I’d like to thank Serpent’s Tail/Profile Books and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Resident’ by David Jackson in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Whilst on the run from the police Thomas Brogan, serial killer and psychopath, sees a boarded-up house at the end of the terrace and breaks in. There’s nothing of note in the rooms so he climbs up into the loft where he finds that it shares the space with the three neighbouring houses. Brogan can now move between the houses, watching the residents and planning which of them he’ll enjoy killing next.

‘The Resident’ is an exceptionally well-written dark novel that’s gripping and horrifying at times, and I was so engrossed I couldn’t stop reading and finished it in a day. The narrative is shared between Brogan and his split-personality who goads him on to commit the heinous crimes. I liked the quirky characters living in the terrace, Jack and Pam who are constantly arguing and their snarling dog Ralph, Martyn and his wife Collette, and the elderly and likeable Elsie who he becomes quite attached to. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel and will never again be able to go to bed without first looking up at the ceiling. A well-deserved five stars!

.Serial Killer fiction is one of my go to's when I want a scary and compelling read. And this without a doubt a whole book with the sole focus being just that - a serial killer.

It is not wholly what you might think though. It is UK based, does not really stray from the confines of four terraced properties and we have full on internal dialogue from said serial killer.

The internal dialogue is so original. It took me a while to get used to. But once I had clicked with it, it brought a darkly humorous angle to the novel. I hear you say 'like Dexter's dark passenger?' - and yes that is the comparison that first sprung to mind for me too. With Dexter being THE fictional serial killer of all time, this is an all mighty comparison!

The characters where wide ranging and brought out different parts of the serial killers personality. The old lady with a heart breaking past, the couple who are highly unlikeable and the young couple with issues the outside world do not see. The relationship between the old lady and young couple are particularly well explored - and bring a surprising depth to this darkly humorous serial killer book.

Oh and there is the small detail of hiding a decomposing body in a sauna of a loft - and that ever so dark ending!

I adored this and read it in one sitting. Thomas Brogan, serial killer, needs somewhere safe to stay to hide out from the police. An abandoned house proves fruitful, all the more so when he realises he can slip in other houses quickly and if tries, quietly. This means he has food and shelter plus a keen eye on the relationships of those living there, all unaware that a murderer to deciding who is next on his life. Each house contains secrets they’d prefer no one to discover as Thomas sort of accidentally becomes further involved in one house in particular. I thought it was a clever plot and addictive, you want to keep reading until the end.
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Imagine living in your house, not knowing that someone is lurking within the attic - the hairs on your arms may instinctively stand up, you may have a feeling that you're not alone but would you really know? Brogan is the evil that lurks in the shadows of residents who live in a set of terraced houses, he's on the run from his last murderous stint and needs to lay low - but that cruel trait within him yearns for another fatal game of cat and mouse. Brogan is a predator, he begins stalking his prey and immediately I was on edge, seeing how the events were beginning to be set into motion through his eyes with a flash briefly to other characters. The way The Resident was written helps to create the dark and cold atmosphere that keeps the reader hooked - needing more.

Brogan is a sadistic serial killer, he plays games with his 'chosen ones' and he has a conscious that eggs him on. Although, as the novel begins to unravel you get flashes of humanity from Brogan, vulnerabilities that he's carried ever since childhood and to some extent you can't help but feel slight sympathy for him. The flashbacks to Brogan pre-evil gives him the depth of character that allows the reader to identify with him as a person who may have been nudged into the life he has chosen to live. The other characters who are introduced into the novel when Brogan peeks into their lives gave me the shivers, you can bet I went and checked the attic door was well and truly firmly closed.... see what I mean about it acting upon your fears?!

The Resident is a gripping thriller, with an array of fleshed out characters, a delicious storyline with a great dash of dark humour. David is truly twisted author, who has written a disturbingly eerie novel that will enthral you! Sadistically superb!

