This book started to read like a paranormal story and took a while for it to actually catch my attention. I expected a suspenseful and gripping book and was a bit disappointed.

I love Shalini Boland's writing and she again nailed it with a psychological thriller that is easily read and loved. She, as always, is so good about developing the characters and story in a way that you get so entwined you cannot let up. Waiting for her to hit a best seller list, because every single book, especially this one delivers to us thriller lovers in unexpected, but completely engrossing ways. One of her best yet, very chilling and completely surprising!

Oh my. A captivating unputdownable evocative emotional twisted thriller.

Here is Kirstie a new mom on maternity leave from a school she works at.

One day she is in the lounge with baby Daisy asleep upstairs when she hears on the baby monitor "lets get the baby and go"
She runs upstairs in a totally hyperventingly state of panic, only to find that Daisy is asleep in her cot.

What would you think?
Would you check to bedroom window to see if you can see anyone out there? Make sure the window is shut?
Would you look upstairs and downstairs to see if there are any intruders are in your home?

She calls the Police, she calls her husband.
She needs to tell the neighbours right? Just in case someone in the road has a baby.
What's happening?

She doesn't think anyone does have a baby but she wants the neighbours to be aware, its not safe.

Her BBF lives across the road, named Mel, she has children but not a babe in arms.

The Police find it hard to be convinced of her story.
They said for her to get back to them if there is anything else.

Other things start to happen, her husband knows she is overtired and needs rest, he encourages her to see the doctor.

Her relationship with Mel is suffering and we find that Kirstie is harbouring all kinds of suspicions.

Shes suspicious about one of her neighbours, her husband, her friend.

The view the neighbours have of her is shes some paranoid woman.

Shes a new mom, could it be post natal depression.

Shes stuck in the home a lot, shes used to working. Like a lot of new moms she may feel isolated and stuck in a rut at home.

Her husband worries about her. He is training for a triathlon and he works, so he can't stay with her all the time.

Kirstie preforms little rituals, maybe OCD is creeping in.

Oh that ending.
Oh my that ending,
OMG that ending did NOT expect that. It blew me away.

I had been tossed all over the place trying to figure out what was going on inside Kirstie's head, but that ending had me gasping loudly. I was still thinking of it when I awoke this morning.

Many thanks to Bookouture via Net Galley for my copy

Kirstie is woken up by a baby crying so she races upstairs to check that her daughter Daisy is ok. While she is there she hears voices in her baby monitor saying “let’s just take the child and go”. Kirstie reports this to the police but they don’t believe her and neither does her husband Don. Kirstie knows something isn’t right and starts to doubt her neighbours but as she begins to unravel things her life begins to go wrong. Someone is hiding a secret and they want to stop Kirstie from finding out about it. Will she ever get to the truth?

I thought this was a slow burner and then fast paced towards the end. I really enjoyed the suspense of the story and I didn’t see the secret coming at all.
A very well written book with believable characters that could all be living next door to us.

I would like to thank Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is a fantastic read! Kept me guessing until the end a real page turner. I will be interested in more from this author.

The story starts when a mother hears over her baby monitor a voice saying "take the baby" this sends her into extreme panic as she is the only mother of a small child in the close that she lives in.

4.5/5 stars! I am fast becoming a big fan of this author and thoroughly enjoying all of her books.

This was a great psychological thriller that pulled me in from the very beginning! It starts with a bang the very first chapter. Kirstie hears her baby crying on the monitor and just while she is about to go to her baby girl, she hears voices on the monitor saying to take the baby and go. I felt her fear when she ran to the baby's bedroom to save her baby. The story takes off from there. Is Kirstie an unreliable narrator or is something else going on? I felt her anxiety as a new mom! The neighbors and the cul-de-sac which they lived added to the intrigue of this story. Every one seems to have their own secrets.

The ending was great AND believable!!! May I stress how happy I was that it wasn't completely over the top and unbelievable!? It was a good ending that made sense! Thank you Shalini Boland! I recommend to anyone that likes a good psychological thriller and those that love the unreliable/reliable narrator type of books as well. I will be eagerly waiting for her next book!

A huge thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for allowing me an advanced copy of this book.

