The Mistress Next Door by Lesley Sanderson
Genre: Domestic thriller, Suspense
Read: 17th February 2023
Published: 15th February 2023
★★★★ 4 stars
DESCRIPTION:
I know what you did. You destroyed my life. Now I’m going to take everything from you, starting with your husband. I’m your worst nightmare, and I’m closer than you think.
Oliver, my husband and the father of our three little girls, used to be my rock. But recently he’s been behaving strangely, staying out late, working weekends and emotionally absent even when home. Now as I clutch a receipt for a hotel room and champagne for two, hidden away in his coat pocket, I’m devastated. What else can I assume other than he’s cheating?
I’ve risked everything for the life I have now, a life that’s a million miles from… before. Not that Oliver would know anything about that. I would do anything to hold on to the perfect future I so dearly long for. A future that is now about to come crashing down.
Because Oliver’s cheating isn’t the only threat to my family. This morning I received an anonymous note. One that changes everything. The past isn’t just haunting me, it’s coming back to destroy me. It seems that someone in our close-knit community of Prospect Close knows my secret. Someone who’s willing to do whatever it takes to get their revenge. They’ve already stolen my husband. How much further will they go? And what can I do to stop them…?
An astonishing, compelling page-turner with a jaw-dropping twist, if you love Lisa Jewell, K. L. Slater and Jackie Kabler, you’ll love The Mistress Next Door.
MY THOUGHTS:
"She's going to destroy my life..."
A quick and entertaining read, Lesley Sanderson always surprises me with where she is going to take me next. This fast paced domestic thriller, though predictable in part, was an enjoyable read that was a little surprising by the end. Namely because of the "secret". That wasn't the surprise as such, as I had worked out what happened there, but it was what followed. To me, it did and didn't make sense. I guess it is all comes down to perspective. And who sees what and why and how... And so we have THE MISTRESS NEXT DOOR, a fun and entertaining read where the pages pretty much turned themselves.
Prospect Close is a community in which neighbours look out for each other...or are they really? Could it just be a subterfuge for spying on each other? That's the claustrophobic sense Harriet gets from the close-knit community ever since she moved their five years ago with husband Oliver. Two years he promised her, then they'd sell and move to the country where they would bring up their family. But then she fell pregnant with the twins, Tess and Tilly, and their lives were taken up with double the nappies, double the nightime feeds, double of everything. Harriet may have two arms but there's only so much a woman can do, and carrying a twin in each whilst seeing to their needs at the same time can be a little difficult. And so their plans were put on hold.
Then Lucy came along six months ago and suddenly five years have past and Oliver shows no sign of slowing down or selling up and moving like he'd promised. More to the point, Harriet suspects he is hiding another secret altogether...one he doesn't wish for her to find out.
Oliver is a banker working a demanding job and making the commute to London and working suspiciously late hours. Is he up to his old tricks again? Harriet suspects so and this time she is determined to find proof and have all her ducks in a row before confronting him...but is she just imagining things?
When Tilly disappears briefly from the communal park at the centre of their community, Harriet fears her past has caught up with her and that everything is about to crumble. What makes matters worse is that Oliver is away in France for a conference weekend and is seemingly unreachable. Harriet and the police have both tried contacting him to no avail, leaving Harriet wondering (once Tilly was found safe and well) what he was really up to.
And then she discovers an anonymous note left in her handbag. Tilly's disappearance was more than her little girl just wandering away and it is only just the beginning it seems. Someone is out to unmask her for who she really is and the past from which she has run for two decades. Maybe she doesn't deserve to have a family after all. And when Oliver does return from his wayward weekend, he is unconcerned as to the seriousness of the situation, palming off Harriet's fears as mollycoddling and irrational. Even going so far as to question whether she has post natal depression. But all his behaviour does is raise even more doubts...which poses the question...is his mistress closer than she thinks? Could she even be one of her neighbours? One of her friends? Even the nanny? Can Harriet trust anyone?
THE MISTRESS NEXT DOOR is a fast paced and entertaining read which I didn't want to put down if not for the matchsticks propping my eyelids up in the wee hours. It was like a car crash where you just couldn't look away. Harriet and Oliver's marriage was obviously a train wreck. Oliver was a philanderer, make no mistake. Anyone with eyes could see that and that's no spoiler because he does nothing to prove otherwise. All he does is gaslight Harriet even further making her second guess herself, make promises he obviously does intend to keep and then continues to lie to her over and over again. From his very first dialogue to the penultimate climax, the guy couldn't lie straight in bed.
The threatening notes sent to Harriet give little away. All that it does is stir up Harriet's emotions and leave us wondering what her big secret was. As the story unfolds it soon becomes clear before it is even actually spelled out. And I admit it is one that left me a little confused because as I said at the beginning it did and didn't make sense. I can't say much more without revealing too much. But I'll leave it up to you to decide.
The story unfolds through Harriet's first person narrative, with a third person POV in the past and the odd inclusion of "anonymous" which seemed to suddenly taper off. I would have liked to see a little more them to spice things up a little further maybe.
Overall, THE MISTRESS NEXT DOOR is a quick and entertaining read that is fast paced throughout but the ending is a bit of a let down after all the build up throughout. I still enjoyed the ride getting there though. Another enjoyable twisty read with a few surprises and several unlikeable characters.
I would like to thank #LesleySanderson, #NetGalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheMistressNextDoor in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
'The Orchid Girls' was her first psychological thriller followed by 'The Woman at 46 Heath Street' in 2019, The Leaving Party (2020), The Birthday Weekend (2020), I Know You Lied (2021), Every Little Lie (2021), The Widow's Husband (2022) and The Mistress Next Door (2023).
Lesley spends her days writing in coffee shops in Kings Cross where she lives and works as a librarian. She loves the atmosphere and eclectic mix of people in the area. Lesley discovered Patricia Highsmith as a teenager and has been hooked on psychological thrillers ever since and is particularly interested in the psychology of female relationships.
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