Thank you for my copy of this book to read and review.

This was an easy book to get into from the start and it did keep my interest.

I can’t put my finger on why, but I probably didn’t enjoy it as much as some of the authors other books…but still an enjoyable, twisty thriller though.

The new neighbours was a tense thriller type read that I did enjoy particularly the twists and turns that kept you guessing right up until the final chapters.
Lena is intrigued when new neighbours move in next door, they appear to be a respectful middle aged couple, however appearances can be deceptive!
Lena hears the new neighbours talking one evening and the content of the conversation becomes an all engrossing obsession for her, one in which she puts herself at great risk to find out the truth!
A complex interrelationship between several of the characters that took me a while to understand and the tenuous link they all had but a good past paced read
Thank you NetGalley for this early read

The new neighbours was an easy read and I liked the characters from the start. I felt invested in their story. There were some twists but unfortunately I figured them out before the author revealed them. I would read more books by this author.

I have just read 2 Claire Douglas books back to back and this one was fantastic!! The suspense throughout does not waiver and how it all tied up at the end was brilliant.

Lena has new neighbours and one night she hears a conversation which she can’t leave alone, what do her new neighbours The Morgans mean when they say “it’s too risky, we could get caught”

What comes next is a mix of different timelines which work so well, The Morgans when they first met and married, Lena when she was a midwife, a woman who is being stalked…. It’s full on and an absolute page turner.

Go and get your hands on a copy on publication day!

This is a twisty and suspenseful mystery of who Lena’s new neighbors, Henry and Marielle, are and what they are hiding. Lena can’t help herself and becomes obsessed with them until it’s too late and she’s in danger. Thank you to the publisher for a copy.

4.5 stars! It would have been 5 stars but I never fully warmed to Lena, she annoyed me although I suppose by the end of it I understood her reasoning. Super twisty and kept me guessing until the very last minute, the ultimate page turner.

Thanks to netgalley for allowing me to review this book.
I always love a Claire Douglas book and this did not disappoint!!!
I really enjoyed this book and found it very gripping.
The book has lovely short chapters with lots of twists and turns throughout....even till the very end!!!
Would highly recommend this read and looking forward to her next book already.

*Book Review *

This was a bit of a frustrating read for me. I did enjoy it there was just parts that just grated on me. At times I think it was just a bit over written, I get that Douglas was just trying to transmit Lena’s thoughts but I feel as a reader you can understand these feelings anyway and they don’t need explaining with rhetorical questions. I just think it didn’t need it and could have just carried on with the story and we would have got to that conclusion by ourselves anyways. Also the way that Lena goes on and on about her son going to uni throughout the book just annoyed me slightly as well.

There were sections which had great suspense and kept me wanting to read on. There was a little bit in the middle where I felt the pace slowed down but it picked back up towards the end thankfully.

Overall I think it was just a bit far fetched and a stretch of reality. I didn’t deliver the twist and turns I was expecting it to, and the final twist at the end I had figured out way before it was unraveled. It isn’t a bad story but it didn’t blow me away which is what I look for in a book.

Thankyou to @netgalley @penguinrandomhouse @michaeljbooks and the author for sending me the arc in return for my honest review..

A really gripping read that I read from cover to cover. Three stories run parallely in this well constructed novel. Lena’s memories of her midwife training are painful ones, as the events of that time caused her to abandon her ambitions and planned career. Then there are Henry’ recollections of his relationship with his wife and how their happiness was threatened by their conflicting wishes. Finally, there is the present day, and the growing sense of danger that Lena senses as she tries to discover more about her new neighbours. Gradually, the stories unfold and begin to blend, as carefully dropped clues allow the reader to piece together the different parts of the mystery. The character are well drawn and convincing and the author draws us in as the plot unwinds, inevitably and chillingly. I have read other books by Claire Douglas and she never fails to impress. A highly recommended psychological thriller.

As always for Claire Douglas a plot with many a twist and a turn throughout. The characters were relatable and it just kept the pages turning. A great read, thank you for letting me read ahead of release.

