I could not get into or understand this book. I felt like it jumped around A LOT and didn't make sense. I was unable to finish this story.

This book was The Couple Next Door but from a male perspective. I watch a lot of Investigation Discovery and Lifetime so I was not impressed by Adam. We get it Ali is soooo much better then Sarah but Ali is single and childless while Sarah is working hard to put a roof over you and your babies heads. I was not a fan of Adam. I will admit I couldn't put this book down because of all the secrets but I think it would've been better/less creepy from a women's perspective.

How far would you go to save your marriage? Adam and Sarah are having a hard time adjusting to life as new parents and their relationship is falling apart at the seams. Then Ali, the Neighbour Adam has been growing increasingly obsessed with, mysteriously disappears. . . .

An intriguing assortment of interwoven relationships leading them all down a path of deceit and lies as they embark on a search for truth!
I actually really enjoyed this. It was well written and expertly presented from the POVs of the various main characters, allowing us insight into the dangerously disturbed minds of each of them. It did keep me guessing to the end.

Some minor things which brought the star rating down for me : some of the characters were fairly frustrating with their choices and behaviours (almost unbelievably so at times)! Also the synopsis compared this to work by Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) and Paula Hawkins (The Girl on the Train) and I felt it kind of missed the mark with the shocking / thrilling twist , so was a little let down with that. I would have liked a bit more of a shock and awe moment. When it ended I felt sort of ... "oh? was that it?"

However, great writing, interesting plot line, well presented, easy reading. I personally love a multi-POV. I am interested to find more Tim Lane works to read, as this was my first!

Thank You to Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books and Author, Tim Lane for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the advance copy to read.

Sadly I did not enjoy this story, I found it laborious and the description didn't quite meet the story.

3.5 rounded up
Told from 4 neighbors points of view. Didn't really relate to any of them but did care enough to what to know what happened. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Ohhh how I hate to write bad reviews. I’m usually good at picking out books that I know I’ll enjoy, but I struck out on this one. This is your typical neighborhood thriller, though I must say, there wasn’t much thrill. It took me a few days to get through, because I just wasn’t compelled to keep picking it up.

Adam is the father of infant daughter, Maddie, and the husband of Sarah - a teacher struggling with being a working mom. Adam stays at home with their child and pervs on the young girl across the street. Neither of them seem to be in love with their daughter, and their marriage is a disaster.

Ali is the younger woman who lives across the street from Adam and Sarah. She always undresses in front of him, as he looks into her window. She was dating our next character until things went south…

Kemp, also known as Crispin for no good reason, is Ali’s ex-boyfriend. One night while doing his peeping Tom act, Adam sees Kemp urinate on her house and gets even more possessive of Ali. Kemp also is having an affair with Sarah, Adam’s wife.

Then we have Evie - Sarah’s boss, and Crispin’s mom. She’s the principal of the school that Sarah works at, and aside from that, she really doesn’t need to be in the book.

That’s it. That’s the book - finding out about these boring people and how their lives work when affairs are happening left and right. The characters were all quite pedestrian, there really wasn’t much of a plot, and I guess the ending was fine, but none of it ever came together for me.

This felt like it took ages to get through, because I felt nothing for these people and their lives. There wasn’t really a big thrill, there weren’t any big twists, and it all felt rather random and washed out. Overall, this one just wasn’t for me. 2.5 stars.

(Thank you to Crooked Lane Books, Timothy S. Lane, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my review. This book is slated to be released on September 5, 2023.)

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC!

I do not think I am the best audience for this book. I did not find the authors writing similar to the authors listed in the synopsis (Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins).

While the story started off interesting, I quickly became disgusted with the characters. That may have been the point but I like at least some emotional connection to the characters even if it’s a gritty thriller. 2.5 star rounded down

Adam has recently lost his job and now finds himself a stay at home dad for his new baby Maddie. This new role is a hard adjustment for him and not only that, he finds his relationship with his wife Sarah isn’t going well either. Sarah is having problems of her own, struggling with PPD and juggling her teaching job as well. Adam develops a relationship with his neighbor Ali across the way which starts out innocent but becomes more of an obsession. One night, Adam sees Ali’s ex-boyfriend Crispin lurking outside of her house and is alarmed and concerned when Ali turns up missing the next day. Sarah is not without her own secrets and as the story continues, neither spouse knows who they can trust or where their relationship is headed. This was a twisty read that kept me intrigued throughout the story. I really like the way Lane writes and creates these truly ruthless characters who had me hating them and their selfish ways, but also wanting to know how this story was going to play out. I gave this novel 4 stars.

I was so excited to read this one - it sounded so good, but I was quickly confused and did not enjoy it. This story is told through four main points of view, with the occasional fifth. The characters are all intertwined, but figuring out how is a chore. The book also goes back it time, but you aren't really sure when. I just really struggled with the story and did end up DNFing it about midway. I never did get thriller vibes from it either, maybe a slight mystery but I felt this was more of a domestic story.

