Member Reviews
Tony Parsons has done it again! Written a brilliant page turning thriller, that will leave you wanting more.
Lana Wade, a photographer and her husband Roman Wade, a handsome, popular Doctor have left their hectic life in the city behind in exchange for a beautiful house in Oxfordshire.
The Gardens is an elite neighbourhood, their new neighbours charming, but for some reason Lana feels uneasy in their new home.
Perhaps it's because everyone is so welcoming, so familiar ... and Lana isn't ready to share anything about her life with any of them.
There's a reason that Lana and Roman left the City, a tragedy that prompted their move for the good of their marriage. But the Wade's are not the only ones in the Gardens with secrets. The house that they have moved in to, has a few secrets of its own.
When Lana discovers that the family living there before tragically died, she believes that her own life is in danger. She is convinced that her neighbours are keeping secrets from her, and that all isn't as it seems.
She may be right on one of those counts - but just how scared should she be?
The People Next Door are her friends, aren't they?
Lana and Roman move to a new house in a lovely country suburb. Everything here seems perfect and they are leaving behind a traumatic secret. Things soon start to become very sinister as secrets about their home and their neighbours are gradually revealed.
I found the book enjoyable and it did keep me reading and wanting to know what was going to happen. For a while it almost had a 'Rosemarys Baby' vibe about it. The characters were well constructed and I like Tony Parsons style of writing. For me there was something amiss at the end but that is only my opinion and I would certainly recomend this book to others.
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. 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 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.
A very well written slow burn thriller, the characters are well portrayed but some were a bit two dimensional. I loved how the author lulled me into a sense of security then BAM there’s a twist that shocked & surprised me. There are twists, turns & surprises, I loved the first two thirds of the book then it turned a bit far fetched & I found the ending very abrupt. Overall I enjoyed it & would recommend
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read
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.
When Lana and Roman move into an exclusive close, it seems life could be perfect for them. After a traumatic incident at their previous house in the city, the countryside seems just what they need – or at least Roman thinks so, Lana is not so sure, despite making new friends very quickly.
When Lana discovers the previous occupants died horrifically, she wonders why Roman didn’t tell her, and why does he have a signed book by the older gentleman who lives opposite, when he claims never to have met him before. Everyone seems to have secret and the book I about the unravelling of the secrets and Lana.
A good read that makes you wonder how much you really know about your neighbours, friends and spouse.
This is such a clever thriller, I was gripped from the first page to the last! Very interesting concepts and brilliant characters, the twists and turns had me guessing to the end, and what an end!!!!!
Roman and Lana are moving out of London after traumatic events, to a secluded safe estate in a village in Oxfordshire. A beautiful house, garden with a swimming pool, beautiful friendly neighbours, not the kind of people they would usually be friends with, but its a fresh start. Yet Lana is not comfortable,
is she still stressed, or is something else going on? No spoilers!!
Well written, well thought out, the best book yet from Tony Parsons. Fantastic!! This is a complex thriller, a love story, and a great comment on our society today.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read early. Highly recommended!!
I enjoy Tony Parsons as an author, and have read all his books, so I was intrigued by his new departure into psychological thrillers.
Doctor Roman and Lara Wade (a photographer) have escaped from traumatic events in London to an idyllic village, and bought a beautiful house. The house is in a close with friendly neighbours, who all want to make them feel welcome. The close is patrolled by a security man.
However, Lara begins to become uneasy when she discovers that their house was the scene of a murder/suicide of the previous family. As she gets to know the other residents, she realises they all have secrets and there is a Stepford Wives feeling that all is not well.
Things escalate towards an explosive satisfying ( though far-fetched) ending in true Tony Parsons style.
I look forward to his next venture.
(My only complaint is his creation of some names – a young girl called Sailor, a family called Clutter. I found the odd names distracted me from the story)
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK Cornerstone for the opportunity to read this book.
An incident causes Lana and Roman to relocate to a gated community away from London. At first it seems idyllic, then Lana finds out that the previous occupants all died in their house and becomes convinced that there was more to it than a murder suicide. Roman has started his new job as the resident Doctor and when Lana gives him this information it appears that he already new.
Over the course of the next few weeks nothing happens to change her mind and when she finds something in the garden she goes to the Police.
There is more to this community than it first seems and Lana is determined to find out.
This is a bit of a slow burner to start, but snowballs and you have to know what happens.
Laura and Roman Wade move into an exclusive development in an idyllic village in the Cotswolds, they are fleeing an horrific experience that happened in their former life in London.
Cue welcoming but weird neighbours, strange trespassers taking photos in their garden, discovery of the violent death of the former occupants and copious amounts of expensive rose drunk at all times of the day by the increasingly paranoid heroine.
I’m afraid this is a totally ridiculous book; plot holes you could drive a car through, an insane amount of padding and totally unbelievable characters. I nearly threw if across the room on several occasions and was just relieved when the totally farfetched ending hove into view and I could finish it.
It’s a shame, I’m really enjoyed Tony Parsons’ books in the past but this is just silly, badly written tripe.
Thank you to #netgalley and #randomhouse for allowing me to review this ARC
Lana and Roman are a couple who have moved from their London home to live in the countryside. Lana becomes obsessed about learning more about the old house they have moved into and discovers some dark secrets. Although there are twists to the storyline did feel it was too far fetched and struggled to finish it.
