Neighborly: A Novel

Product Information

After putting all of the pieces together Kat confronts her tormenter/s and tries to make a citizens arrest. It goes a little something like this...

Neighborly: A Novel - Kindle edition by Monago, Ellie

I wasn’t sure I would like this book as (a) I’m not keen on American novels and (b) I’ve already read several psychological thrillers about neighbours from hell. But it seemed the best of the bunch of the Kindle First on offer this month. But wow, once It got going I couldn’t put it down and I was frustrated that work and other duties got in the way of me reading. Then we get to 45%, and the story gets weird… I don’t always mind a strange plot change, but this one was bad. It comes all at once (hahahahaha THAT’S a pun) and out of nowhere. It’s really left-field and instantly halted my reading. The appeal of finding out who was ‘stalking’ Kat all but vanished. Not to mention, it didn’t even need to be part of the book for the rest of story to make sense. There was definitely an easier, and less unbelievable, way for the author to fulfill her ideas about the end of the book. That is the first half of the story. What happens thereafter in Neighborly is equivalent to a sharp right turn on a curvy road. The story shifts directions and touches on many issues, including Kat's childhood trauma. Not only that the person behind the notes steps up and that scenario is detailed through another perspective. The danger Kat faces is suddenly life-threatening. How about a quote from the meat of the suspense: "Just because your paranoid doesn't mean nobody's after you." Kat and Doug have used literally all their money to buy a house in the "perfect" neighbourhood and basically, right from the outset, things are not as perfect as they seem. There's something odd about the street and the inhabitants but this idea initially comes from Kat who isn't the most reliable of sources.But really there was not ENOUGH suspense or at least I was too preoccupied by all the overpowering emotion baggage from Kat.

Neighbourly - where businesses help local good causes

This is Stepford Wives in a Trans-Urban twist. In Dec of 2016 a book titled The Missing by Caroline Eriksson was one of the Kindle Firsts for the month. I disliked that book because the suspense was bogged down in all the over wrought hand wringing self doubt that killed the book for me from getting anywhere and sadly it is shades of that for me here. Kat is a struggler, she struggles with just about everything like her self esteem, her marriage and sex life, money, her successes and/or failures as a mother, her new home, her new neighbors/friends and her in laws whom she does not like. Oh and there's that secret she struggles with on the daily. As mentioned before, this really is one of those ‘throwaway thrillers’, I can assure you I will have forgotten the story or the characters within a few months, even though I semi-enjoyed it while reading. The plot for this one is nothing unique but it is quite gripping at times and I did enjoy the guessing game of who the baddie was going to be. I had my suspicions about parts of the plot which ended up being correct, but at no point did I have any clue who was leaving the notes… until the chapters begin changing POV. Monago continues to keep the identity of the person undercover, but it becomes really easy to work out who they are, and so even that last reveal becomes dulled by the long drawn out process of officially finding out who they are. Life in her new neighborhood isn't that perfect, someone is leaving her threatening notes and it turns out her neighbors are a bunch of creepy swingers who want Kat and Doug as fresh meat for their sex sandwiches or whatever it is that swingers do with fresh meat.So Kat and Doug are super excited to move into the coveted neighborhood of Aurora Village, AKA the AV. What they don’t know is in the AV lies something sinister behind that Stepford facade and all of the gushy, ‘be my bff’ ‘no, be MY bff’ goodness. So who is behind the notes and threats and will they find out and disclose Kat’s secret??

Neighborly, by Katrina Jackson | The StoryGraph

All in all, I’m glad I didn’t pay for it but can’t say I regret reading it. It wasn’t exactly good but it took me out of my comfort zone. Good fences make for good neighbors. Minding your own business and not interacting with your neighbors makes for better neighbors! Kat and Doug felt like Aurora Village was the perfect community. Minutes from the city, affluent without pretension, low crime with a friendly vibe—it’s everything Kat never had, and that she’s determined to provide for her infant daughter. Snagging a nice bungalow in this exclusive enclave was worth all the sacrifice. But everything changes overnight when Kat finds a scrawled note outside their front door.When Kat and Doug buy their small home in their dream community, everything soon starts to look nightmarish. Somebody is leaving unpleasant notes at their house, stealing their parcels and perhaps spiking Kat's drinks. Kat's got a dark history that she keeps secret from even her husband and that secret runs through the book as an undercurrent. As her dream starts to fall apart, the strange happenings in her neighbourhood leave her unsure who can be trusted and who can't - including her husband, Doug. This was a Kindle First Reads book, and I was excited to read it based on the synopsis. Everything in this book could have been wrapped up in a short story.