The Mother Next Door: A Novel of Suspense

by Tara Laskowski

• ISBN10: 1525804707
• ISBN13: 9781525804700
• Publish Date: 12 October 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Graydon House
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[Quirky Cat]

The Mother Next Door is the latest thriller that I dove into, written by Tara Laskowski. If you're looking for a novel to keep you busy on a fine fall evening, this one might be worth checking out – especially if you're looking for some thrills and chills.

With Halloween right around the corner, one neighborhood is going all out in preparations. Or, more accurately, four influential moms are pushing the rest of the neighborhood to do so. This group of moms is known as the Ivy Five, and they have been missing a fifth member for far too long.

Until now. Only will the Ivy Five get what they want? Or will their dark secrets be put out on display, alongside all of the Halloween decor and party prep? Either way, one this is certain: the Ivy Five is going to change after this Halloween.

"Ladies and gentlemen, skulls and boys: by the time our Halloween block party is over tonight, one of us will be dead..."

Who doesn't love a good, seasonally appropriate read? Personally, once the leaves start changing colors, I can't get enough spook in my life. I want to read it all, from thrillers to horror and everything in between. So when I saw that The Mother Next Door was set during Halloween, I just knew I had to read it.

If you love a book with secrets on top of secrets, you'll probably enjoy The Mother Next Door. There is so much to unravel as far as that is concerned! It took me a while to finally sort out all of the secrets, which allowed me to guess who the killer was.

Unfortunately, I'll confess that I didn't really care for any of the characters in this book. Arguably, that was the point. I never expected to like them, even from the description. But I'll admit that it made it harder to care about the situations they were in. Or even to care about their secrets, to a certain extent.

Overall, I would say that The Mother Next Door is a perfect book for a quick autumn read. It'll keep you captivated for a night but won't distract you from all of the festivities happening around you.

Thanks to Graydon House and #NetGalley for making this book available for review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Read more reviews over at Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Jeff Sexton]

Halloween-Themed Mystery/Drama With An Urban Legend - And A Punisher Scene. In the early 2000s, pre-MCU version of The Punisher - the one with Thomas Jane as Frank Castle/ The Punisher and also featuring John Travolta and Will Patton - I've always LOVED the scene in the finale where Castle tells Travolta's character "I made you kill your wife. I made you kill your best friend. And now I've killed you.". This book actually has elements that played out there within it as well, and this book actually works the drama and even action in those sequences much better than even that movie pulled off. (Though in its defense, in that movie the scene in question is just a plot point in service of the actual story, and here the story ultimately revolves around this scene.) To my mind, all of the above is obscure enough that I haven't actually gone into spoiler territory here, so let's move on.

This is a tale where several characters are at play, but we only ever really hear from three of them - the newbie, the Queen Bee of the resident Mean Girls (in this particular case, the mothers who effectively run the school's PTA board), and a mysterious "other"... who seems intent on killing someone on Halloween night. It mostly takes place in the leadup to that night, where we see that not all is as it seems on Ivy Lane, and that, in the words of Tony Stark (when referencing Nick Fury in The Avengers), her "secrets have secrets". Which goes for most every "her" here, particularly the three we actually hear from.

Arguably the one knock here is that male characters are almost non-existent and pretty damn one dimensional, but eh, this is fairly common across the genre, particularly when written by females. Finding an author that actually does opposite-sex characters well in this genre is a bit difficult at times, so it is more easily excused - for better or worse- as simply the way things (currently) are when this occurs.

Beyond this quibble though, this is a strong enough book, and spooky/ creepy enough that it absolutely fits right in with the Halloween vibe and its release is thus perfectly timed in mid-October. Definetly not a classic "monster tale", but if you prefer your monsters of the more human variety... this may be up your alley. (Though to be fair, there is nothing *overly* horrific here. Though there are absolutely some very bad people here.) Very much recommended.