I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller and had a hard time putting it down when I was made to. The story moved at a nice pace and I did not see the ending coming! Well written with amazing characters. I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

The Widow Next Door has a strong, voyeristic hook and a claustrophobic atmosphere. There were some genuinely spine-tingling moments, particularly at the very end! I felt it could have benefited from some more action early on (I found it quite repetitive in parts and a bit adverb-heavy) to perhaps break up the internal monologue of the MC, but it’s certainly well-suited to fans of descriptive, slow-burning thrillers... and it has a fantastic twist!

Told from the point of view of an elderly woman, this book paints ad disturbingly real picture of what it's like to grow older and outlive your friends and loved ones. At times the depressing tone overpowered the thrilling aspects of the book. The twist at the end wasn't entirely unexpected but felt condensed. I wish the clues would have started dropping a bit sooner. Also, there were some flashback scenes that I assumed were in the mind of the elderly woman, but at times it felt they could have been attributed to another character. Well-written book that makes a quick afternoon or bedtime read.

Fast paced and atmospheric. Kept me guessing until the very end. Enjoyed the characters and the story was gripping.

I was really hooked on this story at first, but sadly it just started to drag and become almost unbearable, I was intrigued enough that that I skimmed to the end rather than dnf. I really wanted to like this story more, I thought it had great potential Thank you netgalley and publisher for this arc I. Exchange of an honest review.

The Widow Next Door
The most chilling of new crime thriller books that you will read in 2018
by L.A. Detwiler
Avon Books UK

Avon
General Fiction (Adult) , Mystery & Thrillers
Pub Date 12 Nov 2018


Jane and Alex Clarke are newlyweds when they move into what seems like the perfect house on the quaint Bristol Lane. The couple is excited to start their new life in their forever home.


When an elderly neighbor brings them a pie to welcome them, she soon becomes a friend. She grows a little too interested in the couple next door as she sits watching them day in and day out, from the rocking chair in her window.


Alex tells Jane it will be fine, but what will Jane find when she's invited into her house!


I give The Widow Next Door five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

I enjoyed this fast paced , page turning thriller.
The characters were complex with quite a few twists.
I felt like I knew what was going to happen, but at the end it was jaw dropping.

What I enjoyed about this book…
Strong hook… Lonely, nosey lady next door stares out of her window from her rocking chair gawking at new neighbors at 312 Bristol Street. She knows something isn’t quite right.
The flashbacks to her past life… a love gone wrong, a neglected childhood, parents who treated her second seat to her sister. The flashbacks enhanced story. There were just enough stories from her past.
An element of suspense that sets the pace nicely for most of the book.
What I think would have made book better…
Increased character interaction.
More complex character development.
More dialogue.
An unraveling of the plot less predictably.
Add a huge twist.
All-in-all, this book had great potential. The authors style of writing made it easy to read and she kept a good pace but I definitely was waiting for the hand-to-mouth gasp moment and I didn’t feel like it achieved that.

Engrossing story, I read this book in two days - and it only took that long because I had other things to do besides read! The Widow next Door centers around an elderly woman who is obsessed with sitting at her window and watching a young couple that just moved into the only other house on her street. You really don’t know where the book is going, is everything really happening or is the elderly woman battling dementia? Story wraps up nicely, a few loose ends that I wasn’t happy with, but all in all - a good book

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

I was blown away by this book. I finished it a couple of days ago and I still have it going around in my mind. Parts of it are very sick and twisted, while other parts are very repetitive. There are endless pages devoted to describing the old lady sitting in her rocking chair.

Alex and Jane move into their dream home on a quiet street, with only one other house on it. They think it's perfect as it's a lonely old widow that lives there. She's welcoming and they think that they have found a good friend as well as neighbor. Jane often has tea with her, puttering about the widow's kitchen easily, as if she was at home. The book as a bit of a "Rear Window" feel to it as the widow spends all her waking hours sitting in her rocking chair staring at the house across the way. As she is in crippling pain, she never leaves the house so she is constantly in the window. She takes an unhealthy interest in the couple, building them up to be the perfect couple, until she realizes that they aren't. They think she's just a lonely old lady who needs some company.

The old lady has flashbacks to her childhood and her marriage that are filled with upsetting images of what led to her mental spiral.

The blurb for this book made me have high hopes but sadly I just couldn't get into it and found it very hard going.

Slooooooowwww......I thought this would pick up, but 40% through and it is still slow. I tried to endure it, but alas I could not.