This was a very quick and easy read for and that I enjoyed. Thomas Brogan is a killer and he is on the run from the police when he finds a boarded up house that will hopefully be a refuge for him. But he finds a whole lot more when he enters the attic of the house as this is an end of terrace and he has access to the others houses attic’s in the terrace and for Brogan this is now a time to play some games with the people below, he loves to spy and he now has an ideal opportunity.
It’s a creepy book that had me glancing at my ceiling many times but I was a little disappointed with the read as it seemed a little rushed but overall it was a good 3 star read and something a bit different.
My thanks to NetGalley and Serpent's Tail / Profile Books, Viper for giving me the chance to read the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received a free review copy of The Resident by David Jackson from the publisher @serpentstail in exchange for my honest unedited feedback @netgalley out on 16th July!

Serial killer Brogan manages to get away from the police and has holed himself up in an abandoned house. Brogan realises that the attic of the abandoned house is connected to it's neighbours and Brogan intends to make full use of this fact for access to food, conveniences and sating the murderous voice in his head. 😬

3.5 ⭐- a nice, easy to get through, psychological thriller. It was very interesting to read it written from the point of view of the killer. I found myself skipping the odd internal monologue, but that was my sole criticism and I found the book gripping enough to keep me reading. A good one to pick up if you're in thriller limbo. .

Thomas Brogan is a serial killer. Having left a trail of bodies in his wake, and with the police hot on his heels, it seems like Thomas has nowhere left to hide. That is until he breaks into an abandoned house at the end of a terrace on a quiet street. And when he climbs up into the loft, he realises that the can drop down into all the other houses on the street through the shared attic space.

I enjoyed more than I think I would, it was a great book that I couldn't stop reading, amazing work,

Firstly thank you to the publishers for approving my netgalley request to read. Viper are publishing epic books!

For a dark thriller this was funny, a real witty read. You will relate to the resident more than the house owners. I study psychology so it was a treat to get into this mans head.

Over Christmas last year myself and my daughter watched within and this reminded me of that.

Satire, wicked,creepy and captivating.

A fast paced, fresh spin on a book about a killer.

Interesting and darkly disturbing.

Good read, kept my attention. Wasn’t entirely what I expected and I do feel that this one has been more popular than expected as I haven’t been completely gripped by this book.
A satisfactory read.

Yet another great book by author dave. Are you really alone in your house? Who is hiding up the attic?

I found this book both horrible and fascinating. I'm not sure I enjoyed it, exactly, but I also couldn't put it down and finished it in a single day. As they say, there's a fine line between repulsion and attraction.

The plot is very straightforward and yet keeps you on the edge of your seat to find out how it will all end. There are several gruesome/disgusting/disturbing moments, but honestly not as bad as I feared going into it. I liked the characters of Elsie and Colette and even felt a strange sort of sympathy towards Brogan himself at times.

I did feel like this book might be playing into dangerous tropes of mental illness as something to be feared. And for a few chapters I found the writing style very juvenile, until I settled into it. Still, as I say, I couldn't put it down.

Weirdly, as I read, I increasingly had the feeling that I'd read it before. I don't know if this is a new edition of an existing book or if it was just reminding me realy strongly of something else I've read.

Certainly worth a look for those who like the dark and twisted.

Really enjoyable thriller - a serial killer torments local residents having discovered a clever way of moving between houses. A contained thriller is tricky, limited setting and a need to boil up the suspense and move the story at a pace with credible surprises thrown in. Jackson succeeds and crafts a taut thriller that satisfies. Recommended!

I discovered David Jackson couple of years ago when I read ‘Don’t Make a Sound’ and was introduced to the excellent DS Nathan Cody in this taut and memorable tale. Keen to see if his standalone ‘The Resident’ was equally engaging, I began this novel with high hopes.
The story focuses on Thomas Brogan, a psychotic on-the-run serial killer who becomes familiar with the occupants of a row of terraced houses, having broken in to an empty one and discovered that some of the attics interconnect. He enjoys spying on them, secretly eating their food, using their bathrooms and playing with their minds. Many reviewers have enjoyed Jackson’s warped creation, finding him funny and inventive. However, he didn’t appeal to me in any way, shape or form. I found the dialogue between his two selves intensely irritating because it sounded clunky and came across as a lazy, clichéd portrayal of the way in which a schizophrenic might experience delusions. The plans he made, the thoughts he had and the actions he took became repetitive, predictable and boring. Nor is the idea of killer in the attic an original one. Mo Hayder did this far better in ‘Wolf’, a heart-pounding read.
‘The Resident’ was a real disappointment. In future I’ll stick to Jackson’s Nathan Cody series.
My thanks to NetGalley and Serpent’s Tail/Profile Books for a copy of this novel in exchange for a fair review.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

He doesn't seem like too bad a baddie at first! Slowly though we get to know a little more about him and bit by bit we discover how bad a baddie he actually is - but there's still a bit of me that says that if he had a more loving upbringing ... but anyhow he didn't and he is what he is.

