REVIEW: The Child Next Door by Shalini Boland

The Child Next Door by Shalini Boland

Genre: Psychological Thriller, Domestic Thriller

Read: 12th September 2018

Goodreads

Purchase: Amazon

★★★★★ 5 stars

Can I give it more than 5 stars??? Wow! just WOW!!!

Having read another book by Shalini Boland I knew I wasn't going to be disappointed...and I wasn't. As soon as I began, I could not stop "swiping" the pages on my Kindle. This psychological thriller completely hooked me and I did not want to put it down!

Kirstie Rawlings is a new mum to 6 month old Daisy and is finding herself at rather a loose end on maternity leave, missing her work and friends at school. Her husband Dominic always seems to be out - either at work or training for his triathalon - and she craves some adult company.

One day whilst dozing in the lounge in front of the TV with Daisy asleep upstairs she hears a cry and some urgent whispers over the baby monitor "Let's just get the baby now and go!" Panicked, she races upstairs only to find Daisy is asleep in her cot. Then she hears the whispers again, coming from the monitor in her hand as she watches over Daisy. She realises her monitor must be picking up someone else's nearby, and rushes outside to see where the cries could be coming from. Yet she knows none of her neighbours have a baby...doesn't she?

Kirstie calls the police frantcially telling them what she heard and trying to relay the urgency of the matter. Someone's baby was in trouble! But who's?

The police take her statement and knock on the other 5 doors in their cul-de-sac. No one has a baby. But she HEARD it! And she heard someone whispering to take the baby.

When she tells Dominic, although he humours her he doesn't really believe her. Maybe it was the TV she was watching. Maybe she had a nightmare and got confused. Or maybe her imagination just ran away from her. But it isn't long before he and her best friend at #6 in the close begin to worry she is suffering from some post natal psychosis.

Kirstie begins to wonder if it isn't someone else's baby, then maybe it is her baby they are after. And so a ritual of checking every door, every lock and every window to the point she becomes obsessive and has to get up and check them again...and again. She even lays down some of Daisy's toys in front of the doorways and windows so if someone did break in, she would hear them. Soon her frustration manifests itself in screaming and yelling, and suspecting her creepy neighbour, whilst everyone else in the close just looks on and thinks she is losing it.

But Kirstie knows what she heard.

Soon Kirstie feels that no one believes her and thinks she is over reacting. She sees the neighbours looking at her, knowing they must think her a complete raving lunatic. She sees her husband steal into the pretty young woman's house at the end of the street. What is he doing in there? And why is he hiding it? Then her best friend across the way begins to act strangely around her, and then she finds something belonging to her husband at her house. Is he having an affair with her best friend? And don't get her started on her neighbour, Martin, next door. He is creepy as and she soon begins to suspect him of being at the heart of her paranoia. He is so obviously hiding something...

But why doesn't anyone believe her? Who can she trust?

Knowing she can't trust her neighbours, her best friend or even her husband, Kirstie must unravel the mystery herself and delve into the secrets of her neighbours. But as she does her life begins to fall apart. Because someone is hiding a terrible secret...and they will do anything to stop her from uncovering the truth.

The book is written in the first person from Kirstie's POV so we really get a sense of what Kirstie is thinking and feeling. We can sense her frustration and anxiety, the paranoia. The terror and fear ripple through us as we watch the story unfold. We know Kirstie isn't crazy and we're rooting for her all the way through.

Then there are the secondary characters in the neighbours of which there are plenty to be more than suspicious of...

Husband Dominic? He appears to be up to something and failing to be supportive of his wife regardless of whether he believed her or not. She needed his support, to be there for her. Instead he stopped off at the pretty young woman down the street after work or was over at her friend Mel's. I know I would be suspicious and extremely frustrated that everything else - including his blasted precious triathalon - was so much more important than his wife. Was he using triathalon training as an excuse to get out of the house and maybe seeing someone else?

Best friend Mel. I didn't like her from the off. She didn't seem to be a very good friend to begin with and seemed to only be there when it benefitted her. Always borrowing money from Kirstie and never paying it back, and the excuses why she couldn't pay it back. And then remaining friends with the woman who tried stealing Kirstie's husband before they were married? Knowing what she had done and yet she remained friends with her? I wouldn't!

And then there was Martin. Creepy, nosy Martin who lived next door. He was odd, to say the least. Always hankering around Kirstie, wanting her opinion on something or other, organising Neighbourhood Watch...whether he was being neighbourly or not, he was seriously "off". He made my skin crawl just reading about him.

Then there were her neighbours on the other side - the Parkfields. Headmaster of the school Kirstie works at, Stephen Parkfield, his wife Lorna, her teenage daughter Hannah and their younger daughters, Jess and Lydia. They keep themselves to themselves. Lorna always seems to have a sour expression on her face, Stephen always seems to be barking at everyone and Hannah appears to be just an angry teenager.

And what about the Cliffords at #1? The young wife is gorgeous and always immaculate, is it any wonder Dominic is popping in there on his way home from work? Especially with how dishevelled Kirstie is looking and acting these days?

And what about Callum? A young teenage boy Kirstie knows from school and had been in one of her classes. Hanging around in the fields out the back of their properties. Is he watching her?

And then...that ending!! What the...?? That came out of left field! After the rest of the story had wrapped up, I wasn't expecting that! But then...it raises yet more questions... Exactly WHAT was it "they" were hiding in there? We really need a sequel to find out. I hated that we didn't get to find that part out. It really left me hanging. And though I hate books that end on a cliffhanger when there is no follow-up, I still thoroughly enjoyed this book. Shalini Boland is one of my new favourites!

THE CHILD NEXT DOOR is a fast paced thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. If you love these types of books, then you will LOVE this one. Highly recommended! Very highly recommended!