Contemporary fiction
The Neighbor's Secret
Early Release
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Quick take
A suburban book club discovers life can be more disturbing than fiction when a vandal disrupts life on the cul-de-sac.
Good to know
Movieish
Suburban drama
Book about books
Mama drama
Synopsis
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.
Free sample
Get an early look from the first pages of The Neighbor's Secret.
The Neighbor's Secret
Chapter One
September
It all started that brilliantly sunny Thursday morning, with Janine and her gossip.
As the familiar green minivan cruised around the bend in the road, Annie considered flattening herself against the Jensens’ hedges. She truly appreciated Janine and everything that she did for the neighborhood, but sometimes, especially first thing in the morning, the woman could be a lot.
Like how now, Janine had pulled over to the side of the road with a screech, zipped down her window, leaned out her head, and excitedly flapped her hands in front of her face, like she’d taken a bite of a scalding-hot breakfast sandwich.
Gossip, Annie suspected, as she tugged the dog’s leash to coax her over to Janine’s car. Or worse, bragging. Janine’s daughter Katie was always achieving things, which was wonderful. In theory, Annie rooted for Katie—for all children—to succeed, but something about Janine’s presentation always caused a flash of panic within Annie: Should Hank and Laurel be composing oboe concertos? Why haven’t they written cookbooks for charity?
Annie would have to remind herself that Laurel’s grades were excellent, that Hank was a joy, that both were curious and kind people, and that people who bragged about their children were usually overcompensating for something.
“Did you hear about the vandal?” Janine asked. Her face was pink with excitement and there was a halo of frizz around her blond ringlets.
Why I love it
Laura Hankin
Author, Happy & You Know It
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.
Member ratings (20,659)
Megan R.
Louisville, KY
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!
Samantha S.
Gettysburg, PA
An engaging and timely work that answers the question, “How far would you go to protect your child?” And not to worry, even for non-parents like me out there, the characters & questions are relatable.
Amanda B.
Hollywood, MD
Right down my alley with the family/mom secrets & drama. My life isn’t crazy but it was very relatable. I loved the mystery thrown into it. I wasn’t even close to guessing the end which is always good
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.
Kelsey M.
Beach Haven, NJ
The only reason I would say this wasn’t a spectacular book, it that it took too long or introduce the real conflict between the characters. I did, however, love that the reader got insight into each.