A fabulous book by David Jackson which I read very quickly as I was very interested in how the story would end and be resolved; I was not disappointed at all.

Highly recommended.

Thomas Brogan is a serial killer. He’s killed his parents. He’s killed a tonne of other people. Not only does he kill them, but he tortures and mutilates them, he makes them suffer. With the police arriving at the home of his current victims, Thomas flees, assaulting a police officer and bounding over fences to escape into the night. Covered in blood, he wanders the streets, the police closing in. He happens upon an abandoned house on the corner of a terrace. He breaks in, discovers it has an attic, and that he can get into the attics of three of the adjoining properties. He starts to spy on the residents and toy with their lives.

I read a lot of crime fiction, and many of the books that I read have complex and labyrinthine plots. There's nothing wrong with that and when carried off with aplomb they can be astounding reads. But occasionally, you come across a book with a really simple, yet brilliant, storyline. This is one such book. A serial killer hiding in the loft, spying, and toying with the residents.

The characterisation in The resident is pitch-perfect. The author brings to life all the characters, and like Thomas Harris with Hannibal Lector, he even has you sympathising with Brogan, his serial murderer. But whereas Harris performed that trick by imbuing Lector with some memorable traits - his intelligence, his knowledge of fine art and wine - Jackson does this by humanising Brogan.

Yes, he humanises a monster who tortures and murders his victims. He does this by giving us just enough backstory, and giving him just enough empathy for the people that he comes across (such as Elsie, an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s who confuses him for her son) that we see past what he has done, and what he is doing, to the damaged psyche below.

The Resident is a deliciously creepy read. This is a book that had me turning the pages. Cliché though it might be, it was unputdownable. It’s such a simple concept, that somebody might be spying on you from your own attic. Most people rarely go up there, for why would you? It’s that dark space with cobwebs and spiders where you store old junk. In fact, even I checked the eaves after reading this (and I have an attic conversion, so, on the whole, there’s nowhere for a serial killer to hide).

I’m a writer myself working on my own novel and this book got in the way of my writing (damn you David Jackson!).

I really can’t recommend this enough, so far it’s my book of 2020.

So get yourself a copy. Just be sure to check the attic after reading.

OMG! This book is utterly divine - everything is so precise, so throughout, sheer brilliance. I loved it.

The characters are great and really propel the story along. Thomas Brogan has had not the best upbringing, shall we say. He feels unloved and yet smothered by it all at the same time, he wants independence but craves attention. He's on the run from the police, for murder, of several people including his own 'parents'. He's found the perfect hiding spot, in an abandoned house and quickly works out that there's access to the neighbouring properties. He starts spying on one couple, using their house during the day to wash, eat and even sleep and then using another neighbour for food by pretending to be her son.
This is all going very well until an intruder breaks in and creates a problem for Brogan.
This book is going to be hot, one of my fave reads so far this year.

I did not like the writing of this one at all.
I felt the main character was childish, and I just could not bring myself to finish reading this one.
I gave up somewhere around the 30% mark, because it just wasn't what I thought or hoped it would be (honestly the premise sounded fantastic) and the author did not pull it off in my opinion.
Hopefully others have a better reading experience than me.

Wow! This is my first novel I've read by David Jackson and I'm truly mind blown and speechless, it's unlike any thriller I've ever read before! He manages to take creepy to a whole new level, So much so I shall be double and triple checking my doors are locked tonight before bed and I'm even tempted to check my attic after reading this,
Imagine a serial killer living in your attic, watching you go about your daily life, learning about your secrets and fears, and playing games with you?

I had goosebumps reading this book and I'm sure I'll spend the next few weeks jumping at every small sound in my house 🙈

A delicious, dark, creepy and addictive thriller that will have you checking over your shoulder and it will stay with you after the very last page.

Thank you to netgalley for my copy of this spectacular read in exchange for my honest review.

