Cover Image: The Family Next Door

The Family Next Door

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Member Reviews

Sally Hepworth has crafted a fast-moving story about a neighborhood and its inhabitants, all of whom are struggling with varying issues in their lives and relationships.

The arrival of a new, single neighbor disrupts the status quo and causes the prior residents to make assumptions about her personal life and be suspicious about her motives as she ingratiates herself into life on the block. It is clear that she has an ulterior motive about which Hepworth skillfully inserts clues at well-timed intervals.

Eventually, a crisis brings all of the simmering emotions, suspicions, and suppositions to the forefront and into focus. The fallout from the revelation of the truth is almost as illuminating and interesting as the intrigue.

The Family Next Door illustrates that it is impossible to ever completely know another human being . . . even your own family members. However, it is possible to come to grips with and learn from difficult truths.

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Sally Hepworth, queen of domestic suspense, returns following The Mother's Promise with her latest domestic suspense, THE FAMILY NEXT DOOR—filled with neighborhood and family drama, scandal, twists, and dark secrets —what happens behind closed doors?

In the small suburb of Pleasant Court in Melbourne, you will find lovely families, children, and a safe neighborhood where the neighbors and children connect. It all looks so picturesque from the outside, but soon the cracks begin to develop.

Isabelle Heatherington (new neighbor) is unlike the other typical households. She is single with no children. The other three Pleasant Court mothers are more than curious about why this single woman rents his large house for herself. What does she do for a living, and why is she in the suburbs? What is her story?

What secrets is she hiding?

Ange, Fran, and Essie have their secrets. Told from multiple perspectives, the author slowly unravels all their scandalous betrayals, lies, fears, and juicy dark secrets. What are they hiding?

Their obsession with the new neighbor compounds, and they may get more than they bargained for the closer they get to the truth.

Barbara is the perfect mother (grandmother) next door—(Essie, daughter) —a perfect neighborhood for her.

Compelling! As always, Sally combines well-developed, highly relatable characters with everyday issues and struggles from motherhood, families, money, depression, and infidelity and adds a sinister spin combined with wit, mystery, drama, suspense, and many complex twists.

For those who enjoyed Big Little Lies and Desperate Housewives, you will find a lot to like here.

I have read all of Sally's books (a huge fan) and just noticed I failed to review this one even though I read it back in 2017, out in 2018. I had a lot going on during this time, so not surprised I missed it.

You cannot go wrong with a Sally Hepworth book! Highly entertaining.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review. I also purchased the audiobook narrated by Barrie Kreinik for a highly entertaining and engaging performance for all voices, as always!

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@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
Pub Date: March 6, 2018

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Thank you to St. Martins and Netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a really great domestic thriller. Every character had their own backstory of drama and the end of the chapters were all mini cliffhangers, so I found myself continuing to read more and more to see what happened and ended up finishing it in one sitting. I really enjoyed this authors style of writing, this wasn't my first and certainly won't be my last.

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Sally Hepworth writes such fabulous domestic suspense novels. This is a compulsively readable story, with twists and turns that keep you turning the pages to find out what is going on. Highly recommended- I’m always looking forward to what she writes next!

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I need to remind myself that I just do not find psychological thrillers exciting or surprising anymore. I figured out the ending to this long before I finished the book. It was a quick read and I think many will enjoy it, but this one was just not my cup of tea.

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I don’t know if it was me or the book, but this one just didn’t seem to be as good as Sally Hepworth’s other books. There were a lot of parents, a lot of kids, a lot of relationships, a lot of occupations ... and too much to keep up with. Fortunately I read it quickly - that would be the only way for me to remember who was who! Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC.

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Note: clearing old books from before 2019

I read this in April 2018 and rated it 4 stars on Goodreads.

Secrets lies and betrayal all within the same street in a melbourne suburb. It made for a fun page turning read, and I continue to be a huge fan of Hepworth's work.

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3.5 stars

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Sally Hepworth's books always deliver a fine balance of family drama along with a story of suspense that make for compelling reading. This one was no exception and delivered a twist that I did not see coming, so that always makes for a good book in my opinion. The only reason that I didn't give this book 4 stars is that some of the characters started to get on my nerves towards the end of the book, but all in all, this was a good read with an interesting mystery that drove the story right up to the ending.

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There are a lot of characters to try and learn about, most of whom did not feel as though they were fully fleshed out. The plot was predictable and some of the lesser threads did not seem to go anywhere. The overall flow of the read felt like it jerked around making this a frustrating read. In the end, I did not finish reading this novel.

