Reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The reason I gave it four stars was because the beginning seemed a bit long. While the book did get directly into the action, there was a lot of stalling and made it seem like the whole ordeal was longer than 4 days.

Discussion Guide:

1. Steph, Paul, Emma, and Chris were all hiding secrets which intertwined all of them in ways they never could have imagined.
Emma was hiding secrets for and from Zeb, her son. Zeb had confessed to being friends with Freya and meeting her more than once. Emma was hiding Zeb’s father from him for her own reasons. I feel as though Emma wasn’t justified in not telling Robin about Zeb. I think he deserved a second chance and could have had the opportunity to change for his son. In the end these secrets hurt everyone but also have them the chance to get to know each other again and become a real if not slightly fragmented family.
Paul was hiding secrets from his wife and daughter. He was an undercover cop about 20 years ago and fell in love with the woman he was supposed to be getting close to for her brother in relation to an unsolved kidnapping or murder case. This case remained cold forever. Paul believed that Daniel, Nathalie’s sister whom he fell in love with while undercover, had kidnapped or murdered her son Billie for his own private gain. This led him to believe twenty years later that he might have kidnapped Paul’s daughter to avenge Nathalies death. We find out that Nathalie is not actually dead. This secret affects Paul’s whole family because it causes him to be distracted from the missing daughter case. He is often absent and not there for steph. However, I do think it is helpful in understanding why him and steph were still able to work things out in the end.
Chris was hiding the fact that he thought he murdered Freya. He was also hiding the fact that Freya was blackmailing him and that he was planning on kidnapping her temporarily to get money from Steph’s cousin Becca. This obviously impacts the whole story. He has endangered himself and everyone in the story. He has even put his wife in a horrible position by keeping secrets from her. While he didn’t actually murder Freya, he still deserved to serve time. I still feel bad for him slightly. He was in a roundabout way trying to make things better for his own family. Although he did think his marriage was ending. This put things in perspective and I hope he and Vicky were able to work things out. I don’t think he deserves an eternity of negativity.
I believe that Steph was hiding the biggest and most catastrophic secret of all. It was her mistake 25 years ago that caused all of this to happen. She poisoned Nick who really wasn’t a bad guy. She should have just mentioned the bruises to her mother who would of then had to explain. I think she should have turned herself in. Obviously it shouldn’t have escalated to Freya being kidnapped, but Steph played a huge role in this. Though I am happy she was reunited with Freya, I still think she deserved some sort of legal consequence for ending an innocent mans life.

2. I liked Emma the most in this book. She was the most reliable in my opinion because she was able to get to the bottom of most things. Steph and Paul were more focused on the past while Emma was mostly concerned with the present. I found Emma to be the most relatable as well because she was just trying to live life to the best ability. I also loved her quirky style and ability to take almost anything that is thrown her way.

3. I think it is important that they all lived under the same roof. I don’t think they would have all been as intertwined if they hadn’t. Steph and Paul were always viewed as better than everyone else and I don’t think they would have socialized if they were in their own houses. Freya might not have had contact with either Zeb or Chris who were vital to the ending.

4. The teenage years of all the female characters impacted the story a lot. Emma was dealing with Zeb because of the fact she was a teen mom who didn’t allow her sons fathers to be in the picture. If Zeb hadn’t figured all that out, he might not have been with Freya. Kate/Steph wouldn’t have dealt with this at all if she hadn’t poisoned Nick. If she hadn’t poisoned Nick she might not have met Paul and Freya probably wouldn’t even exist. Freya was having a hard time because she thought that her mom was cheating and that her family was going to fall apart. She somewhat drove the plot because if she hadn’t blackmailed Chris, he never would’ve been able to be pushed into what he had done. Obviously Freya isn’t all to blame because she is a minor and Chris is an adult.

5. All the parents in this book make mistakes. Emma makes the mistake of almost losing her son due to keeping his father a secret from him. This pales in comparison of what mistakes Steph made. Steph killed a man which set all of these things in motion including everything that Becca did. All Becca wanted to do for the longest time was protect Steph. I honestly see where becca is coming from. Kates mom obviously made a mistake in not telling her about the cancer. Maybe she didn’t know everything that Kate was thinking (the bruises) but simple communication would have fixed that. Speak to your freaking kids!!!!! Seriously none of this book would’ve happened if the parents were honest and transparent with their children. I am not saying they are bad parents, but obviously they all made some mistakes that they shouldn’t have.

