Despite all appearances, things aren't so perfect in the neighborhood. The Perfect Neighborhood is a story full of suspense and many twists and turns. When a five year old goes missing on his way home from school, the town is on edge and suspicion abounds. A "happily married" woman leaves town, another child disappears on the watch of her babysitter (who was also the babysitter of the boy who disappeared). We follow the story from the perspective of multiple characters and are left guessing until the very end. Liz Altman's book is a page turner and hard to put down. I recommend this book and will be checking out more of the author's books. Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC!

I love a good domestic thriller, and The Perfect Neighborhood is no exception! When a little boy goes missing in what seems to be the "perfect" neighborhood -- nice houses, friendly neighbors, no crime -- the community is shook, and everyone has a different theory of who's responsible. Alterman had me at the edge of my seat and tearing through the pages to find out the ending!

A must-read for domestic thriller lovers and fans of Liane Moriarty!

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The Perfect Neighbourhood - Liz Alterman

The Perfect Neighbourhood is set in a perfect suburban town in America, nothing goes wrong other than someone bringing the wrong desert to a party. That is until a young boy goes missing on his way home from school. As a perfect neighbourhood this is put down to domestic problems until a young girl is snatched from her garden.

I really liked the premise of this book, especially the use of the babysitter by the kidnappers. I also felt the entwined accounts of what happened worked really well, giving snapshots of what was happening within the families but also the town. However, I found the story pretty predictable. I guessed around half way who the kidnapper was which kind of ruined all the small clues put in place. I also felt the abilities of some of the very young children were slightly farfetched making it a bit unrealistic.

Although it was predictable this didn't take away from the story and I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

AD- Gifted however all views are my own. Thankyou to @netgalley and @crookedlanebooks for allowing me access to the E-Arc

The Perfect Neighborhood by Liz Alterman, shows that we really don’t know what goes on behind closed doors. Your neighbors may look perfect, with beautiful houses, yards, and cars, but are their lives really picture perfect? Billy Barnes, a 5 year old, goes missing as he walks home from school. Who would hurt an innocent child and his family? Is this the only mystery in this seemingly perfect community? Another child goes missing and with that, the safety and security of the community is rocked. Was it the babysitter, who was at the scene of both abductions? If not, who is preying on the young, innocent, and why? This book was page turner, with twists and turns. You will not be able to guess the truth. I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves a good psychological thriller. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

What an excellent story! The character development was excellent and intriguing with the chapters alternating between their different viewpoints. I found this more of a mystery than a thriller and the ending left me wanting to know what happened next! I only gave 4 stars due to the end being a little predictable. Otherwise an enjoyable and excellent read.

I really enjoyed this book. Lots of characters each with their own story. The way the story is presented, you think each of the characters could be the kidnapper at some point. Characters are well developed and plausible. Oh, what tangled webs we weave!

This story unfolds through a multi POV, five women deeply engrained in the neighbourhood; I thought this worked really well to keep the suspense going and to give the reader a well rounded picture of what was really going on in this seemingly perfect neighborhood, but the pacing in the first half was a bit slow for me. In my opinion, we had one narrator too many (I felt Lindsay added very little to this story). Also, there were a few details regarding Billy and his abduction that were completely unbelievable to me; 1) there is no way in hell a 5 year old would ever be allowed to walk to and from kindergarten on their own, even with a friend 2) a 5 year old would never have a cellphone, but IF they did, they DEFINITELY wouldn’t be able to fluently read / write text messages to their parent or baby sitter (my kindergartner barely knows the alphabet).

Still, I really enjoyed this one. I thought the author did an amazing job of capturing the emotions of the various women / mothers, the complex dichotomy of motherhood, feeling trapped and claustrophobic while simultaneously loving something so much you’d sacrifice anything for them.

I was fairly sure that I had the mystery figured out from the get go, but I was wrong and the author kept me guessing until approximately 75% of the way through. I appreciated that the plot was surprising, but still completely believable. And the twist at the end… I am still thinking about it!

4.5* The Perfect Neighborhood by Liz Alterman's "engrossing novel is a thought-provoking read about the dark side of suburbia and the secrets of close-knit communities..."