This book, via reviews, has divided opinion and I can see why...
The story is about a young couple who move opposite a ‘sweet old dear’ who innocently sits in her rocking chair watching their lives...
However, this is a book!, so the ‘sweet old dear’ is not as she seems and has 2 significant ‘nasty’ events in her past....she then uses these events to kinda confuse what she sees opposite and put her own interpretation on said events.....with surprising consequences
All good so far, the basis of a solid book...
The ‘widow’ ( I don’t think we ever find out her name ) narrates and boy does she go on at times, about ailments, being old, being lonely, her husband and her past and although the writing is good it gets repetitive...there are only so many times you want to read about her arthritis and her poor breathing!
The couple opposite Jane and Alex are only described via her so you never truly get to know who they are or what they are about or wether they are as she sees them ( if makes sense )
I liked when she did leave the house as she went to ‘Marks Mini Mart’ 😃
Sometimes though you read a whole chapter, or 2, and nothing much happened except her making a cup of tea and staring out the window
The 2 ‘back story’ events I mentioned are interesting and bought some relief to the narrative
The ending was surprising and unexpected and not quite believable
As said this book seems to have polarised reviewers and I find myself in the middle, it had good elements to it but also not so good ones!
5/10 2.5 stars ( rounded up to 3 on Amazon etc )

This has gotten to be one of the weirdest story I've read in a long time. The ending raised more questions than answers. At least that's what it did for me.

The story narrated by an elderly widow who seemed to happy that a young couple moved in a house in her neighborhood. She watches them on a daily basis as if she's Netflix bingeing.

The story is narrated back and forth confusing who the narrator actually is at first.

This book didn't really raise any goosebump on me probably due to the way it was written. Who knows, maybe you'll like it better than me. Like I've said before, it was just weird.

I'd give it a low 3 stars.



I received this ARC from Avon Books UK. Thank you!

So this is a little bit creepy!  The story is told by an old lady who lives in a house on her own with her cat and basically constantly spies on the residents of the only other house in the street from her rocking chair!! Sounds like a horror movie right?!

I enjoyed learning about the people over the road from her point of view and seeing Jane's mental health problems spiral, as well as her marriage breakdown.  I felt sorry for the old lady throughout the book and it really got me thinking about how many people are out there, on their own and lonely with no family to visit.  As someone who is unable to have children it did make me wonder whether this might be me one day (only part of it!), although I'd have lots more cats!!!

The old lady and Jane have a somewhat tempestuous relationship throughout the book which is intriguing; I'm not sure I'd have Jane back in my house to be honest!

I did really enjoy this and it kept me gripped which a fantastic twist at the end! I did find it a little show to begin with but got into it and thoroughly enjoyed it in the end.  If you're a fan of psychological thrillers, then definitely check this out.

Lots of repetition and not particularly believable. I read the entire book, but skimmed through the last third of it.

Thanks NetGalley for opportunity to read and review.

I enjoyed reading this book. It had a good story to it. I liked the variety of characters in it. It is my first book read by this author. I hope to read more books by this author.

Just imagine just 2 houses in a small lane, one occupied by a bitter, old widow and her cat and the other a young, newly wed couple. This widow spends most of her time watching this couple, and the wife, Jane, is an occasional visitor. That is about as exciting as it gets for me. Nothing really happens until a dark twist at the end, but I was unable to believe the widow was able to see so much happening - could the 2 houses be directly opposite? I don't think so. Thanks to Net Galley for the chance to read and review this book.

The old widow on Bristol Lane finally has some new neighbors. While there have been other couples living in the house over the years, this new couple looks quite fascinating and they seem to be so much in love. The widow spends her days in her rocking chair in front of her window petting her cat, Amos, and watching her neighbors.

Alex and Jane Clarke have been busy getting moved in sharing hugs and kisses often. But soon, the widow starts noticing fewer kisses and less affection being shared. Jane had brought the widow a pie shortly after they moved in and she seemed so happy. She would come over several times a week spending hours chatting and having tea.

As they get to know one another more, Jane confides that she wants a baby but it seems that’s not possible. The widow tells her that she was unable to have children too. The widow laments that old age is hard with aches and pains and no energy to do things.

As time goes by, the widow sees that Jane is not the happy person she once was. She’s changing. But when the widow witnesses Jane yelling and acting violent toward her husband, the widow is very concerned that she might hurt him. However, both women seem to have dark secrets. How will this end?

This is a depressing story. Old age and being fragile is inevitable for all of us, but to get a big dose of it in a book is not enjoyable. Some not so nice things occur in this book, but I didn’t find it to be a true “thriller.” The one I felt sorry for was Amos the cat.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Widow Next Door by L.A. Detwiler was a book that was easy to read as I didn't want to put it down. It had me interested to say the least but Some parts were strange and with the lady sitting in her rocking chair watching her neighbors, did that have to be said all the time? (that was boring to me)
Thrillersare not my go to genre but this story kept me intrigued.

I would recommend this to others especially if you like thrillers or want a new book to read.

A few quotes I liked:

" The imperfections make it better."

"It's my favourite moment since they've moved in. It's an everyday kind of moment, but it's the sort of moment that I'd give anything to have again."

"But the eyes-they are, truly, the windows into the blackest of black souls."