The Child Next Door by Shalini Boland is a psychological thriller that keeps you guessing. Kirsty has put her baby down for a sleep in the nursery. Later she hears voices from the baby monitor talking about taking the baby. Kirsty runs upstairs to confront them to find that the baby is safe and sound. She phones the police to report that a baby is being taken but nobody believes her. This incident leaves Kirsty shaken and she does not want to let her baby out of her sight. Who can she trust when even her husband does not believe her. This story has twists and turns that keeps you reading. I would like to thank Bookouture and NetGalley for my e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

Omg This book was so good I cannot say anything about it . Kirstie and Dom are the couple that all happens to them .
I loved the book . Thank you for Netgallery

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

The missing baby trope seems to be the new “gone girl” for these e-book thrillers. This is not one of the best. I will often read these books as “adequate” or “passes the time“ – I get them free, and Amazon sells them for a buck or two. Pure escape. But this one makes no sense at any point, the characters, the twists, the ending, and the shear badness is too distracting to allow for any pure escapism. Not worth the two bucks-it was tedious to read for free.

Also, this is another book with a female protagonist who gets crapped on by everybody and never learns to stand up for herself and just forgives because it’s convenient to the ending. Hard pass.

Excellent book, I loved it! Schoolteacher Kirstie is living the perfect life, she is married to a wonderful husband, living in her dream home, and has recently given birth to daughter Daisy. However, Kirstie knows things aren't quite right; a series of events lead her to believe her family is under threat.
The author perfectly captures the early days of motherhood, I could really identify with how in awe Kirstie was of her perfect newborn daughter, and the way she becomes the centre of her world. However, Kirstie becomes fixated with the safety of Daisy to the point that I was getting fed up with her! She constantly checks locks, closes windows and hides at home. Then we find out about her strange neighbours and understand what has led to her paranoia! Her useless husband doesn't help either, he is either training for a triathlon or popping into the neighbours houses for unknown reasons!
A motley crew of people live in Kirstie's street, I really disliked her supposed best friend who constantly wanted to borrow money with no intention of paying it back. Kirstie grow a back bone and tell her no I was shouting! The barbecue from hell is the turning point and we start to find out what is actually going on in this suburban nightmare.
Just brilliant, I love a this kind of domestic noir where the seemingly perfect suburban setting is actually a breeding ground for weirdos. And that ending - yes I was pleased and had hoped that was the way it was going! Fantastic!

To begin with I thought that a was a standard post natal psychotic story which I was enjoying but of course once the story changed it was so much better. Really enjoyed it

A gripping psychological thriller that will hook you in from chapter one. That's one scary cul-de-sac to live. The twists keep coming and I have to confess they had me questioning Kirstie's sanity at times. And the epilogue....brilliant!
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC.

New mom Kirstie is finally living her happily ever after with her new baby daughter and husband Dom after years of struggling to carry a child to term. This should be the most wonderful time of her life.. but something isn't right in her ideal little neighborhood and nobody seems to believe her. This was a gripping psychological thriller that leaves you never knowing who to trust from one minute to the next. Could Kirstie's husband be gas-lighting her? Or is Kirstie suffering post partum depression and a wild imagination? Maybe it's that oddball neighbor or even her best friend who can't be trusted. You won't rest until you get to the end!

What a spellbinding twist filled thriller! This book had me wondering if I was crazy at times! Lol Kristie is a first time mom who shockingly hears a sinister voice through the baby monitor one night while she’s alone that throws her into a terror filled, mind boggling spiral! At times, even she isn’t sure she’s not losing her mind while everyone else around thinks her grasp on reality is slipping! The author weaves an intricate tale of suspense, so filled with twists, your mind doesn’t know what to think! Awesome book!
* I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review *

I've been a big fan of Shalini Boland's psychological thrillers ever since she first reached out to me with the question if I wanted to read The Girl From The Sea back in 2016, and these feelings haven't changed after reading her next three psychological thrillers. The Child Next Door is already book number five and was yet again very much another winner. There is just something about the writing style that has you hooked from the very first page and literally doesn't let you go... I finished The Child Next Door in less than a day! This psychological thriller starts with a bang and every mother's worst nightmare, setting the tone for the rest of the story. Who were those voices Kirstie heard? Are they after her little girl? Oh yes, you are starting to feel paranoid yourself as well as you keep reading and things start to happen to Kirstie. The characters are well developed and feel realistic in general and it was interesting to see them react to the different situations, although I'm not sure they are completely likeable. The pace is perfect for a good psychological thriller and the amount of plot twists and false leads is just right as well. There are a lot of different angles included in this story, making for a rich plot and a wide pool of suspects and possibilities. I did feel the general ending came a bit as an anticlimax after all that was being build up, but it was definitely not something that I saw coming and shocking as well. And that final statement!!! I SO need a sequel or something to know more... I was left staring open-mouthed at the last page because I just couldn't believe what I just read. If you enjoy reading psychological thrillers, I can highly recommend both The Child Next Door and any of her other books. They are excellent!

