The Woman Next Door by Sue Watson
*My reviews are generally structured in to four different parts; Synopsis, Pros, Cons, and Conclusion*
The Woman Next Door: An Unputdownable Psychological Thriller With a Stunning Twist by Sue Watson
‘Have you ever had a secret that you couldn’t tell a soul, even the people you love? I have.’
Like the summary says, this is a psychological thriller with a stunning twist. Although, the twist is kind of not so surprising when it’s completely spelled out in the subtitle. Our main character is Lucy, a woman who has a seemingly perfect life-perfect house, perfect husband, perfect job. Her best friend lives right next door, and they get to have glamorous girl nights. So everything is perfect-except Lucy’s best friend is getting extremely creepy messages from a stalker, and Lucy’s past keeps bubbling close to the surface as she tries to figure out how to help her friend, and who to trust.
Pros:
This book has a lot of pros. It’s definitely twisty enough to keep you guessing, and you can’t help but get involved in the character’s lives. Every action and reaction kept me hooked and I was constantly running through theories in my head on who was the stalker, why they were doing this, what Lucy’s past was and how it came into play with this whole thing. Honestly, it was a lot of speculation and just enough creepy events that really helped keep the tension and pacing going.
Cons:
Alright cons. So, Lucy is the main character and she is the one who narrates a good chunk of the book and honestly? She is probably one of the most naive, ridiculous characters I’ve ever had the misfortune of reading from. I don’t know if it’s just the general belief that she had to be the one to save her best friend, if it’s that she just could not see any of the events happening in front of her, or just was purposefully written to be that oblivious. I have no idea, and I will say that once the story got going, towards the last ⅓ of the book I really did start enjoying her perspective, but it was almost pushing it at that point.
Conclusion:
Overall, I enjoyed this story. I feel like if I’d read the physical book instead of listening to the audiobook I would have enjoyed it a little bit more, but overall it was interesting and still one I had a good time reading. The twist at the end was good, but it wasn’t as good as it would have been if that twist wasn’t so advertised right on the front page. If psychological horrors are your thing then definitely give this one a try!