Good Neighbours by Sarah Langan

I would like to thank Sarah from Titan for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan

Published – Out Now

Price - £8.99 paperback £4.68 Kindle eBook

A sudden tragedy pits neighbour against neighbour and puts one family in terrible danger.

Welcome to Maple Street, a picture-perfect slice of suburban Long Island, its residents bound by their children, their work, and their illusion of safety in a rapidly changing world. But when the Wilde family moves in, they trigger their neighbours' worst fears. Arlo and Gertie and their weird kids don't fit with the way Maple Street sees itself. As tensions mount, a sinkhole opens in a nearby park, and neighbourhood Queen Bee Rhea's daughter Shelly falls inside. The search for Shelly brings a shocking accusation against the Wildes. Suddenly, it is one mother's word against the other's in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood.

A riveting and ruthless portrayal of suburbia, Good Neighbours excavates the perils and betrayals of motherhood and friendships and the dangerous clash between social hierarchy, childhood trauma, and fear.

I suspect I like many of your have been paying more attention to the street we live this past year (there wasn’t much else to do). Every street has its own unique character and also these days a sense of mystery – we don’t know our neighbours that well in many cases. We have impressions that can be surprised and prejudices that can be awakened. In Sarah Langan’s stunning thriller Good Neighbours we find a tale of one street haunted by disaster, dark secrets, revenge, and human cruelty but blended in with some hope for humanity.

By 2043 the Maple Street murders are infamous for showing humanity at it’s worst and is still a debate for various historians on what happened – panic or hidden truths. Books and even plays are made to explore all the facets of the main players. To find out what happened we then move back to 2027 and a perfect suburban street in Long Island which is about to have the strangest month ever. Maple Street   is traditionally a place where parents stay up late to help kid’s homework, couples still have date nights, and the kids have a gang known as the Rat Pack having fun and adventures. Into this entered the Wilde family Arlo a rebellious rocker turned salesman, his loud pregnant wife named Gertie, Julia a 12-year-old already teaching the kids how to smoke and Gerry a child with Asperger’s who gains attention whenever he is very stressed.

This rogue element had appeared to be accepted but then Gertie fell out with the Queen Bee of the street Rhea Schroeder former academic now perfectionist housewife. This led to divide between Julia and Rhea’s daughter Shelly who starts to make accusations about the Wildes to her friends. A standard tale of neighbours falling out though hides other secrets and motivations and all would have been ignored if it had not been for a massive sinkhole suddenly appearing in the gorgeous park opposite – further disaster strikes as Shelly falls in and the Wildes find themselves receiving unwelcome attention and with Rhea’s pressure violence and death will soon follow.

This was an absolutely stunning read. Langan takes a standard thriller idea of people being untrusting of neighbours and creates an epic near future parable for our own times of constant division. By setting in the near future and also regularly mixing the story with various historian’s own thoughts on the events to happen we are made aware that the street’s inhabitants are about to be put through the wringer and are regularly teased that further disaster will follow. It is a unique but very effective way to draw us into the story.

The story focused very much on the Wildes and the Schroeders who appear at different ends of the spectrum in terms of american culture. The Wildes are seen as lower-class trouble while the Schroeders are your top-flight successful american family. Shelly’s disappearance and her accusations primarily towards Arlo had moved to an accusation of sexual abuse. We see the way neighbours decide who to believe based purely on suspicions, eyewitness testimony gets exaggerated and, in some cases, made up and the Wildes soon find themselves out of the street’ favour. It is startlingly quick and yet Langan makes it very believable – we know rash judgements based on how people see others behave are made all the time. We feel the hostility of the police station interrogation and the aftermath where neighbours decide to strike back for the good of the community or even walking into a coffee shop and being seen feels dangerous. Rhea who knows the truth though wants revenge and to cause pain so happily starts to egg her neighbours and authorities on piling more pressure on the Wildes. Rhea soon becomes a fascinating and often frightening main character as we see under her mask of civility is rage, pain and a need to constantly control everything – Langan slowly teases out Rhea’s own backstory and we see a woman who cannot back down and doesn’t want her own secrets to be finally revealed to the street. This becomes a tale of how easily poison in the form of gossip and lies can completely turn neighbours against one another.

The tale is dark and bleak but what really impressed me is it doesn’t fall too easily in everyone against one family. Langan adds notes of warmth and hope that avoid all characters falling into stereotype. The Wildes frozen out after Shelly’s death still honour her memory with a private intimate act of grief and respect; Julia and Gerry are shown to be siblings that deep down love and want to protect each other and we see there are some neighbours who are prepared to say the truth even if that attracts unwelcome attention. The most interesting dimension is the book is often focused on the children of the street and this Rat Pack are shown to partly carry their family’s prejudices inside them but also keen to do the right thing. The hope the children all carry for things to sort themselves out and ultimately, they all have to decide that it is time to act themselves to bring about resolution. Langan’s grasp of characters and their motivation is rather brilliantly handled so by the end we feel we have been living here ourselves for many weeks.

Despite a growing tension that hits us with a devastating finale the book ends on a much-needed ray of hope for the future. This made it one of the most intelligent examinations of society and it’s biases I’ve read all wrapped into a very well plotted thriller that doesn’t go for the obvious hooks. From the moment the sinkhole magically appears we appear to go through the looking glass and see the dark reflections of the street that were hiding in plain sight. It shows humanity as ugly, petty, suspicious but also loyal, loving, and brave. One of the best reads of the year already for me and strongly recommended