This is my first book by this author. I knew it was supposed to be a suspense novel, and all I can say is "Wow!"
It kept me on the edge of my seat with every page! Taking place in a small, quiet neighborhood, everyone thinks Kirstie, a new mother who's overdressed and overtired, is losing her mind. Her own husband has his doubts, from her hearing voices thru the baby monitor to being paranoid that someone is after her baby. Once you start reading, you will not want to put this down! Even on a small street, it's hard to really know who your neighbors are.
I'm looking forward to reading more books by this author.

An ok book for its genre, Kirstie has a new baby who she adores but after hearing a voice on the baby alarm saying take the baby she becomes scared that someone is going to take her baby, her husband Don doesn't believe her and Kirstie becomes more and more anxious. Especially because as far as she is concerned there is no other baby than Daisy. Lots of characters in the book who connect quite well. The ending was a bit random but an ok book all the same.

This book has a great synopsis. Imagine hearing an unknown male stranger's voice on your baby monitor "just take the baby now and go." Kirsty rushes to baby Daisy's room and finds the room empty except for a sleeping baby Daisy. Kirsty figures her baby monitor picked up a signal from another house but as far as she knows there are no other babies in her quiet neighbourhood. The police and even Kirsty's own husband don't believe her. This causes Kirsty to become paranoid about her daughter's safety and makes her mistrusting of her neighbours. This was a quick easy read that was very enjoyable.
Thank you to Netgalley for an ARC of this novel.

The Child next door is s fast paced , captivating psychological suspense that kept me up reading till I'd finished. Brilliant ending

A compulsive page turning read set in a quiet neighbourhood where little is as it seems - Kirsty hears a man through the baby monitor saying 'lets take the baby and go' but when she checks there is no one there ... frightened for her baby's safety Kirsty is constantly on edge, she becomes distrustful of everyone and her behaviour becomes erratic affecting her relationships with friends neighbours and her husband.

Whilst I didn't fully warm to the main character, the author has a knack of getting into the emotions and neurosis of a new mother, alone all day and the impact that this can have on her self esteem and general mental health. Well written as always by this author, I loved the way the story was crafted, drawing me into the lives and intrigues of the residents of this quiet cul-de-sac.

Lots of twists and turns - and keeps you turning the pages, needing to know what's coming next!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the opportunity to read this book!

An interesting read with great characters, whether you love them or hate them. I felt the book was drawn out at times in the middle but towards the end, it picked up the pace, threw some twists and red herrings in but wow i loved the final killer twist.

This was an enjoyable tale, thought it a bit far fetched but the slight twist in the ending made me gasp a bit! would recommend!

Wow! This book was amazing from page 1, but the ending was phenomenal. I am definitely going to read other books by this author now. Kirstie is dozing off when she hears a voice on what she thinks is her daughter's baby monitor say "just take the baby!" After running to her baby's room and finding nothing off, Kirstie wonders if she picked up another baby monitor. This book had a lot of twists and turns and I was completely caught off guard by the ending. I definitely recommend this one!

Magnolia Close. Wimborne. Dorset. The Rawlings live at number four -- Dominic, Kirstie and their 6-month-old baby, Daisy. It's a lovely and quiet neighborhood. But who knows what goes on behind those closed doors?

The drama begins when Kirstie wakes from a nap to hear a man's voice on her baby monitor -- "Quick, let's just take the baby now and go." When she rushes to Daisy's room upstairs, Kirstie finds her daughter safe in her cot, sleeping peacefully. There's no one in the house. No one there trying to steal away with her baby. After the police have come, interviewed the neighbors and found no babies in any other house, and gone -- that's when things start to fall apart for this little family. As Kirstie's concern for Daisy's safety escalates to paranoia, as Dom begins to wonder if she's not having some sort of breakdown, and as her friends become wary, Kirstie is no longer the same doting new mother and wife. What is going on in this neighborhood?

This was a quick read and a page turner as I definitely wanted to get to the conclusion and find out all the answers. I found myself thinking Kirstie was a total nutjob on one hand and feeling sorry for her on the next. I thought I knew where it all was going -- but I didn't! NO SPOILERS. The characters were quite an odd assortment with behaviors that threw up red herrings left and right and that kept the narrative interesting and me guessing. An entertaining standalone psychological thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-book ARC to read and review.

A gripping read that had me hooked from the first few pages. Highly recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in return for an honest review

The Child Next Door was a great psychological thriller that I struggled to put down.
I was hooked from the first few pages and had to carry on reading until I had finished it.
Great twist.

THE CHILD NEXT DOOR by Shalini Boland is a psychological thriller that the reader will find difficult to put down and will keep you guessing throughout. A mother’s worst nightmare, having to deal with the thought of someone trying to take her newborn little girl.
‘Don’t take my baby.’

