happened? Where was the flashpoint? And, as you read, and try to create profiles for the adults and children alike, that central mystery is like a thread you are pulling in the back of your subconscious. Aside from the acutely observed character studies, what did happen to Shelly?

The various families fall away, as each chapter begins with a list of occupants, some you get to know better than your own family, others are just names no longer written. However, the decreasing numbers of occupants in the innocuous sounding Maple Street are leaving something behind. Fallen hopes, shattered friendships, accusations and broken dreams abound as the internal tensions explodes into something that envelops all families, forcing them to take sides whether or not they want to.

I loved the way that the families were constructed, so that you had an intimate glance behind the dolls house exterior to see the interior workings, some you actually felt empathy for as the wrong sentence can result in being ostracised, bad enough in any community, but even more so in the crescent of Maple Street.

It is reflective of the current times , who will be the last man(or woman) standing, will we, the readers, ever solve the mysteries  of the summer everything came apart.

Will it be a need to close ranks and protect our own that leads to conflict, or will it be a more widely spread uprising against the overarching system (unchallenged at the start of the book)?

The veneer of respectability, almost seen as a ticket to exist peacefully in neighbourhoods such as this, is challenged first by the arrival of the Wilde family who are larger than life, as well as having minor celebrity status. The behaviour of the Shroeder family is echoed by their children who cut them out of The Rat Pack, the name given the neighbourhood’s children. I completely related to, and understood where Rhea was coming from, if she had no status then she had nothing. Her entire personality was based around the need to be seen as multitasking perfection, a lecturer, mother and active community member. However, when she lets her guard down and has a drunken conversation with Gertie Wilde about her frustrations, her deeply moving words do not find the willing listener that Rhea needed .

From then on in, this cross purpose conversation and the redrawing of battle lines results in the trickle down effect of choosing sides, both adults and children, neither side keen to disturb the status quo . So, in the lack of courage to change and evolve, they leave.

This engaging psychological study of the way that parents mould, influence and develop their children’s social skills really impacted-there is an implicit ‘understanding’ of what is and what is not acceptable and , that adage ‘the enemy of my  enemy is my friend springs very much to the forefront of my mind.

Responsibility, accountability and approachability-what makes these good neighbour qualities?

Another fascinating, deeply creepy and unique slice of modern American manners, I completely devoured this delicious summer based mystery in one sitting, it’s just that kind of book!

About the author…

Sarah grew up on Long Island, got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, her MS in environmental toxicology from NYU, and currently lives in Los Angeles with her family and house rabbit.

Her next novel Good Neighbours is due out from Titan on July 13th!

Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding novel in 2007 – ‘The Missing’. Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding short story in 2008 – ‘The Lost’. Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding novel in 2009 – ‘Audrey’s Door’.

Links-https://sarahlangan.com/

Twitter @TitanBooks @SarahVLangan1