6. I think the eavesdropping is okay if you are naturally hearing the conversation. What Emma did is not okay in my eyes. She went out of her way to listen which is a bit creepy. Spying is never okay in my opinion. We all deserve privacy and again if you are going out of your way to keep tabs on someone you don’t really know or have no real reason to be condemned about they, you shouldn’t be spying on them.

7. I believe in the end they were all able to move past and grow from their trauma. Emma let robin into her life for Zeb, Paul and Steph were able to find Freya and learn how to grow from the situation.

8. Emma keeps stephs secret for her because she feels as though she can relate to her because they are both having issues with their children. She is intrigued by the Harlow family because she puts them on a pedestal. She wishes her family is like that, but once the kidnapping happens, she feels connected to them because they have both lost their children in a way. Steph and Emma trust each other because they feel as though they’re the same in this situation.

9. Steph and Paul hurt themselves by lacking communication which inevitably made them take longer to find Freya. They both had mental issues due to their past. They could have helped each other and maybe overcome their trauma.

10. I like to think that Steph and Paul are more honest with each other after this. Besides the part about the two pills, they have no reason not to be.

aeverett's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

bandrh's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

vonni's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The Downstairs Neighbor is a delightful read for mystery lovers. Set in the suburbs of modern day London, the neighborhood is shocked when a popular teenage girl, Freya Harlow, is reported missing one March evening. Freya's disappearance stirs up a network of secrets that intersect with the neighbors in their townhome split into three apartments. With missing posters and police officers swimming around the apartments, it seems to be that someone close to the Harlows must know Freya's whereabouts, whether they be close in relation, or close in proximity.

Reading this novel was an intense ride. Helen Cooper weaves a tangled web with many different nodes via third-person POV chapters split into multiple characters. Outside of the characters with POV chapters are other interesting side characters that mostly cast tension and darkness in the lives of the main cast. However, most of those side characters and some of the main characters lack depth compared to arguably the most important main character who has regular POV chapters.

The many twists were fascinating, most were exciting and clever shocks, generous in abundance, and always dramatic. Some of those twists, unfortunately,

derailed significant side plots into red herrings that didn't seem to add much depth to their assigned characters.

For instance, Paul's

story ends with the reveal that his undercover campaign had no relevance to Freya's disappearance.

Up until a pivotal point towards the very end, Chris

being resentful of the distance in his relationship with his wife somewhat resolved by the reveal that he was covering for her kleptomania

made his entire subplot

seem at first irrelevant, and then with the brilliant twist of his collusion with Becca, actually revealed his plot to just be frustratingly slow.

Personally, regardless of the broader story, when stories are divided into multiple character POV's as chapters, I will always have a favorite and least favorite. Perhaps, for the sake of groundedness in reality, these plots struggling or becoming questionable in varying ways isn't such a bad thing. With one of the above examples, I will admit that the journey of that plot was fascinating even without the conclusion I may have preferred more.

Morality in this novel is completely grey. Character growth is up to interpretation in some cases, and in one major case I'd say there is a character who regresses in growth over the novel. Despite how that may sound, I enjoyed the process of the narrative around characters changing in multiple directions. Particularly with

Steph/Kate, whose story begins empathetically in both the modern and past story, but ends with a dark tone. Her life as Kate, allowing Becca to take all of the blame for Nick's death, and her most recent chapter, the final lines of the story, to end with her quietly revealing that she was responsible for the actual death. A secret she kept even from Becca.

I enjoyed that character's plots in particular, but come to the end of the novel. I couldn't help but feel cheated that

we never got a POV chapter for Becca or Freya. I was particularly curious for Becca's point of view as an adult.

Her resentment, not her actions, felt justified and increasingly complex, even up to the final chapter of the book. The other character seemed as checked out of the plot as Paul is claimed to be by himself, at one point!

Any negative points aside, this has been one of the most satisfying thrillers I've read in the past 12 months. Overall, the pace was fantastic, despite minor caveats. This is one of those stories that I want to push into the hands of my other thriller fan friends, and would even possibly like to see adapted one day in the right hands. In the meantime, I am excited to see what else Helen Cooper has been up to in the years since she released this addictive story.

Content Warnings

kricha06's review

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

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