Beth wants to love her new home on a quiet suburban street. She wishes she could make friends with her beautiful neighbour Oksana. She longs for a new group of friends. Welcoming neighbours to visit. Coffee dates and dinner parties. But life here feels so closed. Then Beth runs into Oksana's garden one day to fetch her runaway dog, she sees something shocking that makes her wonder who are neighbours really are.

No one knows what really goes on in her neighbours houses. The story starts off quite strong, then it dragged out for a bit in the middle, and the ending kind of let the book down. The story is told from Beth and Sophia's perspectives. Beth just wants to male friends with her new neighbours, but they're not all she thought they were. This is a story of trafficking and modern day slavery. It's heart-breaking to learn what happens to the girls. This is quite a good read.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #JoffeBooks and the author #SusannaBeard for my ARC of #ThePerfectNeighbour in exchange for an honest review.

Beth and her family have just moved to a new neighborhood and she feels so lonely without her friends nearby to visit with. Most people in her new town seem to want to keep to themselves and that makes it hard to befriend people. Her son talks her into getting a new dog and she hopes not only will the dog be good company for her while her family is away at work and school, but that it will also help her to meet some new people while out on walks. When the dog runs off one day, Beth is horrified to to see a young girl in the neighbor's window. She can tell that girl doesn't want to be there and needs help. The police won't help her without solid proof.

The book is told from both Beth and the young girl's POV. It was heartbreaking to hear Sofia's story and realize that trafficking is not that uncommon. Sofia is being held against her will and made to work for no money and very little food while her family has no idea what has become of her.

I really enjoyed this book! It was hard and sad to read at times, but definitely made you think and root for Beth to be able to help Sofia escape her situation. Thanks to #netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book with my honest thoughts and opinions.

The Perfect Neighbour is a compulsive and deeply insidious psychological thriller with a domestic edge that gets into your psyche, refuses to come out and illustrates that no matter how pristine the facade, behind the mask truly horrific events can be taking place. Beth and Adam are a married couple with two young children, Tom and Abigail, and have recently moved to the town of Kingston near Reading for a fresh start away from gossipers, busybodies and altogether annoying members of their old community; the family are soon joined by their recently acquired pet pooch Ruff. They move into an affluent, prim and proper area of the suburbs, but while trying to settle in, Beth realises she misses her friends, family and the familiarity of their old home and neighbourhood and decides to make an effort to make friends with some of the neighbours to lighten the load, so at least she has some female company to vent to about life. She starts by introducing herself to those who live right next door, but they come off as immediately guarded and very much as though they have secrets they wish to keep hidden because they strangely maintain a religiously controlled level of privacy at all times, something that makes Beth suspicious of them. This in turn drives her to want to snoop around for any clues as to why they are behaving this way, but she is aware that if she's caught it could damage their friendship before it's even gotten off the ground and cause a lack of trust between themselves and those they live in closest proximity to.

But one day, thanks to Ruff’s daring escape escapades she ventures onto the neighbours land and is startled to find a sinister and unsettling secret. Meanwhile, we are also introduced to Bulgarian immigrant Sofia who had been trafficked across Europe by a gang of human traffickers until she reached her destination here in the upmarket part of town. It is here she was put to work, treated like a slave and indoctrinated into years of domestic servitude for a family that doesn't even appreciate her help. It's coming up to 2 years in that dire situation, and she has come to the conclusion that she must get out now no matter what it takes because time is running out. Will she manage to free herself from confines no one should be in or is she destined to fulfil the role of a slave forever? This is a compelling, engrossing and compulsively readable thriller that may sound like every other domestic drama on the market, but I was surprised that it brought up heavy real-world issues that you could say have been ripped from the headlines, however, despite the prevalence of human trafficking for both sexual or work-related purposes it is never an issue that really gets a lot of attention, or at least as much as it should in the media. Beard has certainly done her research, and the despair and emotional wreck Sofia has become since being trafficked from a less developed Balkan country feels authentic and moves you. It's fast-paced, full of twists, turns, toxicity and dark secrets, and it is a lot more gritty than Beard’s previous crime fiction. Highly recommended.

The Perfect Neighbour is definitely not your typical thriller and wasn't what I was expecting when I requested it. With that said, it is a very well written book focusing on the difficult and relevant topic of human trafficking. While The Perfect Neighbour is fiction, the author does a great job of making the story feel like it could be something that the reader hears on the nightly news. The plot twists aren't overly exaggerated or unbelievable, allowing for the story and characters to be relatable to the reader. Overall, I'd recommend The Perfect Neighbour.

This is my first novel by Susan Beard. I really enjoyed it.

I found that the story was well written and had an interesting plot.

Despite being a bit a of slow burn, I felt that the story held my attention from start to finish – I was actually sad that I finished the story so quickly!

Beth’s suspicions are heightened when she spots a young girl holding a ‘help me’ sign outside the window of her outrageously wealth neighbours house. Classed as a psychological thriller, Beard’s novel - standing at 207 pages - made for a quick, if not somewhat spooky, read.

Though the plot was certainly intriguing, I did find ‘The Perfect Neighbour’ somewhat lacking in its delivery. Everything was solved straightforwardly - there were no real mystery elements to the novel, no grand reveals; you knew who was good and who was bad from the beginning, and I wished there had been a little more of the surprise element to it for that is what I enjoy most with novels of this genre. I felt as though the book was very tell not show, there was almost a lack of subtlety to the writing which prevented me being able to give it the higher rating.