Huge thanks to the publisher for sending me a free ARC of The Resident which has in no way influenced my review.

Your home is your castle. Your safe sanctuary from the rest of the world. But what if it wasn't? What if someone was living in your loft. And not just anyone, a deranged serial killer. If that's not got your attention then we need to have words! If you're a regular visitor to the blog then you will know that I'm a die-hard crime fiction fan. I read a lot of crime and that's just fine because that's the way I like it. However, I can count on one hand the number of books I've read from the killer's point of view. And that's exactly what makes The Resident a darn special read. This is Thomas's story.

There are several other elements which make The Resident stand out from other books in the same genre. A large proportion of the dialogue is between Thomas.....and Thomas. Yup, you read that correctly. Thomas is a very damaged soul and we get to see the inner workings of his strained mind. It's fascinating stuff. I wouldn't say he has a good side and a bad side (he's a serial killer for flips sake, it's ALL bad!) but there's a definite divide in his thought processes. Evil Thomas....and eviler Thomas perhaps. One side of his personality definitely leads the other into some pretty tricky situations. The other thing I loved about this book is that the setting is quite compact. Thomas manages to find his way into an abandoned house, and from there he heads to the loft space for a bit of nose around. Once he's in the loft, he realises he can access the other three houses in the row as none of the loft spaces are fully bricked up. From here we're introduced to the neighbours; elderly Elsie, husband and wife Martyn and Colette Fairbright, and to a lesser extent, Janice and Brian. As you can see, the cast of characters is also quite compact but by gosh, it works a treat! Thomas spies on the neighbours, works out their schedules and invades their homes. He likes to taunt and play with them, make them think they're losing their minds. Martyn and Colette become the main objects of his attention, partly due to a fascination (obsession?) he develops over Colette. It's nail-biting stuff as the reader knows that Thomas is just playing with his latest 'toys' and a terrifying, blood drenched end at the hands of a serial killer is nigh for the couple.

Would I recommend this book? I would, yes. This is a fascinating and original take on a serial killer thriller and I loved it! I found myself strangely warming a little to what is a very dark and twisted character. I loved that Thomas was able to form a somewhat odd relationship with one of the other characters in the book and it seemed to be something which, until that point, had been missing in his life. And the ending was superb! The author has absolutely nailed it with that brilliant ending. I love Jackson's books and this is another brilliant addition to his catalogue. Highly recommended.

I chose to read and review an ARC of The Resident. The above review is my own unbiased opinion.

WOW, this was a gripping read by David Jackson. I’m sort of glad my loft hatch is in my shed and not in my home after reading this. The story begins from the 3rd June as the police turn up at the Carter house which for Thomas Brogan a serial killer on the run, had been a perfect place to hide, as they received no visitors, Brogan has no idea how they had traced him but he knows he has to escape. He finds an abandoned house and takes up residence in it. Unfortunately there is no running water, or electrics. So how is he going to survive.

This is an engaging story about Brogan who is the narrator his two personalities talking to each other throughout, he hides in the loft, then realises that one loft leads to another they are not bricked off. This gives him the chance to explore a little more, in the first house lives Elsie an elderly lady, hard of hearing, a carer comes in each day, Brogan drops into her house almost every night, looking for food, Elsie finds him there and thinks it’s her dead son come back to see her. One of Brogans personalities likes Elsie and he truly cares about her, the other personality just wants him to end her.

In the next house is a middle aged couple but the only time he visited their house he nearly didn’t escape due to a large dog.

The third house is the one that interests Brogan the most is the one with Colette and Martyn a young married couple, as he watches them through a small hole in the ceiling, finding ways to taunt them and make them go against each other, having his fun. Although some things don’t always go as Brogan plans, even when the houses are empty. His reign of terror runs from the 3rd June until the 18th June, each day showing the things Brogan gets up to. This is a well plotted thriller read, with a few twists I didn’t see coming. Despite Brogan obviously being a sociopath/psychopath there are times that you feel for him as you read his back story, what has made him the way he is? What has he done before? Who will survive this game and who won’t? Because to Brogan it’s all fun.

This hooks you from page one, reeling you in, wanting to know more not just about Brogan but about some of the other characters as well. Definitely recommend this to killer thrillers.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #Viper for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.