As usual, a Claire Douglas thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat and makes you question everyone and everything thing! Please don't trust the new neighbours......

📚 Book Review 📚

I love Claire Douglas and her books so I was so looking forward to reading this one.

The story centres around Lena, a recently separated Mum of a teenage lad and a counsellor for the Citizens Advice Bureau. Lena lives in a lovely part of town and is excited when an older couples moves into the house next door. By chance, she overhears a chilling conversation which sets off a chain of events that results from her own obsessive behaviour.

The story kept me on my toes and there were sections which were brilliant and I just couldn’t stop reading. There was great suspense in some places but for me, the overall story was far fetched and did stretch reality. The pacing slowed down in the middle then picked up towards the end when I couldn’t put it down. I wasn’t as swept up in the characters as I usually am in Claire’s books, Lena explains and repeats herself over and over again and is constantly discussing the fact that her son is going to university. In a year’s time.

The retired couple next door are intriguing but I just don’t think that anyone would break into their neighbours home after hearing a snippet of their conversation, soon after they have moved in. It was however, tense in places and the writing is solid.

I think for me, it didn’t deliver the twists and tension that I was expecting because I love Claire’s previous books. It left me a little underwhelmed if I’m honest. The twist at the end wasn’t really a twist because I knew who would be who. Ultimately though, this is a good story and an enjoyable read if you like mysteries so well worth reading but it didn’t blow me away.

I’d like to thank Penguin Publishing, NetGalley and the author for the arc and the fantastic opportunity, in exchange for my honest feedback 😊

Book released on 13th March 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Don't trust what everyone says in this book, lots of lies and secrets unravel throughout 👀

The short chapters make this book very gripping and make me want to keep reading!! Multiple stories weaved through the book, very suspenseful and I couldn't predict what was going to happen next!!

Lena's moved house and her new neighbours, Marielle and Henry are a bit suspicious. Lena overhears strange late night conversations from them, and discovers some concerning things in their house. Turns out, their secrets are wayyy worse than Lena could have imagined.

There are multiple POVs to follow here, and 8 characters:
Lena - the main character
Rufus - Lena's teenage son
Charlie - Lena's ex husband
Marielle and Henry - the new neighbours
Drew - Lena's work client
Kit - Rufus' guitar teacher
Natalie - 🤫

Tropes:
Multiple POVs
Secrets
Bad neighbours
Unreliable narrator
Dark past
Psychopath

Once again, Claire Douglas does not disappoint. This book held my attention from the first chapter and would not let it go! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and fans of Claire Douglas’s previous work will be thrilled with her latest publication.

Firstly, I’m a big fan of Claire Douglas and the way she writes a story.

I really did enjoy this book and spent many a night up past my bedtime because it had me just so hooked. I enjoyed the twists and turns and putting together the breadcrumbs myself but something just didn’t quite hit the mark for me, unlike the Claire Douglas books I’ve read before.

I think there were little aspects of disbelief running throughout and a few occasions when it felt too much time was given to certain interactions/situations that turned out to be kind of irrelevant. Also, I think as a reader, I was ‘told’ what Lena was thinking or feeling too many times and would have preferred to figure this out myself, which I absolutely would have because the writing and character depth was really good. I also really did enjoy the insight into Lena’s domestic life and her family struggles/worries, it helped make the book more relatable, especially amongst the sometimes crazy goings on!

Do not get me wrong, this was an enjoyable read that had me suitably confused and shocked at times. It’s a plot driven thriller and the narrative is very entertaining, so I would recommend it on the whole to fans of the genre. I just think I liked this one less than her others and that’s ok!

I didn't really take to the character of Lena. She was too needy and nosy, rushing in where angels fear to tread, but having said that as a whole I found the story enjoyable especially as it was mainly set in my home town of Bristol.

I loved this book! After reading my first Claire Douglas book 'the girls who disappeared' in January, I immediately added Claire's blacklist to my TBR list. When I was approved for an ARC of a new release I was really excited.

