Good Neighbors

 Good Neighbors

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       October 1, 2021

 

Author  Sarah Langan

Distributor:      Simon & Schuster
ISBN:                 9781982144371
Publisher:         Washington Square Press
Release Date:   October 2021  

Website:    UNKNOWN CHECK 

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Together the cover photo, the title and the opening pages of Good Neighbours suggests a sunny neighbourhood with friendly folk who maintain their own lifestyles but socialize happily with each other. In the front pages there is a diagram of the semicircular street (Maple Street) where the story takes place. There are 18 dwellings, and the name of the occupants of each house is shown. This diagram is dated July 4th, 2027

This is also the date that the story begins. It covers a short time frame until early August. The first chapter in the book is called, “The Strangers.” We learn about a family who have moved into a house in Maple Street. They most definitely don’t fit the style of the other homeowners. The Wilde’s don’t have the comfortable income that allows their thoughts to focus on Julia and Larry their children who fart in public. Once the other families realise this, they also observe the social mistakes that the new family make, which ostracizes the Wilde Family.

Some of the well-regarded householders, such as the university lecturer, express their misgivings to other neighbours, and warn the children to avoid the “different family.” When a natural hazard occurs in the park at the end of the street, casting a malodorous stench over the street, pervading the homes as well as the story, the sense of something rotten and ugly grows as the story progresses. One cannot begin to hope for a happy ending as the unravelling of pain and hurt begins.

If you start Good Neighbors knowing that suburban life can produce a ruthless and fearsome side, then you won’t be disappointed. Good Neighbors is its own type of horror story.

Food, Non Fiction