This is a very cleverly written, poignant and possibly timely read. As with any novel by Abdullah, it is definitely a finely crafted read, moving along at a swift pace but leaving no detail unwritten.

A very quick read - purely because I couldn’t put it down!

Highly recommended.

Kia Abdullah has become an auto-buy author for me. I've loved every single book by her, and Those People Next Door was no exception!

It follows a woman called Salma who moves into a new neighbourhood with her husband and teenage son. Within a few weeks, Salma begins to suspect their new next door neighbour is racist and posts about it on social media. Things start to escalate from there, and then tragedy strikes...

I'd describe this more as a domestic drama rather than a thriller, however there were some excellent moments of tension and suspense. The narration on the audiobook was also fantastic!

My only complaint was the pacing was a little inconsistent, but otherwise I would highly recommend it

Kia Abdullah has become one of my favourite authors over the last couple of years, and this book is up to her usual high standards. A great read. In some ways this was more a series of unfortunate events than anything else. Shows how one action can spiral out of control. Salma and Bil move into a new neighbourhood with son Zain. When Salma spots Tom next door removing her son's Black Lives Matter banner from the front garden she challenges him and things escalate. Is Tom racist? When Zain posts videos showing Tom behaving badly, this has far reaching consequences. Plenty of action, suspense, and an unexpected final reveal. #netgalley #thosepeoplenextdoor

I haven't had the pleasure of reading a book by Kia Abdullah before and I will absolutely be reading her other work!

Salma, husband Bil and son Zain's move to their new house is a fresh start for them all and they soon get to know their new neighbours, including Tom, Willa and son Jamie. But from very different backgrounds, beliefs and cultures, they find they are unwelcome in their new neighbourhood and tension with their new neighbours quickly escalates into a bitter feud with reckless actions. An impulsive quick decison; a hasty reaction; a desire for revenge, and suddenly the lives of the two families are irreversibly damaged beyond repair. But who is to blame?

This book explores a range of hard-hitting and thought-provoking issues around race and identity, and I found myself uneasy in taking sides in this narrative. The characters are extremely believable and realistic throughout, with no one character being without blame or illiciting sympathy in equal measure at different times in the book. It doesn't allow itself to become a typical 'good vs bad, 'Happy ever after' story and it really does force you as a reader to consider your own perspectives.

The narrative moves between character perspectives, which was so clever and interesting to show the same situation from different viewpoints and reasoning, showing the thoughts and feelings of the characters vividly.

Thank you so much to the author Kia Abdullah, HQ and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book prepublication.

Those People Next Door was a different read that I enjoyed, it’s a thriller slash courtroom drama that got better the more I got into it.
Salma Khatun, her husband and son have moved to be in a better area, they have high hopes for Blenheim, a suburban estate that promises a safe and better life but things don’t always go to plan. When it appears the next door neighbours are trying to hide being fascist things turn for the worst with one bad event leading to another that ends in lies, revenge and maybe the wrong person being blamed.
This was a really decent read, the characters were so well rounded I felt I was there in the middle. The build up robe court case got better and better and I’m not one for reading a court case in a thriller but boy this was written so well even I couldn’t wait to turn the next page. A really enjoyable read and the twists and turns worked well at the times the appeared.
I would like to thank Netgalley and HQ for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

Another amazing book exploring modern Britain and the human element behind them. I love the journey the characters go on and can visualise them! Loved it

Kia Abdullah has written another amazing, thought-provoking psychological thriller and courtroom drama, packed to the rafters with twists, tension and suspense. Her characters are exceptional as is her writing and it was utterly gripping from the start. I highly recommend Those People Next Door.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from HQ via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

It was meant to be a fresh start but it doesn't quite work out that way. Neighbours at war who aren't prepared to back down. Both of them are to blame and things escalate out of control. I managed to support both parties within the story. A heartbreaking ending that can't be reversed. Will definitely look out for this author again.

An ok psychological thriller. The plot is interesting enough but I didn't really warm to any of the characters. At times the adults acted like cartoon characters. A lot of red herrings are thrown in to keep you guessing but the final reveal didnt really surprise me in the way I would have wanted. The main lesson from reading these sorts of books is that the villain is always the least likely on paper.

Absolutely loved this! The relationships between the neighbours unravelled in a completely believable way, and it was morally ambiguous so it was never completely clear who you should side with! Utterly gripping right from the start to the perfect final line.

Absolutely loved this. Maybe a bit slow in the beginning but amazing once it got going. Fabulous character development and well written plot. Highly this book.