As I did not finish the book I will not be reviewing outside of netgalley.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc. I look forward to the next book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

This did not work for me. The breakdown of the story was a bit confusing at times, it was hard to piece together the story because the jumps backwards in time seemed to come at random and didn't seem to follow any sort of pattern to prepare the reader for figuring out the puzzle of the story. It also just was hard to follow the story given the fact that there was nobody to root for, all of the characters were unlikeable and the most unlikeable - Adam in my opinion, were the ones we spent the most time with. Overall, it was just not something that I would recommend as a thriller, frankly I'm not even sure what category it does fall under.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tim Lane & Crooked Lane Books for an arc of The Neighbors We Want in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

“Adam is having a hard time adjusting to the stay-at-home-dad life. The sleepless nights and the constant diaper changing are not what he expected after he was abruptly fired from his job. Then again, Adam wasn’t prepared for his relationship with his wife Sarah to slowly come apart at the seams either. One thing, however, keeps him going—his growing obsession with his neighbor, Ali.

But one night, something changes. While staying up with his baby, instead of seeing Ali in the window across the way, he sees her ex-boyfriend, Crispin, lurking around her house before disappearing within. When Adam hears that Ali doesn’t show up for work the next day, and she doesn’t seem to be home, he fears the worst—that she’s been abducted, or possibly killed. His search for the truth will lead Adam on a path filled with deceit and lies.

Adam knows the answers are lurking somewhere in the shadows of his small suburban town—the trouble is, the truth is hard to find when everyone has something to hide.”

This description immediately made me think of Woman in the Window.

I loved the cover and while not entirely original, was intrigued by the description, but this one, unfortunately, fell short for me.

To use the same word that many others have used, it was extremely weird and not in a good way. Not in a way I enjoy, anyway. The characters were odd, their actions were odd, the story flow was odd. It just wasn’t not at all what I expected. I don’t think anyone would have expected what this story turned out to be. I mean, kudos for catching us all off guard and giving us something we didn’t expect, but it missed the bullseye by a mile. It was almost a DNF for me, but I stuck with it, hoping for something more to happen, but, nope.

I won’t be recommending this one. I’m sorry!

Generously giving 2/5 Stars.

This is such a good read when you just want to be entertained--it is engaging, but it also won't ruin your brain. Very good for vacation and the beach.

You know, I saw a lot of other reviews use the same word to describe this book: weird. I’ll tell you what…I agree. It’s weird. It’s a tad on the uncomfortable side. I’m not sure which genre this really fits into due to the….strangeness of it all. The way it’s put together, the situations the characters are in, the characters themselves. It’s all just very weird and I personally wasn’t a fan. There was no cohesion, nothing for me to appreciate about a well written story. Just not for me.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC.

This one just wasn't for me. I didn't like any of the characters or the writing style. It was a DNF for me.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a quick read and I enjoyed the different perspectives each chapter. However, this is another book that was too short and would have benefited from more character development. I also felt like there were odd political and racial aspects added to the novel that were unnecessary? It’s as if the author was trying to be quirky or have “click bait” aspects mixed in that ultimately were just poor execution. Story telling makes a great novel and this was lacking.

Unlikeable, unreliable characters, obsessions, secrets, and just where will this all go? That sums up The Neighbors We Want. Told in multiple points of view, it’s a rather intriguing psychological suspense novel with stay-at-home dad Adam and his postnatally depressed wife Sarah at the centre of a murky group of people. The others include Ali who Adam likes to watch from his window, her ex-boyfriend Crispin who is lurking near Ali’s place and doing odd territorial things, and Crispin’s mother, who is also Sarah’s mighty strange boss. Adam gets it in his head that Ali has been abducted, possibly killed, and then one thing leads to another and another… And it turns out, these are the neighbours we do not want.
The Neighbors We Want is for those readers who enjoy flawed characters and multiple narrators in a psychological suspense novel.

Weaving A Tangled Web…
It’s a fair enough phrase to attach to this tale of suburban noir - what a tangled web they all weave here when first they practice to deceive- and, it seems, they all are. Secrets, lies, power, control and obsessions are to be found in abundance in this suburban street. Told by way of differing points of view and perspectives and with a narrative packed with twists and turns, this tale of family, parenthood and relationships unfolds. Intriguing and unexpected.

This book was a bit hard for me to get into; however, once I was in, I was addicted. I enjoyed all of the characters and their development. I did not expect the ending and the change in one of the main characters.

The Neighbors We Want by Tim Lane was an intriguing suburbia mystery..
The suspense is palpable, the mystery deep and compelling.
The plotting is tight, the pacing so pitch perfect it was impossible to put this book down.
I really enjoyed the book, I did find parts of it a bit slow but the slow burn never took away from overall experience.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

Thank You NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this
amazing eARC!

Oof. This was a tough one to get through. Every single one of the characters was unbearable and unbelievable, not in a fun way. The writing style also wasn’t for me. It was a confusing mix of tenses, stream of consciousness, with a tiny bit of dialogue thrown in. Also, Evie having her own POV felt completely unnecessary. Actually, her whole character really brought nothing to to table. I did keep reading because I needed to see how the story fit together, so the plot was solid! That’s a plus!