I couldn't have said it better myself. The book begins as typical neighbors gossip and pine for what the other one has, including their husbands. It was hard to put down! In this Norman Rockwell safe community, 5 year old Billy Barnes was walking home alone from school and never shows up, the whole town is put under a microscope. My first thoughts he is too young to walk alone, but then the neighbors were all so trusting. Until, a lot of secrets surface, affairs exposed and guilty thoughts from his mother Rachel over working instead of being home with him. Unlike a lot of latchkey kids, he had a sitter that waited for him on the doorstep, but that day she was late, so she carried the guilt and grief because she had secrets to hide why she was late. When another child in her care goes missing, this raises significant implications on her.

A hair-raising chill will run through your body when the truth becomes more lies and people aren't as they appear in this fancy neighborhood. The trust put into others will have you question what is lurking in their dark minds and how they ever got to that. The story flows thoughtfully through 3 POVs, Rachel, Cassidy, the babysitter and a famous actress, Allison who also lives in this not so close-knit neighborhood. Keep your enemies close....
Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this title in exchange for my honest review.

Predictable from the start. So many female voices that felt essentially the same. The redemption was the author didn't give us a "happy ending" with the infertility issues. Very early on the reader is hit with the realization that Chris is the catalyst, and every "hint" for the reader from there on out only reinforces it. Definitely a book you read for the journey of "how did we get there" but under the guise of a mysterious thriller.

Allison and Chris seem to have it all. She's a semi-famous actor and he a popular musician. When this New York City couple happened upon a bucolic village not too far away they knew it was the perfect place to start and raise a family.

While they tried and failed to carry a baby to term, their sorrow is over shadowed by the kidnapping of first one child and then another in their beautiful and supposedly safe town.

While somewhat predictable and cliche, the novel is nevertheless a fun escape. Easy to read and hard to put down.

As a mystery thriller, Liz Alterman's The Perfect Neighborhood is a good read - it keeps you on your toes throughout the book.

A thriller that kept me guessing and on my toes until the very last page. I was engrossed int he family/neighborhood drama. The character are developed extremely well. Kidnapping, secrets, suspense and drama all wrapped up neatly in this page turning book.

The Perfect Neighborhood was the perfect novel! I have read many domestic thrillers and none have held my interest and been as intriguing as the Perfect Neighborhood. The characters were believable, the plot was interesting the pace was fast and the ending was believable. I enjoyed the book and will be researching the author to see if she has written more books.

Secrets, Suspects, Suburbia! (Oh, my!)

“How many people are as happy as they pretend to be?” The Perfect Neighborhood highlights exactly that: you only see what your neighbors want you to see – the life that you perceive they live is most likely different from what goes on behind closed doors. Do we really know our neighbors?

This suspense novel by Liz Alterman leads you down many twisting paths, and while you think you may know whodunit early on with clues laid out like breadcrumbs, you just can’t imagine whose being used, watched, and taken advantage of.

Oak Hill is the perfect neighborhood; beautiful houses, a great school system, rich husbands and stay at home moms. Community get-togethers for the purpose of sharing gossip and discussing the newest scandal – with alcohol aplenty. But behind closed doors, every family has their secrets: the life that they would never post on social media.

Allison is a model, and her husband a famous rockstar; Rachel is a real estate agent who married a widower when she found out she was pregnant; Sarah is a socialite with three young children; Cassidy, a teenager, is graduating from high school and helping pay for her upcoming college expenses with babysitting jobs. One day, Cassidy is late to her babysitting gig for kindergartener Billy Barnes, Rachel’s son. Billy is gone without a trace and cops have very few leads to follow. While the community is quick to cast shadows on Rachel’s parenting and blame a possible family situation, another child goes missing.

Alterman provides a list of possible suspects that all seem plausible, but unlikely, as this thriller unfolds with one thought in mind: are the missing children still alive? Suburbia meets your worst nightmare in a tale where at the heart of these perfect communities you forget that the players are still real people: moms. “Is there a word for a woman who’s lost a child? Other than broken?”

