The Neighbor's Secret (book review)

The title of this book is misleading. There are many secrets in this little community, a fact that would've made this story a fave (I love gossip), but the execution took away from the impact.

This story had a lot of promise. It centers (kind of) around a neighborhood book club. All the women are vastly different in personality and we get glimpses of those outside the main three POVs through the book club scenes. There are even monthly emails from the book club organizer and leader talking about the books they'll be discussing. So, immediately I'm digging this setup. Unfortunately, there were a few things I couldn't look past, thus my rating.

Lena lives in the big house on the hill overlooking Cottonwood. Fifteen years ago a tragedy made her pull away from her friends and community. She has a secret, something she feels she needs to pay penance for. Add to that the strained relationship she has with her daughter and you've got a nice little mystery.

Annie is drawn to Lena's house, but she's never knocked on her neighbor's door until the day she walks by and sees the neighborhood vandal (who is on the peripheral throughout the book) has painted a comical...phallic symbol on Lena's mailbox. She wonders if Lena will remember her. After all, she used to be on the swim team with Lena's only child, and she was at the party thrown by Lena on that fateful night fifteen years before. Though Lena doesn't remember Annie, the two become fast friends despite the secrets lingering between the two of them.

Jen is the mother of Abe, a seventh grader diagnosed with "conduct disorder". Once a career-focused woman, she now dedicates all of her time caring for and observing Abe. She's sure the doctors are wrong about his diagnosis. Abe is just shy and sometimes has outbursts of anger, but he's no sociopath. She begins to question everything her heart tells her, though, when Abe is kicked out of his most recent school for stabbing another student in the hand with an exacto knife. Jen is trying to be a good mother while also trying to reclaim her life as a research scientist, while also trying to appear like a well-rounded person in her neighborhood book club, but something has got to give. When Jen enrolls Abe at the Kingdom School and Abe becomes fast friends with a graduate student teacher, she finally thinks things are going to get better. But when Abe and his new friend (Annie's daughter Laurel) have a falling out, the new lighter life Jen is just getting used to begins to crumble, and she begins to believe the doctors may have been right all along.

Three women with three pretty hefty secrets should've made for a super fast and entertaining read. While I didn't dislike the book, there were a few things that factored into my rating of three stars.

1) It should've been a dual POV. Jen's POV didn't add anything to the narrative, and Lena and Annie's stories were much more interesting than Jen's.

2) There was head hopping. In a limited perspective, I don't expect to jump into anyone else's mind outside of the known POVs. This happened at least twice in this story.

3) There is a minor fourth perspective throughout. Quick little snippets that are usually at the end of the chapter before the book club emails. We don't know the identity of this fourth perspective until the end. I didn't care for it. Those little snippets were more confusing to me than anything.

4) No one really grows as a character. Yes, things happen to them and the events change who they surround themselves with, but they're the same people.

The mystery between Lena and Annie is what kept me reading. It's interesting how everything fits together in the end. I wasn't wholly satisfied, but I don't feel like I wasted my time reading the book.

I would recommend this one to readers who enjoy a lighter, neighborhood-type mystery. There are a lot of personalities in this book and it had me second-guessing myself a few times. The book club format was also a super fun element.

Content warning: Adultery, mental illness, and inappropriate relationships with minors.