A review by sandrareilly513
The Secret Next Door by Rebecca Taylor

2.0

Rebecca Taylor's The Secret Next Door features a tragic mystery in a well-to-do community with secrets spilling out neighbors' front doors. More domestic tension than suspenseful, Alyson's crumbling marriage and anger-ridden 5-year-old son will leave any parent reader with their stomach in knots. Alyson's home life is in shambles; she has a husband who barely talks to her and sleeps in the basement and a son who is so angry for apparently no reason that he flies into a rage when he doesn't get his way, and she's struggling to keep everything together to create the life she always envisioned for herself. And while she thinks her neighbors are better off than she is, there are so many secrets in this community that finding a child dead near the lake and a family falling apart at the seams almost become minor plot points. I had expected more of a thriller but The Secret Next Door is more of a tense tale of "who's hiding what" and adults trudging through life with decisions that are weighing them down. The best intentions don't always lead us down the best path...