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3.13 AVERAGE
3.13 AVERAGE
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
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
So, this was one of those books I liked but, wow – too slow. The pacing killed me and, as I was listening to the audiobook version, the reader's voice added to the slowness. It was much better at 1.25x but I think Those People would have been better for a bit of fierce editing.
After reading this book, I can’t complain about any of the bad neighbors I’ve had!
One bad neighbor can disrupt an entire street, turning previously happy neighbors spiteful and vicious. I liked the author’s writing style, but not her final wrap up of this story. Which is frustrating, because I was really enjoying the book until the end. I’m not sure if it was her intention to leave an opening for a follow-up book, but the ending ruined this book for me. I do “Our House”, so I’ll probably give her another try and hope for a better outcome.
Darren and Jodie move onto a nice peaceful street and bring the home values down fast! They are far from the ideal neighbors and it doesn’t take long before they’ve disrupted the neighborhood. They play loud music at all hours of the day and night; their numerous home projects are leaving rubbish everywhere; and they are running a used-car business that is adding to the unsightly mess.
But the other neighbor’s aren’t as flawless and superior as they appear.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
My Rating: 3 ⭐️
Published: June 11th 2019 by Berkley Books
Pages: 368
Recommend: Maybe, if unlikable characters are your thing.
Excerpts:
One bad neighbor can disrupt an entire street, turning previously happy neighbors spiteful and vicious. I liked the author’s writing style, but not her final wrap up of this story. Which is frustrating, because I was really enjoying the book until the end. I’m not sure if it was her intention to leave an opening for a follow-up book, but the ending ruined this book for me. I do “Our House”, so I’ll probably give her another try and hope for a better outcome.
Darren and Jodie move onto a nice peaceful street and bring the home values down fast! They are far from the ideal neighbors and it doesn’t take long before they’ve disrupted the neighborhood. They play loud music at all hours of the day and night; their numerous home projects are leaving rubbish everywhere; and they are running a used-car business that is adding to the unsightly mess.
But the other neighbor’s aren’t as flawless and superior as they appear.
Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
My Rating: 3 ⭐️
Published: June 11th 2019 by Berkley Books
Pages: 368
Recommend: Maybe, if unlikable characters are your thing.
Excerpts:
“Do you know the Russian proverb, ‘Don’t buy the house, buy the neighborhood’?”
Rating: 3 stars
What I Liked: This was a real page-turner for me and I read it in a couple of hours. Most of this book is a well-written exploration of the claustrophobia of living in a suburban, aspiring middle-class environment. The novel very much presents this street as being a little bubble: the main residents’ views on what is and what isn’t important in life are presented by themselves as being huge and vital, whereas to the reader, an outsider, they can seem so small and insignificant.
The contrast between ‘those people’ and the other residents, comes across very well. ‘Those people’, Darren and Jodie, are presented as typical bad neighbours: drinking, loud music, parties, aggressive behaviour, with the undertone of them being more obviously working class than the other residents - but those other residents are, in different ways, just as unpleasant as neighbours.From the first page, the snobbery and self-interest of the other residents of the street was way more annoying to me as a reader than the more obviously bad behaviour of Darren and Jodie. I can appreciate having pride in where you live, but as the book went on, it became more and more murky as to how much of the way the street was presented to outsiders was the choice of all residents. I got the impression that most of the residents would have been happy to keep themselves to themselves, but it was this core group of residents pushing a more communal atmosphere. I think the way the novel presented this was good: it wasn’t too obvious or in your face.
As is the way with a lot of novels of this type, it was very hard to like any of the characters. I think I came the closest to liking Tess, more because I sympathised with some of her side stories, but the rest of them were just awful. Overall the characters felt very real - I think we’ve all met versions of these people and we know what they’re like, and I think that took skill on the part of the author.
In contrast, I liked thatwe did eventually get to see glimpses of another side to Jodie and Darren, as well as the hints that they were just trying to get by. It was nice to see a softer side to both of them and it served well to demonstrate how narrow-minded the rest of the residents were.
The split-POV worked very well for me, I think it helped move the pace along and it was interesting to see the different perspectives on what was going on on the street.It would have been interesting to give a POV to one of the residents outside of that little clique, because I felt there was so much more going on under the surface I would have liked to see their take on it.
I also liked thatDarren’s death was not actually caused by anyone on the street.
What I Didn’t: I enjoyed most of it but I was a bit disappointed by some of the plot choices, particularly in the second half. The first half, before we know what has happened, was better: it was pacy and intriguing, and kept my interest. During the second half, though, I thought the pace dragged a little and I thought some of the plot points got a bit muddled.
I think the actual resolution was a bit disappointing and unsatisfying. I think that this isn’t really the books fault: the popularity of this type of book, this type of thriller, is that the expectation of a ‘twist’ has become so commonplace that when there isn’t really a twist it can fall a bit flat. In this case, I was a bit disappointed on both of the twists:
I overall felt like it was too simple, the way it all resolved. I think this is partly because the novel set up some plot threads that ultimately went nowhere:
Overall: I thought this was an enjoyable read with a lot of suitably nasty characters and unreliable narrators. I just felt that the conclusion was a bit muddled and unsatisfying, and I kept on expecting a big twist that never came. The twists there were were set up well but almost too obviously and weren’t particularly exciting to me overall.
Would I Recommend It?: Yes, if you want a well-written domestic noir thriller which explores class divisions.
Would I Read Something By The Author Again?: Yes.
