What the Neighbors Saw

Melissa Adelman

Mystery Thriller

Desperate Housewives meets The Couple Next Door in a chilling story of murder and intrigue set in a well-to-do DC suburb.

Sometimes the darkest acts occur in the most beautiful houses…

When Alexis and her husband Sam buy a neglected Cape Cod house in an exclusive DC suburb, they are ecstatic. Sam is on the cusp of making partner at his law firm, Alexis is pregnant with their second child, and their glamorous neighbors welcome the couple with open arms. Things are looking up, and Alexis believes she can finally leave her troubled past behind.

But the neighborhood’s picture-perfect image is shattered when their neighbor Teddy – a handsome, successful father of three – is found dead on the steep banks of the Potomac River. The community is shaken, and as the police struggle to identify and apprehend the killer, tension in the neighborhood mounts and long-buried secrets start to emerge.

In the midst of the turmoil, Alexis takes comfort in her budding friendship with Teddy’s beautiful and charismatic widow, Blair. But as the women grow closer, the neighborhood only becomes more divided. And when the unthinkable truth behind Teddy’s murder is finally uncovered, both Blair and Alexis must reexamine their friendship and decide how far they are willing to go to preserve the lives they have so carefully constructed.

-Excerpt taken from Goodreads.

Check Goodreads to see the book’s ratings.

My Opinion

(3.5 / 5) Alexis and her husband Sam buy a house they can barely afford in an upscale Washington DC neighborhood. The house needs a lot of work but they love it. Once they start meeting the neighbors, they feel something is different about this neighborhood.

This exclusive neighborhood isn’t all it seems. Secrets start creeping in. Enough that Alexis starts looking at each neighbor in a different light. Even the one friend she has made on the street. While she gathers information and gossip from each of them, she starts putting pieces together. Is anyone happily married? Financially stable? Does anyone not have “habits” that are very questionable? What kind of neighborhood did she just move her family to?

Along with the questionable neighbors, Alexis and Sam are having their own struggles with childcare, work, money to fix the house and many things going wrong with the house. They’re constantly fighting.

The end of the book was part revenge, part collaboration. It was somewhat sweet justice while also being horribly wrong. But it fit in with the neighborhood and now Alexis will too. Oh the sweet drama of all the crimes and secrets!

I recommend this for domestic thriller lovers!

General content summary: F words= 36, racism, intimacy (some details), alcohol (alcoholism), body found in water (grief, homicide, funeral), story of a child found dead in dumpster (previous), naked woman (no details), alleged rape, bulimia (previous) and food disorders (mentioned multiple), infidelity (multiple, few details), heart attack death (few details), rape (previous), death from a large height (few details), blunt force trauma death (some details).

Thank you to Minotaur and NetGalley for the copy!

The book releases June 20, 2023.

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