I would like to have seen more fleshing out of the characters for each seemed very one dimensional, only created to aid in the central plot.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review <3

The Perfect Neighbor by Susanna Beard held my interest from beginning to end. Good writing. Pretty good character development. A story with teeth. There were a few weak parts but all in all, I would recommend this as a beach thriller.

Part of me wanted to give this higher than a 4 and another part of me wanted to give it lower than a 4. This was a very enjoyable read and the book was very hard to put down (thus 4+), but how much of a thriller was this? I could feel the angst throughout the book and I kept waiting for something to happen - I truly thought that we would learn that Beth's husband was part of the ring - we didn't know what he did for a living, and the fact that the family had to move due to his work added some more mystery - but this didn't happen and the ending sort of fell flat.

Good read - I just expected more bumps in the ride to the end.

Thanks to netgalley for the advanced ebook to review.
An enjoyable enough read with an interesting story, but I wouldn't describe it as a psychological thriller, as we pretty much know what the book is about from the get go! I felt more could have been given to us in the ending too.

Interesting plot with likeable characters and unlikable villains. A slow burn, which was well written, with a novel storyline regarding domestic slavery and human trafficking, providing an insight into this murky world and all the misery, suffering and hopelessness inflicted on young innocent victims. I kept waiting for a twist towards the end of the book, which never came, but I suppose that could also be considered a twist in a way? Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This was a great read. It had me hooked from start to finish. It was a quick read, it did not take me very long at all but I enjoyed every page. I loved the flicking between perspectives, and how quickly the story unfolded. Both the main characters were very likeable and I found myself rooting for them . I absolutely hated Oksana, and she deserved everything she got. A terrifying glimpse into human trafficking and the secrets that family's have behind closed doors. There was enough of a twist to keep me interested without being unbelievable and some smaller side stories to add depth to the book.

I am looking forward to reading more from this author.

What can I say? This book was amazing!
It just goes to show that nowadays, we have no idea what goes on behind our neighbours walls.
This book gives an insight to domestic slavery, and the terrors that they suffer. From isolation & beatings to the fear of being replaced and taken to someone new.
I stayed up until 3am reading this, so that I could finish it! I just couldn't put it down because it was playing on my mind.
An excellent read, that I highly recommend.

Interesting and thought provoking.
How well do you know your neighbours? Do you really know what goes on behind closed doors?
In this book Beth is about to find out exactly what is happening next door and it is not good.
I thought the two person point of view worked very well here, filling in the details of the story and contrasting the two lifestyles.

This book was good but I felt it dragged in the middle. It did pick up at the end but I found myself confused at the way it ended. Overall it was a quick read.

The Perfect Neighbour.
A brilliant thriller/mystery set in a secluded street lined with big, closed-off, houses which hold even bigger secrets. We follow two main characters, the first of which is Beth, a mother of two who, with her husband Adam (and later their dog Ruff), move to a small town just outside of Reading, England to get away from past drama. The other perspective comes from Sofia, a young girl from next door who is being held against her will. The story starts with Beth moving in, oblivious to what is going on next door. The story then goes on to show how these two lives collide and the action-packed events that lead from the encounter.

The split perspectives was an interesting touch and allowed the readers to really connect with Sofia by seeing her thoughts, feelings and actions first hand. I felt dreadfully sorry for Sofia and really routed for her to succeed with her plans, devastated when she didn't. Beth's character, and her surrounding family (and Karen to some extent) was a completely contrasting atmosphere to that of Sofia's situation and emphasised just how badly the girl was being treated. I found the way that the two women found one another and all the events that came from it to be a gripping, suspenseful plot. The element of the police investigation, their lack of action, Beth's own investigation and later the second mystery (which I definitely did not see coming!) were also things I noted as being a good addition to the plot/book as a whole. Also, when we later learn of Beth's own past/why she left her old town, it heled emphasise how every family has their secrets and that you never know what may be going on behind closed door; which was a huge theme in this book and one I really enjoyed.

Overall, I loved this book. As a huge fan of crime/thriller/mystery books I sometimes find that they all seem to fit into the same patterns. This, however, was a nice, quick-paced read with an intense plot that stood out from other books in it's genre. I rated this book a 4 out of 5 stars and would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a smaller but incredibly impactful thriller/mystery to read.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read this!

I really prefer books with an omniscient narrator rather than personal views, but for this book the personal views are a must. What each of the protagonists doesn't know is as important as what they do know. It's a good story - very pertinent in this day and age - and very well told. High fences and gates not only allow privacy but can hide a multitude of sins.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher I read a free advance review copy of the book. This review is voluntary, honest and my own opinion.

An intense ride, you won't put this down! Intimate portrayal of domestic slavery, gripping and tense, and in the real world. A woman once-burned by jumping to the wrong conclusion is faced with acting or ignoring what could be a serious situation - what would you do? Characters are strong, story intense, and resolution highly satisfying. Definitely recommended.

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

It was ok. It wasn’t great. It wasn’t atrocious. It was just meh. Found myself more interested in getting to the end than the characters or the narrative

It was ok. Not great. It was a fun read to say the least with twists and turns. I like stories about creepy neighbours and small towns

I will look forward to reading more of the authors work

I would like to know other people’s thoughts on this

This was billed as a psychological thriller, but it really didn't feel like that at all. Right from the start, the reader knows most of what's happening. Rather than being a mystery, this was more of a story of two really determined women. Additionally, it was a lot darker than I'd imagined based upon other books with similar descriptions.

All of that said, I think it was an interesting and thought-provoking read, just not at all what I expected. Emotional? Definitely. Suspenseful? Not really.