The Child Next Door is psychological thriller at its best. Just the right amount of tension, a rich plot and a healthy dose of twists and false leads, but also well rounded characters and a pace that is just right. To top things off, the writing style will make you want to keep on reading and you will have a hard time letting go. I didn't see the ending coming at all, as it kind of came out of nowhere, but it was shocking as well. And like I said before, that final reveal left me both speechless and wanting for more. Recommended!

Having read other books by this author, this book falls short of my expectations. The story goes thus, Kirstie, a new mother with a 6 month old daughter, hears voices on the baby monitor — Let’s take the child and go.

Thinking it to be someone kidnapping her child, she rushes in and finds her daughter safe. But she is unable to let go of this matter. Cops are called, neighbors are suspected, husband thinks wife has gone mad, Kirstie becomes paranoid, develops OCD, locking the doors and windows all through the book, there is doubt cast on everyone. This happens for nearly 3/4th of the book.

The story picks its pace in the last 1/3rd. There are twists and explanations. Secrets are revealed and the story ends. And then there is the epilogue, which is both too much and too less, and I found it incongruous. It just added to the shock factor without adding anything to the story.

I read the book in a few hours, but was way disappointed. The story lacked pizzazz, all I read was Kirstie feeling scared, anxious, paranoid, sure that her daughter was going to be kidnapped. That went on for quite some chapters. I kept on waiting for things to happen in this book, but nothing really did. I didn’t like any of the characters in the book, and I was shocked that I couldn’t connect with the main character Kirstie.

The author Shalini Boland does have the talent to make us readers feel the emotions. I did feel all what the main character felt, the anxiety, the helplessness, and the paranoia. The haunting and the suspicious aura of the neighbours and the cul-de-sac added to the plot and Kirstie’s doubts. So the settings add flavor to the story.

This is an easy and fast read, the story starts well, falls short in the middle, and the ending is okay. The story is entertaining but definitely not a psychological thriller.
3.5 stars rounded to 4.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me a sneak peek into The Child Next Door. Normally I try to take some notes on a book I know I’ll be reviewing so I can write an accurate review. But for this domestic thriller, I couldn’t stop scrolling through my Kindle long enough to bother with any notes. It was that good.

This is the first book I’ve read by Boland and I’m now a fan. From the very beginning, she managed to make me hold my breath waiting to see what trouble was on the horizon.

In the first chapter, Kirstie Rawlings here her infant daughter crying. She races up to Daisy’s room and overhears someone threatening to take a baby through her baby monitor. If that didn’t wet mom on edge, which it did, what happens next surely will. Kirstie is so terrified, she becomes obsessive- compulsive about locking doors and windows even though the heat is stifling. Her husband is rarely home; he’s either on a work trip or training for a triathlon. So he’s no buffer for her terror.

Then someone keys his car, dumps paint on the porch and tramples the flowerbeds. All the neighbors in this close knit community including Kirstie’s husband are suspect.

For an ending you’ll never see coming, preorder The Child Next Door. You’ll be glad you did. Every page brings more and more suspicion and fear. Can Kirstie keep Daisy safe?

I’m so glad I found this author. She’s zoomed to the top of my must-read list.

This is a very good Suspense novel by author Shalini Boland, the first book I have read by her but now someone that I will read more of.
A new mother named Kirstie is awaken when she hears a man on her baby monitor saying "let's take the baby and go". Kirstie quickly goes to her baby Daisy relieved to find her safely asleep. She calls the Police and checks are made but Daisy is the only baby in the street. Kirstie is still not happy and this begins weeks of anxiety, nobody believes her and even her husband thinks she needs medical help.
This is fast paced making it so difficult to put down.
I would like to thank both Net Galley and Bookouture for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

What a book! I predict this book will be one of the top reads for 2018. Kirsten is married to Dominic and they have baby Daisy. She hears voices a male voice coming from the baby monitor suggesting that her baby is going to be kidnapped. Baby Daisy is found safe, so who was the voice and where did it come from??? Kirsten is fearful for her baby's safety and she slowly begins to unwind trying to protect her. All of the residents of their peaceful cul-de-sac seem to have secrets. This is definitely a page-turner with a surprise ending I did not see coming. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good thriller.

Wow! This book was intense from the start right through to the end. Very cleverly written the ending blew me away, I had no idea. All through the book I had an idea in my head but I was so wrong!

A few words that spring to mind when I think about this book are shocking, mind blowing, creepy and intense.

The Child Next Door is the sort of book that you can't put down, you get sucked into the characters lives and you just have to keep reading to discover what is going to happen next. It really is unputdownable!

Reading a book like this really makes you wonder what's going on in your own street, will I be eyeing up my neighbours with suspicion in the future. You never know what is going on behind closed doors.

I loved this book, I lapped up every page, it definitely deserves 5 stars. It's a cracking read that I highly recommend.