This book was compulsive reading. As always, Kia Abdullah delves deep into her characters, deftly exploring the complexities of human nature. The result is a pacy, twisty story that keeps the reader turning the pages. Brilliant.

I've not read Kia Abdullah before so I wasn't sure what to expect though the premise certainly sounded intriguing. However it took me a while to get into the story and connect with the characters, some of whom I found a little irritating.

The story focuses on Salma and Bilal who moved to the more affluent area of Blenheim with their 18 year old son Zain. Upon arrival they receive an RSVP for a May Day BBQ with the neighbours and despite not really feeling ready to be thrust into the limelight of being forced to meet them, they go along anyway sporting a homemade potato salad. The whole "meet and greet" proves to be a bit awkward especially meeting their direct neighbour next door Tom and his irritating and outspoken wife Willa. The night couldn't end soon enough and upon walking in their door, the couple felt they could finally relax.

Zain heads up to his bedroom in the attic space where he spends most of his time coding or having a cheeky cigarette out of his bedroom window. He knows his mum would kill him if she caught him. And then he notices movement outside his window where he meets Jamie, the neighbour's son. The pair get talking and Jamie, who's partially deaf, reveals he has been working on marketing an app for the deaf to communicate with the hearing, but he just had to find someone to build it. That's when Zain reveals he codes and offers to create this new app.

It all seems idyllic, right? Wrong. Things start to unravel somewhat quickly when Salma witnesses her neighbour Tom rip out their "Black Lives Matter" banner. And because they are new to the neighbourhood she doesn't want to create a fuss so she moves the banner to the window. But the next day, she discovers the window has been painted over. The battle lines, it seems, have been drawn. And the nightmare begins...

Racism has been at the forefront of our news in recent times, particularly the whole "black lives matter" movement, which to be honest I had grown a little weary of. I don't like racism or agree with it but at the same time I don't like it shoved in my face either. As with most cases, there are wrongs to both sides and no one is completely innocent, as the courtroom scenes reveal. But I must admit that I'd heard enough about the BLM movement at the time and wasn't entirely enamoured to read about it. However, having said that, Kia Abdullah does approach it and handle it well. It was certainly a different aspect for a thriller that I had not come across.

On the whole, the storyline was intense and you could feel the tension in the courtroom scenes that made for a riveting read. We've all had nightmare neighbours at one time or another but I don't think we have experienced it in quite the same way as Salma and Bilal.

THOSE PEOPLE NEXT DOOR is a gripping read about the neighbours from hell in this toxic tale of bigotry and prejudice of family drama.

I would like to thank #KiaAbdullah, #Netgalley and #HQStories for an ARC of #ThosePeopleNextDoor in exchange for an honest review.

This review appears on my blog at https://stinathebookaholic.blogspot.com/.

Another gripping and fast paced thriller from the pen of Kia Abdullah. Those People Next Door is an interesting and thoughtful book dealing with some contemporary themes (racism, anti-social behaviour, long term injury) but overall it's not as hard-hitting as I thought it might be. Despite the devastating consequences to one family of the feud, it felt a bit subdued. Good but not great.

What a read - nothing was quite what I expected!

Salma Khatun and her family have been desperate to move house; they need a fresh start and want to move their son away from the influences he's grown up with. Blenheim seems to be a lovely, safe neighbourhood and they have high hopes of settling happily.. However, it's not long before Salma spots their neighbour removing a banner her son put in the garden; wanting a quiet life, she moves it from the garden into the window but, to her dismay, finds the window smeared with paint the next morning to cover the banner's message. Deciding enough is enough and trying to nip things in the bud, she does approach the neighbour but from then on things rapidly decline and the battle lines are drawn. Threats are made and it's only a matter of time before violence erupts and someone gets hurt.

Having read Kia Abdullah's previous book Next of Kin - which I loved - I was thrilled to see this one and couldn't wait to read it. This was a novel which really piqued my interest; many years ago we moved house to get away from our paedophile neighbour (we had young children) and our new home was in a 'nice' area - with the neighbours from hell. We lasted a year; fortunately we were able to move again but I'm well aware that not everyone is able to do that. The first thing that struck me was that Salma's family didn't wait to encounter their neighbours before putting out what could be constructed as a provocative banner - but each to their own. The neighbour, Tom, came across as quite obnoxious. It took some time for all the details of the past lives of all involved to come out and I had the feeling it could all have been avoided (I'm all for keeping the peace). However, when things accelerated and injury was caused, my heart went out to Salma and all she was suffering. Did I see what was coming? Not a chance! It's fair to say that the last pages completely shocked me, and put this author firmly on my 'must not miss' list. I will make an effort to read her previous books whilst also making sure I get to any new ones. Thrilling in the extreme and easily, oh so easily, meriting all five glowing stars!