Kirstie Rawlings is jolted awake by a child crying. Racing upstairs to check on her new-born, she is plunged into every parents’ worst nightmare. She hears an unknown voice in the baby monitor, saying: ‘Let’s take the child – and go.’
Kirsty runs upstairs to make sure her baby is safe and sound. Because there aren’t any other babies on the street, she phones the police to report that a baby is being taken.
But nobody believes her, not even her husband, or the police. This episode leaves Kirsty traumatized and she won’t let her baby out of her sight.
Why doesn’t anyone believe her? Who can she trust.

Now she can’t even trust her neighbours. As she unravels the secrets of the people living on her street, Kirstie’s perfect life begins to fall apart.

Because someone is hiding a terrible lie. And they will do anything to stop Kirstie uncovering the truth.
I raced through this book, to see what was going to happen. And then the ending blew me away. Brilliant writing. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Bookouture via Netgalley for my copy.

Gripping from the very beginning. And what an ending !! I could not put this book down . It is too good not to read. Don't miss it.

The description of this book left me very intrigued but as other readers have noted, it wasn't until the remaining 20% did anything actually happen. Up until that point, I had little interest and was almost reluctant to pick it up at times as so much of the book feels repetitive. None of the characters really excited me, in fact, they were all pretty bland. All that said, I hadn't guessed what had actually happened which is always good!

HI enjoyed this book. I thought it had a good storyline and kept the intensity up throughout the book. Themes of who is telling the truth, who can we trust was echoed throughout. It certainly made for a "keep reading even though I am tired book".

A gripping, fast paced thriller with really good character development . . . loved it!
Thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for the ARC.

You’ve all heard the urban legend about baby monitors being able to pick up sounds from nearby houses, right? Well, its all true kids! Can you imagine? But what if the neighbours don’t have a baby in residence and yours is the only one in the street?

Home alone, keeping an ear out for her baby daughter who is sleeping on the floor above, Kirstie Rawlings is jolted out of her doze at the sound of a cry. The baby monitor also relays the sound of someone speaking upstairs which results in Kirstie launching into action. Racing upstairs, Kirstie discovers her baby safely asleep and after a tense search, does not find anyone else in the house. The police don’t seem to believe what Kirstie has to tell them, and Kirstie’s own husband isn’t sold on her story either. The words that Kirstie clearly heard were “Let’s take the child – and go”. If it is not her baby that is in danger, could their baby monitor be picking up the words of a nearby child kidnapper?

It’s all too disappointingly easy for everyone around Kirstie to write off her growing fears as the result of a maternally over tired mind, but this does not stop Kirstie from making her own investigations. Why does her unsettling neighbour have a basement built into his house? And why is the whole street so quick to dismiss her concerns?

The fear factor of the baby monitor interference is deliciously creepy and so from the very first chapter of THE CHILD NEXT DOOR we know that we are in for a fun ride. Author Shalini Boland has the gift for the quick hook and jerk and it is employed here successfully once again in her latest domestic thriller. It is nerve wracking to read of a new mother who is dealing with the enormity of her child possibly being snatched and the necessity of doing such things as turning her house into a fortress to protect her child. Kirstie is surrounded by people but very much alone.

Crisply written with no spare prose, THE CHILD NEXT DOOR wastes no time on extraneous details and gallops through with a mother’s righteousness and sense of purpose to solve a mystery and avert an incident that everyone else in the street seems to have the blinkers on about. Like a new mother doesn’t have enough on her plate to contend with, our anxiety for Kirstie rachets up with each chapter and we are standing at an anxious precipice by novel’s end.

Oh and yikes! That ending! Don’t entirely trust your instincts on this one as there is a final kick to be enjoyed on the very last page.

2'5-3*

The book is quite gripping and you feel like you have to keep on reading, and in general was quite addictive. There were a few moments, though, in which I felt like nothing really happened and that we were reading about the baby's mother fears without actual proof of nothing going on. Maybe the author wanted to create more mistery and reflect about if she was deranged or not, but to me it felt like some of that could have been edited out.
To be honest, I had began to lose a bit of interest due to that but then the action picked up admiribly and all began happening at once, turning the book into a page turner.
Interesting read, to say the least, even if the plot and the psycological side of it reminded me a lot of her previous book (women that seems to have lost it, husband who flakes out on her...).

Excellent book. Fast paced plot and thrilling twists and turns. Strong characters which I could connect fully with. Highly recommended.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Shalini Boland fir the copy of thus book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

Brilliant read. I read this over two evenings and had I not had to get up for work it would have been one evening. The writing grips you and you can feel Kirstie’s frustrations and paranoia. Great twist that then twists back on itself!