The book is a real page turner although I did find the main character Lena quite annoying at times and a bit 'woe is me'.

Books that have multi story lines can be quite confusing but this was put together well. I initially thought the connections were far fetched as they involve different geographical locations but I couldn't stop reading once the back stories all started to connect and make more sense.

Definitely a book to recommend.

THE NEW NEIGHBOURS BY CLAIRE DOUGLAS.
Release date set for the 13th of March 2025.
Although I've heard a lot mentioned about this author over the years this is my first book by her.
I thought this was a very gripping thriller.
Multiple POVs.
It kept me guessing right up until the very end.

The basic plot of Claire Douglas’ new domestic thriller has, as its’ basic plot, a woman suspecting her neighbours of a crime due to a kink of fate when she overhears snippets of their conversation and investigates further into what it might mean, all the while struggling to get those around to believe her.
It’s a classic plot and whether you find the repeated references to previous variants of the story (Films including Rear Window, Disturbia, Someone’s Watching Me and others are all referenced via the protagonist’s son’s love of film) positive or negative will depend on whether you view them as playful homages or pointers to this basic plot device you’ve seen before. When the protagonist declares watching one of the movies ‘hits a bit too close to home’ you may agree with her or smile at a slightly meta approach. However you feel, in this case the protagonist takes on the role of both James Stewart and Grace Kelly: having the suspicion and doing the snooping around a neighbour’s house thanks to some left keys from the previous owner.
Of course, the author is skilled and experienced enough to put plenty of twists on the basic ‘suspicious neighbour’ concept and the number of five star reviews of the book suggest they work for many, many readers while others may find the levels of coincidence and severe right turns a little bit too much. Like the previous novels of I’ve read from the author, it is undoubtedly a page turner with plenty of twists along the way: whether it’s for you will depend to some degree on how much you’re willing to go with coincidences, how grounded you like your domestic dramas, and how much you engage with the protagonist and the believability of her actions.

A Twisted, Unputdownable Thriller – 5 Stars!

The New Neighbours by Claire Douglas is a superbly gripping psychological thriller that had me hooked from the very first page. It’s the kind of book that keeps you on the edge of your seat, second-guessing every character and every detail, and I absolutely loved it.

The story centres around Lena, who overhears something disturbing from her seemingly perfect next-door neighbours, the Morgans. What sounds like a conversation about planning a crime sends Lena into a tailspin, questioning whether she’s misheard or if the couple she’s been friendly with are hiding something far darker. As she becomes increasingly obsessed with uncovering the truth, I found myself right there with her, wondering what would happen next.

Lena is a wonderfully complex protagonist, and her own troubled past makes her a particularly unreliable narrator at times, which only adds to the intrigue. Her guilt and the mystery surrounding her past added a layer of depth to the story that I wasn’t expecting, and it really kept me invested in her character arc. I loved how Douglas expertly wove in Lena’s internal conflict, making her decision to get involved in the Morgans' secrets feel both personal and dangerous.

The pacing of the novel is spot on. Each chapter builds tension steadily, and the sense of dread grows with every new piece of information. The story is filled with twists that I didn’t see coming, and just when I thought I had figured it all out, Douglas threw in another curveball. The mystery around the Morgans kept me guessing right until the very end, and the final revelation was absolutely jaw-dropping. It was the kind of twist that made me immediately want to reread the book to see how everything fit together.

What I also loved about The New Neighbours is how Douglas made the small, quiet suburban setting feel so claustrophobic and menacing. The sense of secrecy, paranoia, and fear of what lies behind closed doors was palpable. It was so easy to become immersed in the atmosphere of the story, and I found myself constantly wondering whether anyone could be trusted.

This book is a true page-turner – the kind that you’ll race through, but also regret finishing. If you’re a fan of psychological thrillers with suspense, secrets, and shocking twists, this is definitely one you don’t want to miss. A solid five stars from me!