Content Warnings:
What I Liked: This was a real page-turner for me and I read it in a couple of hours. Most of this book is a well-written exploration of the claustrophobia of living in a suburban, aspiring middle-class environment. The novel very much presents this street as being a little bubble: the main residents’ views on what is and what isn’t important in life are presented by themselves as being huge and vital, whereas to the reader, an outsider, they can seem so small and insignificant.
The contrast between ‘those people’ and the other residents, comes across very well. ‘Those people’, Darren and Jodie, are presented as typical bad neighbours: drinking, loud music, parties, aggressive behaviour, with the undertone of them being more obviously working class than the other residents - but those other residents are, in different ways, just as unpleasant as neighbours.
As is the way with a lot of novels of this type, it was very hard to like any of the characters. I think I came the closest to liking Tess, more because I sympathised with some of her side stories, but the rest of them were just awful.
Spoiler
I particularly disliked Naomi, even though the book didn’t focus as heavily on her - the undercurrent throughout of Naomi quietly manipulating everything around her to suit herself, the implications that a few other residents weren’t happy about Play Out Sunday but were pressured and cajoled into going along with it, the way she treated Tess, all made for a suitably unlikeable character. Her and Ralph deserved each other.In contrast, I liked that
The split-POV worked very well for me, I think it helped move the pace along and it was interesting to see the different perspectives on what was going on on the street.
I also liked that
What I Didn’t: I enjoyed most of it but I was a bit disappointed by some of the plot choices, particularly in the second half. The first half, before we know what has happened, was better: it was pacy and intriguing, and kept my interest. During the second half, though, I thought the pace dragged a little and I thought some of the plot points got a bit muddled.
Spoiler
I understand it was to muddy the waters about who had done what, but I think there were too many people lurking about at the same time on the same night, too many different plots for revenge against Darren. It made it a little hard to follow, and in the end, led to my main complaint about the book as a whole.I think the actual resolution was a bit disappointing and unsatisfying. I think that this isn’t really the books fault: the popularity of this type of book, this type of thriller, is that the expectation of a ‘twist’ has become so commonplace that when there isn’t really a twist it can fall a bit flat. In this case, I was a bit disappointed on both of the twists:
Spoiler
I thought it was quite obvious it was Sissy who had messed with the scaffolding, and it seemed too easy for it to be Ant who turned on the gas.I overall felt like it was too simple, the way it all resolved. I think this is partly because the novel set up some plot threads that ultimately went nowhere:
Spoiler
I thought there were some undercurrents, hints of behaviour on the part of other residents, that never came to fruition. There were hints of Finn not wanting to work at Ralph’s business for other reasons, some of the residents seemed to have crushes on other residents, there were a few off-hand comments about the same babysitter, the fact that someone seemed to keep on telling specific details about arguments between Tess and Naomi and their family lives to the police, and so on. Also, the major thing for me is that Naomi’s character felt very much like she was set up as a possible mastermind of a bigger plot behind it all. This might have been deliberate, but I thought it was a shame she wasn’t utilised more in the final conclusion to it all.Overall: I thought this was an enjoyable read with a lot of suitably nasty characters and unreliable narrators. I just felt that the conclusion was a bit muddled and unsatisfying, and I kept on expecting a big twist that never came. The twists there were were set up well but almost too obviously and weren’t particularly exciting to me overall.
Would I Recommend It?: Yes, if you want a well-written domestic noir thriller which explores class divisions.
Would I Read Something By The Author Again?: Yes.
Content Warnings:
Spoiler
Violence, murder (specifically of a pregnant woman), attempted murder, death threats, animal abuse and death, threatening behaviour.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I looooove a book where everybody is unlikeable! Nobody on this street is a good person. We have loud and disrespectful neighbours, uptight busy bodies, misogynists, elitist manipulators, and blustering doddering incompetent men. I spent this book trying to figure out who to root for, eventually realising that there is *nobody* to root for!
Unfortunately there are just too many characters and some got lost along the way for me, which took this book down to 3 stars. Everybody has a finger in the proverbial pie and when I finished this book I was *so* confused. I couldn’t tell who was responsible for what, and that’s partly because there are *so* many characters who all feel like the same person.
We don’t get to know these characters beyond more than first impressions or stereotypes, so I really struggled telling one snobby white lady apart from another. It’s a shame really, because I loved the dynamic of *nobody* being the hero here!
Ensemble casts are hard and unfortunately Louise Candlish just didn’t nail it. If you’re looking for a mystery set on a single London street with characters who all feel different and real, try Lisa Jewell’s The Girls in the Garden!
Unfortunately there are just too many characters and some got lost along the way for me, which took this book down to 3 stars. Everybody has a finger in the proverbial pie and when I finished this book I was *so* confused. I couldn’t tell who was responsible for what, and that’s partly because there are *so* many characters who all feel like the same person.
We don’t get to know these characters beyond more than first impressions or stereotypes, so I really struggled telling one snobby white lady apart from another. It’s a shame really, because I loved the dynamic of *nobody* being the hero here!
Ensemble casts are hard and unfortunately Louise Candlish just didn’t nail it. If you’re looking for a mystery set on a single London street with characters who all feel different and real, try Lisa Jewell’s The Girls in the Garden!
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I am not sure what to say about this.... on the one hand it’s a good story better in some ways than others... but on the other just plain boring... tedious and just absolute crap. I have no feelings for any other people they are all awful in their own ways and well it just left me feeling cold. Also went on too long it could have been over in like say a couple of pages.