The People Next Door by Tony Parsons
Genre: Psychological thriller
Read: 22nd August 2023
Published: 31st March 2022
★★ 2 stars
DESCRIPTION:
Lana and Roman Wade have fled the city for a little corner of paradise, exchanging their flat with its unhappy memories for a small honey-coloured house among the rolling green hills of Oxfordshire. Their new home, set in a residential Close known as The Gardens, is their dream and their new neighbours are charming.
So why is Lana feeling so uneasy?
Lana and Roman may seem like an attractive, popular couple. But they are also a couple with a secret; a secret buried in the life they have left behind, a secret they have shared with no-one.
But their new neighbours - these charming, affluent men and women in the Gardens - have secrets of their own.
Terrible secrets; unimaginable secrets that include the apparently happy family who lived - and tragically died - in Lana and Roman's new home.
As Lana struggles to adjust to her new life in Paradise, she becomes convinced that her new neighbours are hiding something from her, something connected with the deaths of the family who lived in her house before she did, something that could put her own life in danger...
The People Next Door is a psychological thriller full of twists and turns, a murder mystery wrapped in a love story, and a love story wrapped in a murder mystery. It is about the secrets we all keep - and what we will do for love.
MY THOUGHTS:
What started out as an intriguing thriller ended in...what, exactly?
Lana and Roman Wade move from London to rural Oxfordshire and their pretty thatched cottages for a fresh start after a horrific experience that changed their lives. The new home in the residential close known as The Gardens is idyllic and charming. But is it too good to be true?
Lana soon makes friends with their neighbours and is warmly welcomed. She is told everyone is so happy in this corner of the world that "nobody ever leaves". If that is true then what happened to the people who lived in their house before them? And the doctor Roman is replacing in the village? If no one ever leaves, why did they?
Soon Lana discovers the truth behind what happened in their dream home and it is increasingly making her uneasy. She can't settle, especially when she discovers strangers trespassing on her property stealing a photo of her house or two. When she discovers that Roman knew about the house's history she is furious. How could he even think she would want to live here with that hanging over them? And then a chance encounter with the internet sleuths who she caught on her property has her digging for answers about what really happened behind these closed doors. But the more Lana digs, the more uneasy she feels.
I thought I was going to enjoy my first foray with Tony Parsons as it began as an intriguing slow burning psychological thriller. I thought secrets would be uncovered, mysteries would be solved...but instead everything ends up a convoluted mess and stretching credibility and believability beyond belief. I know as readers we must often suspend belief...but seriously?
By the end, there were far more questions than answers and the end itself became an effort to finish. And what's worse...he killed a beloved dog with oleander! And for what?
MEET THE AUTHOR:
He married Julie Burchill, a fellow NME journalist, and they had a son, Bobby, before divorcing.
He has a regular column in The Mirror and participates in the BBC arts programme, Newsnight Review. He has also written for, among other publications, The Face, Marie Claire, The Daily Mail, Arena, The Guardian, Elle, The Daily Telegraph, The Spectator, The Sunday Times, GQ and Red.
He has now re-married, and lives in London.
Social media links:
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