Lana and Roman Wade move into the idyllic Oxfordshire countryside, to a residential area called the Gardens. The neighbours provide a warm welcome to the new arrivals. One day Lana finds trespassers in the garden taking photos and turns out the previous owners were brutally killed in a murder/suicide. Lana finds the story difficult to believe and finds some disturbing features in the new house,. When she starts asking questions, the neighbours and Roman start questioning her sanity.
Then events take a nasty turn and Lana can’t even trust Roman and suspects the neighbours would do anything to keep the road so idyllic.
A great psychological thriller but the ending didn’t quite match the first 3/4.
I’m a big fan on Tony Parsons so I was looking forward to this and I wasn’t exactly disappointed but I did find it a little bizarre
The premise of the story was familiar enough, a couple, Lana and Roman have suffered trauma and so decide to move house to start afresh. The new house is in an affluent leafy area and the neighbours seem friendly enough but as they / we get to know them, all is perhaps not what it seems. As Lana starts to have concerns she starts to voice them which leads to ripples in the seemingly quiet pond and questions being asked about her mental health. There is some intrigue and mystery and a good sinister build up to the plot but overall I found it a bit too unbelievable and surreal so it wasn’t really my thing. A good read nonetheless.
Love any book that features new homes and people moving int9 them etc but there has to be some great characters as well for it to work and for me there were none
The most amazing thing about this book is the fact that I finished it! It started off well enough, but by the time I was half way through I was ready to switch off. The events that occur in the second half of this book are as far fetched as sh*t from China. I won't rant on too much for fear of spoilers, but come on, an Oxfordshire village where you can swim in your outdoor pool in October, a never ending supply of Loeube wine for our female protagonist which she spends most of her time guzzling, even at 3am (it's mentioned on virtually every page so I had to google it. £20 a bottle), etc, etc. And then there's the stigma attached to council housing and the people who live on council estates (I was born in a council house, I have family who live in social housing and I work in social housing!) which is certainly alive and well in this author's head. Disgraceful. And the ending? Well, let's just say I'm as clueless now as I was when I started. Oh well, onwards.
Very twisty you are not sure if Lana is a credible narrator, I found her more of a main character even though some of the narration is done by Roman, her husband. Very dark as we discover most of their new neighbours have secrets to hide. She has an old friend Sandy and I liked the way the friendship was used. Their relationship is stretched to the limit by events and the ending packs in a lot.
It’s no secret that I am a massive fan of Tony Parsons, so of course, I had to read this. As a stand-alone psychological thriller it’s another big hit for me. Dark and disturbing at times with a couple of twists I didn’t expect. I am always trying to second guess plots but was way off the mark with this one.
Written in five parts from the point of view of the two main characters in present time.
Lana and Roman move to an idyllic setting called The Gardens in Oxfordshire, escaping from a terrible incident at their previous home. The neighbours seem friendly enough, welcoming Lana and Roman into their local community, but Lana starts to feel uneasy about things when she discovers the house they have just bought was a previous crime scene! As time goes by, Lana questions her neighbours behaviour and insists to Roman that something is not quite right. Is she losing her mind or is something more sinister going on?
I read this in two days as I couldn’t wait to discover if Lana was on the right track, but I didn’t expect that ending. To say I was shocked was an understatement!
📢 Mentions mental health issues and drug use.
Many thanks to netgalley, the publishers and the author for an arc.
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with access to this ARC but I’m sorry to say that I really didn’t enjoy this book. Personally, I found it far-fetched and nonsensical, with two-dimensional characters. But I appreciate having the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.
A really good thriller about a couple moving to a new home with a lot of history Lana and her husband Roman were not aware of past events, but soon be involved with strange goings on! I enjoyed and got caught up in the plot, but felt the ending abrupt with the story unfinished. For this reason I have taken a star off.
I’d like to thank Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The People Next Door’ written by Tony Parsons in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
Lana and Roman Wade are moving from their city flat to a house in ‘The Gardens. It’s Roman’s choice and Lana would have been happy to stay in the flat but immediately she feels uncomfortable in the house due partly to what happened to the previous owners but also that the neighbours make her feel uneasy.
I’ve enjoyed other books by this author but unfortunately I struggled to get into ‘The People Next Door’ which felt flat, dull and uninteresting. The most exciting bit for me was the italicised first part and although the early chapters held my attention I didn’t like the characters and I thought the plot slowed down somewhat. I kept reading hope it would improve but although I jumped a few chapters I didn’t enjoy it and finally limped to the last pages. I’m always disappointed when I don’t enjoy a novel as I appreciate how much work the author puts into it, but this is my own opinion and I’m sure a lot of readers will enjoy it. I’m afraid this was one of those novels that just wasn’t for me.
Sadly I couldn't get on with this book at all, it never seemed particularly original especially with its focus on the idyllic "village" setting for the rich people, all of whom obviously had dark secrets and then of course the local council estate with the less nice people.
It was diificult to feel sympathetic to any of the characters, and was the author paid to constantly product place leoube wine?! then after suspending belief for many chapters the ending was ridiculous, rushed and chaotic.
Thank you to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book