📖 Book Review ~ Girl Next Door by Karen King

Bookouture
9 July 2024

Thanks to the publisher for my copy of the book

My darling son is accused of attacking the girl next door. He would never do this… Would he?

I have the perfect family: my loving, devoted partner. Our sons, so thoughtful and affectionate despite their teenage angst. But everything changes when our friendly neighbours move in.

Their daughter Rachel is so pretty and bubbly. Her giggles float over our garden fence. I can see our boys are falling for her, fighting for her affection.

Then Rachel falls from her bedroom window. Her life is hanging in the balance. And to my horror, her parents think my son Jacob pushed her.

Then I find Rachel’s broken sunflower necklace in my home, and my world falls apart. It’s unbearable, but I must face the truth. Someone’s child is fighting for their life. And someone in my family hurt her.

With Rachel at death’s door, is Jacob in terrible danger too? And how far will I have to go to protect him

I know my sensitive son would never do such a thing, but he is hiding something. A mother always knows, doesn’t she? And who is spreading nasty rumours in our neighbourhood about me and my partner, about history repeating itself?

📖My review..

When a lovely family move in next door Vanessa is thrilled to have someone she can be friends with and her two sons, Lucas and Jacob, seem happy to spend time with Rachel who is the girl next door. However when a devastating tragedy occurs the finger of blame is firmly pointed at Vanessa and her family. Tensions run high in this chilling domestic thriller which looks at how quickly things can spiral out of control and with so many people keeping secrets both Vanessa and the investigating police team seem unable to discover the truth  around who was there when Rachel’s accident occurred.

This is such an all consuming story that I read the whole of the book in a couple of sittings eager to discover more about these two families who seem to have been heading on a collision course from the moment they all met. With difficult conversations and heightened emotions the story gallops along at a good pace and to be honest although I thought I had the conclusion worked out I was surprised by the ending which wrapped everything up in a satisfying sort of way. Girl Next Door definitely has enough  domestic drama to keep you guessing until the end.

About the Author

Karen King was born in Birmingham and has always enjoyed reading and writing. She’s been published for over thirty years, in a variety of genres for both children and adults. She loves writing about the complexities of relationships. Her first three books for Bookouture were romances where relationships came right, she has now turned to the darker side of relationships, writing two psychological thrillers about relationships that go badly wrong. Karen now lives in Spain where she loves to spend her non-writing time exploring the quaint local towns with her husband, Dave, when she isn’t sunbathing or swimming in the pool, that is.

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