Contemporary fiction
The Neighbor's Secret
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A suburban book club discovers life can be more disturbing than fiction when a vandal disrupts life on the cul-de-sac.
Movieish
Suburban drama
Book about books
Mama drama
With its sprawling yards and excellent schools, Cottonwood Estates is the perfect place to raise children. The Cottonwood Book Club serves as the subdivision’s eyes and ears, meeting once a month for discussion, gossip, and cocktails. If their selections trend toward twisty thrillers and salacious murder mysteries, it’s only because the members feel secure that such evil has no place in their own cul-de-sacs.
Or does it?
What happened to Lena’s family fifteen years ago was a tragic accident, and she will never admit otherwise. Devoted wife and mother Annie refuses to acknowledge—even to herself—the weight of a past shame. And new resident Jen wants friends, but as always, worry about her troubled son gets in the way.
When late-night acts of vandalism target the women of the book club in increasingly violent and personal ways, they will be forced to decide how far to go to keep their secrets. At least they all agree on what’s most important: protecting their children at any cost—even if it means someone has to die.
I’m a sucker for novels about suburban mothers hiding damaging secrets. While reading these books might be easy—give me a free evening, and I’m liable to devour all 350 pages in one go—writing them well is incredibly challenging. To be able to portray these well-off women with equal parts satire and empathy? To write about murder while somehow leaving the reader feeling hopeful about human nature? Well, that takes the gifts of someone like L. Alison Heller.
The Neighbor’s Secret drops us into the world of Cottonwood Estates, an idyllic subdivision where the schools are good, and mayhem is contained only between the pages of whatever novel the neighborhood’s book club is discussing that month. That is, until a mysterious vandal starts making trouble, causing some of the women in the club to confront long-buried secrets that threaten to rip their peaceful lives apart. While the characters’ skeletons are (hopefully) far more gasp-inducing than anything lurking in readers’ own closets, their hopes and worries are all too recognizable. Above all, they want to protect their children.
Mixing dark comedy, big twists, and an over-caffeinated book club dictator who loves sending emails full of ALL-CAPS AND TOO MANY EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!, The Neighbor’s Secret will have you reading “just one more chapter, I swear” late into the night.
Elans S.
Garfield hts, OH
So the actual story differs from the synopsis posted, and it’s a bit of a slow burn. Don’t get me wrong, the book is amazing and poetic. It just doesn’t heat up until the final 1/3. Unseen plot twist.
Megan R.
Los Angeles, CA
Loved it!! Obsessed with messy suburban moms! Also love that book clubs are still fighting over Lolita……. Great plot twists… nice slow burn and a satisfying ending. Read it!!! Want more like this one!
Caitlin K.
Wheelersburg, OH
Captivating with more twists and turns than I would’ve ever thought. Definitely keeps you hanging and wanting to know what’s going on without ever letting you know the truth until the last minute. 
LeAnn W.
Louisville, KY
Very satisfying! The more I read the better it got. Families, children, women of various ages… my favorite kind of characters! The momma bears came out and did not disappoint! Loved the plot twist!❤️
Cayla B.
Niles, OH
This book kept getting better as the story went on! It’s so easy to get tangled up in the drama of the every day lives of these women, especially once you see that there’s way more beyond the surface.