I was completely engrossed by this book told in several narratives and from multiple points-of-view; everything perfectly tied together at the end of while leaving you with the scary thought of how easy things can happen if one isn’t paying attention. I will hug my kids a little tighter after reading this. Captivating!

I highly recommend that when this book comes out on July 12, 2022, that you immediately read it! I thank NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own!

“Whose more dangerous: the stranger who picks you up on a highway or the people in your neighborhood?”

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this book for an honest review.

This was one of those books where you have no idea where it’s going until it gets there, which I love!!!

The chapters were long which gave a lot of time to really get into the characters and find out more about them without the storyline being given away right at the start. The range of characters and their different storylines which had small areas of intersections made it even more intriguing, especially when trying to work out what happened to the first missing child and then the second missing child.

This book will be published on 12 July 2022.

The Oak Hill neighborhood seems to be the perfect suburban location to live…until it isn’t. Allison Langley leaves her rockstar husband, Christopher, in the middle of the night. This is the talk of the town until a child goes missing. Billy is 5 years old and disappears while walking home from school. In a search for suspects, Billy’s mother, Rachel, has to consider who would have a reason to hurt her and her family. Could it be someone from the neighborhood? When a second child goes missing the investigation goes full tilt and turns the neighborhood upside down looking for any clue.

I spent a lot of time trying to solve the mystery of THE PERFECT NEIGHBORHOOD. In the end, I was successful but it was a great story and a lot of fun to unravel. Any one living in suburbia will relate to this book on some level. The writing is top notch and the characters come to life from the pages. Liz Alterman has created a nearly perfect “whodunit” with THE PERFECT NEIGHBORHOOD!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

The Perfect Neighborhood is a psychological thriller about a child named Billy who goes missing. The neighbors speculate as to who could have taken the child, was it a parent, the babysitter, or another family member? As the weeks go on, tension in the neighborhood decreases, that is… until another child goes missing. Now that the cases seemed to be linked, it is certain that someone in the neighborhood is responsible…

I really liked this book; I could not put it down until I finished the story so I could find out who was responsible. It had good pacing and I’m always a fan of the alternating narrator. It had a satisfying ending as well. Was not disappointed!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a great thriller. Missing children, secrets, and that ending! I loved it. I was quite enraptured with the different narrative voices going on. I would highly recommend this book.

I will insert the description from the book because I won't be able to do it justice.
"When actress and model Allison Langley leaves her former rockstar husband, Christopher, in the middle of the night, it’s all her Oak Hill neighbors can talk about. The gossip comes to an abrupt halt when five-year-old Billy Barnes goes missing on his walk home from kindergarten.

Billy’s mother, Rachel, blames herself for being at work and letting her only child walk alone. Cassidy, Billy’s teenage babysitter, was also late to arrive on the afternoon he disappeared and blames herself for his disappearance.

As the clock ticks down, police are unable to find any trace of Billy, forcing Rachel to ponder the enemies she’s made in their well-off suburb. Could it be one of her neighbors who stole her son? Would they abduct Billy to hurt her? How easy would it be to take a child while the parents or nannies are distracted?

When another child goes missing, the town is put under a microscope as the police try to get to the bottom of the disappearances. Will they be able to find the two children, or will it be too late? What secrets lie at the heart of this tragedy, and how far will one go to keep those dangerous secrets buried?"

I liked this book, but like most other books I read, I found it a bit slow in the beginning. The story was good, but there was a bit too much of everything else and I lost interest a few times. Even if it´s a little slow, I would still recommend this if you want to read some mystery/thriller ish. I like books like this where I get to follow different perspectives.

I gave this one 3/5 stars.

I loved every second if this bookm it was so dark and eerie and really dose make you wonder about your own neighbours hahaha. It has some really good twists and turns and don't be surprised if you find yourself putting off the housework for another day just so you have more time to get stuck into this!! The characters all so well written and realistic that you did find yourself genuinely liking or disliking them as if they were real people. We all live gossiping about the neighbours n this let's you take ut to a whole new level. 100% would recommend