My thanks to the publisher for my copy and my sincere apologies for the delay in posting my review. Due to an eye problem, I have had to stay away from screens for the last 10 days or so to allow my sight to recover.

Kia Abdullah is one of those authors; her books pull you in, throws you up and down, and then spits you right back out again! Make sure you clear space in your diaries as once you start this book, you won’t want to put it down.

This books start nice and quaint, where Salma, Bill and Zain move into their new house in a nice neighbour in Blenheim. During a garden party we meet some of the neighbours and everything seems fine… until it’s not! I love how Kia drip feeds us snippets of information and traits about the characters in the first part of the book, and you soon start build up your own ideas about the characters.

This book is about toxic neighbours and the hate they can spread, but it’s written so well that you just aren’t sure who to believe! I found myself jumping from different perspectives, from being furious to sympathetic and still feeling like I didn’t know who was right.

As with any of Kia Abdullah’s books, the court scenes are fantastic and so well written. Her knowledge shines through and you feel like you are sitting right there with the characters. Not only this, Those People Next Door contains all the twists and turns you usually expect from Kia but some of the twists at the end are just wow!!

This is absolutely the stuff of nightmares and I love it!
Right from the beginning you’re encapsulated, drama, suspense, action, fear, you have it all. Perfect.

I am a huge fan of Kia Abdullah, and have loved all her previous books, so I couldn’t wait to read this one. And yet again she has produced a cracker of a book that I won’t forget in a hurry - one that will not only have you gripped throughout but will also make you think.

Salma and Bilal move to a new neighbourhood, hoping that this “better” area will provide the opportunity for their teenage son Zain to get away from bad influences and provide a fresh start for them all. But very quickly tensions arise between them and their neighbours Tom and Willa, beginning when Tom knocks down a Black Lives Banner put up in the garden by Zain. Things escalate and battle lines are drawn - and it is clear things are unlikely to end well.

What Abdullah does exceptionally well is take difficult subject such as racism and prejudice, presents all sides, and genuinely allow the reader to draw their own conclusions. I guarantee this will have you changing your mind multiple times as to where your sympathies lie as you realise no one is entirely blameless and how easily situations escalate.

In amongst the drama there are some compelling courtroom scenes that Abdullah writes so well - and she is the absolute master of building tension and adding clever twists that lead to what was for me an entirely unexpected conclusion. It all adds up to an unputdownable read and confirmation that Abdullah is now one of my favourite authors.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

READ IF YOU LIKE:
👩🏻‍⚖️ Legal/courtroom thrillers
💭 Thought provoking plots
🔪 Social/crime issue themes
⏰ Multiple POV
👩🏻‍🤝‍👩🏼 Character driven plots
🏠 Domestic thrillers

𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘯𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯.

☁️ THOUGHTS:
Ever since I read Abdullah’s NEXT OF KIN I’ve been desperate to read more by her so I couldn’t request this quick enough when I saw it on Netgalley. This was a twisty, gripping and engaging legal thriller that had a big focus on characters (mostly unlikeable), racism, and the power of social media.

I found the first third slower than I was expecting as the characters and their backgrounds are introduced, but the pace soon increased as the mystery and domestic drama began. The court case was brilliantly written, definitely my favourite section and was fun to listen to on audio (especially at 1.8x speed!)

Despite the pettiness of the characters grating on me at times, this was an interesting and thought provoking thriller, incorporating race, identity and class, with a brilliantly disguised twist and was the definition of what can happen when small actions spiral out of control. I’m excited to read more of Abdullah’s books and I’d recommend this and NEXT OF KIN.

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙧, 𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧 + 𝙉𝙚𝙩𝙜𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙚𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝘼𝙍𝘾, 𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙖𝙣 𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬. 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙥𝙪𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 @𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙜𝙞𝙧𝙡 (𝙄𝙂).

* I switched between the digital copy and the audio copy to read this book.

This was slow to get going. Salma and Bil move in next door to Tom and Willa and low level niggles start which then escalate. It was a bit uncomfortable as I imagined what I would have done. Both sides are as bad as each other.
As the tension ramped up and up I could not put this book down.