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Good read and I really enjoyed it. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the arc of this book in return for my review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

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I really enjoyed reading this book. Four star read for me. So many emotions! Thank you for the chance to read the arc.

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This was definitely a thriller! I loved the mystery and intrigue. Beautifully written! I very much enjoy this author’s work.

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This was an engrossing domestic drama with lots of surprises...and in spite of some of the main characters' bad behavior (affairs and the like), I really enjoyed it. I recommend this Australian author to fans of Liane Moriarty.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

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Sometimes we need reminders that things are never what they seem.  In Pleasant Court, we are introduced to three women: Ange, Fran, and Essie.  Although they are friends, each woman is suffering in silence.  These women are dealing with finding their own identities, being the perfect mother and spouse, connecting with others, regret, depression, and fear.  It's a story in which I feel a lot of women could easily connect to one or more of the women.  In a way, it's almost as if this is a more mature twist to Wisteria Lane, with only a quarter of the drama.

I felt a connection with Essie.  Essie was a young mother who was struggling to connect with her oldest daughter.  It was apparent that Essie was suffering from postpartum depression, and it makes you realize why more of her friends and family weren't acknowledging that she needed help.  Essie's life becomes even more complicated when she meets the new neighbor, Isabelle.  In a way, her desperate need for someone to see her, leads to her questioning even her own core truths.

The book's mystery is regarding a child that had been stolen.  The author does an amazing job of creating just enough intrigue and clues to make the reader believe they know which woman did it.  It's a rare occurrence for a book to surprise me, but this one did.  Kudos to Sally Hepworth.

I'm never really one for giving away too much of the plot. However, I hope you'll check this novel out. It's been over a year since I read it and I instantly could recall how much I enjoyed the book.  It's not often that I can recall a book so vividly after so much time has passed.  This is the kind of book that sticks with you... in a good way.

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This story drew me in like an after-Christmas sale. Each chapter is written from the perspective of a different character, with an obscure, we-don't-know-who-this-is story woven through. The characters are all living with their own dramas and deception while trying to show a perfect life to the neighbors and raise little kids. It's great!!

The problem I had with this book, and the reason I couldn't give it more than 4 stars, is that everything wraps up a bit too neatly. Once the mystery of the obscure story is solved, things start to fall into place rather quickly but with 100 pages left to read. There follows a lot of heart-pounding soul searching which doesn't carry the action as nicely or as quickly as the first 2/3 of the book.

However. It's still a good story and I enjoyed the neighborhood roller coaster.

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The story revolves around four neighbors living in  Pleasant Court in Melbourne. When a new neighbor, Isabella,moves into Essie, Fran and Ange’s neighborhood, all three women seem to take interest in Isabella but their  curiosity results in resurfacing of old grudges and long-held secrets come tumbling out

Told from several POV's The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth is a domestic suspense with lies , secrets and fears.It has great characters and is a highly entertaining emotional read and will look for reading more from this author in the future

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press & NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest and fair review.

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This book reminds me of Desperate Housewives. Everything appears perfect with these couples in the neighborhood until you start to peel the onion back and they all have secrets. It was a fast read and will definitely recommend it to my book group.

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Wow! This book had all the feels. Once again, Sally Hepworth takes us on a wonderful journey into the hearts and minds of everyday people. The Family Next Door is a perfect example of REAL suburbanites, with all of their foibles, problems, and small victories. Ms Hepworth tells a story that is very relatable, and at times, like looking in a mirror. I won't discuss the plot line or the characters other than to say they are well written, and totally believable. I don't think I could go into detail without revealing too much that the reader should have the pleasure of discovering.
I received a copy of this title from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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How well do you know your neighbors? Just enough to wave or say “hi”? Maybe the occasional neighborhood get together like a Christmas party? Guess again.........I’m sure you don’t really know them as well as you think you do. What secrets could they be hiding and are they wondering the same about you?

In this fast paced read, neighbors living on this cul-de-sac have secrets, some of which they certainly don’t want the other neighbors to know anything about.
Secrets galore come out in this neighborhood and some of them will leave you floored!

I absolutely love this author’s books! She’s fast becoming a favorite of mine.

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I started off feeling like this was another Little Big Lies, you know, friendly moms in Australia, but it really turned out so good!! I kept trying to figure out everyone's lives and what the "issue" in each marriage was, but I was wrong! I LOVE when I can't figure it out! This was a very good and engrossing read!

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