Thank you NetGalley and Killer Reads for generously providing the ARC in exchange for my honest review

Gary and Helen are a simple British couple, both teachers and newly married. Gary has found a new opportunity as a school teacher in Germany and Helen has had to give up her job and move with Gary, since Gary's salary is twice more than what he could have earned in UK. So, Helen is a little skeptical about the move, but Gary convinces here by saying that their community will be a good change for her.

Helen feels out of place immediately. During their welcome party, she gets to see the awkward and disturbing behaviors from almost all her neighbors. We have Louisa, who has appointed herself as the resident queen bee and expects everyone to follow her lead. Then Damien, Louisa's eye(and other body parts too!) wandering husband. We have the weirdly dressed and overly sensitive Mel and her husband Chris who is just plain creepy. Helen tries her best to fit into this group, but finds herself isolated many times. She joins a swimming club nearby where she meets the young Sasha, who we come to know is seeking justice for something personal from the members of the teacher's community.

Slowly, Helen can sense Gary change. He keeps asking her to adjust with their neighbors. Helen is wary of Louisa and keeps challenging her. She wants to help Mel, because she's the butt of their(Louisa and Chris) bullying. Weird things are happening. One of the kids goes missing, their houses are trashed, Sasha is stalking and threatening them, the men seem to have some secret about a club.. Everyone has a secret and a very dangerous one at that..Each trying to save their own ass.. Lies are spewed, characters are doubted and conspiracies are made. We also get glimpses of a naive girl Fiona who falls for the wrong guy. But who is she? How is she related to this teacher's community ? Whom is Sasha trying to avenge ?

Helen arrives to a house within the community to find her so-called friends murdered and the police suspect it's her. The end was heart-breaking. I felt so bad for Fiona, she just had to break out!! The ridiculous research shown in the CD was creepy. The characters were different shades of grey, with some on the very dark side. So much pretense, so many secrets, so many vices ! Sigh ! It gave me a lot of angst and disturbed my mind. I guess, mission accomplished by the author !!

Helen is a newly married British PE teacher who gives up her way of life back home in Shropshire to join her husband, Gary, at an international school in Germany. On arrival, Helen finds that they will be living in a rental community provided by the school alongside a group of Gary's teacher colleagues. Suffering from culture shock and trying to give this new life a chance, Helen finds it hard to fit in and begins to feel uncomfortable with the increasingly odd behaviour of her new neighbours.
 
Headteacher, Damian Holland lives in a huge renovated property just across the way with his perfect wife, Louisa and their 3 children. Money  and expensive things are no stranger to this couple and Louisa very quickly introduces herself to Helen as the focal point of pretty much everything that goes on in the community; her disapproval and her very public belittling of Helen starting early on. She's is a master of the passive aggressive put-down; very much not a woman's woman, that much is clear. The odious Chris and his chubby, downtrodden wife Mel live next door to Helen & Gary and often make an unwelcome appearance, although Helen doesn't have much time for either of them, nor they for her.
 
Very soon, Helen is fed up. She's fed up her neighbours picking fault and nosing about, she's fed up of Germany, she's fed up of not having a job, and she doesn't fancy the role of haus-frau just yet. Having been a dedicated swimmer back home in Shropshire, she finds herself attending the open-air pool just outside the village where she bumps into the brooding and mysterious Sascha, a German national who seems to really detest the English and the International School that brings them to his neighbourhood.
 
After Helen gives Sascha a lift in her car, it turns out the nosey neighbours  already know him. They call him 'The Stalker', and there's history between them, especially between him, and Damian and Louisa, but Helen can't figure out why. What is it that links this little ex-pat community and this possibly unstable German man? What has caused all this ill-feeling? Are they in danger from him?
 
The Perfect Neighbours is a well paced novel which  plods along quite nicely to begin with as you meet and start to get to know all of the major players, and try and figure out what makes them tick. There were a few times I was thinking that you just wouldn't let someone talk to you the way that Louisa speaks to Helen, but when you put it in the context of being in a different country, away from all you know, trying desperately to fit in for the sake of your new husband - I think perhaps you would tolerate a lot more than you would when in your  comfort zone.
 
This is a novel twisty and turny in nature, and just as you start to settle into the rhythm of it, about half way or so through, then it turns on its head and everything you thought you might know, is questioned. From then on it's like running through a maze, taking one turn  after the other, each leading to a different exit, or perhaps, a dead end.  Towards the latter part of the book, I felt that the plot and explanation of previous events was a little farfetched - but enjoyable nonetheless.
 
It's very hard to say much more without giving away too much of the story, but if you enjoy a good thriller, especially one that feels like you're putting together a jigsaw puzzle with moving parts, and that gives you a good shock every now and again, then you'll love The Perfect Neighbours!

Personally I think a more apt title for this book would be nightmare neighbours or neighbours from hell.They might believe in their own deluded minds that they are perfect neighbours but in reality they are mostly a bunch of unlikable,manipulative liars.From the know it all one to the little old man to the creepy one and his door mat wife,they are all hiding something,secrets that they will go to any lengths to keep hidden.Our protagonist Helen finds herself unwittingly drawn into their world which on the surface seems picture perfect when she moves into their exclusive ex pat community to live with her husband Gary.As soon as she is introduced to her new neighbours she senses that all is not what it seems.Helen swiftly finds herself caught up in a living nightmare unsure if she can trust anyone including her own husband.Scattered throughout the story are italicized chapters that are voiced by a student called Fiona.Her chapters where full of mystery,menace and intrigue and where my favourite parts of the book.

The Perfect Neighbours is a riveting,twist packed thriller that had me hooked in from the first page.It's not fast paced but there is a underlying sense of menace throughout the book,the tension building up slowly until all the treads come together in the shocking final conclusion.Nothing is what it seems in this well written debut thriller,you realise how clever and ingenious this author has been when the truth is fully revealed and you think back over things that you have read and see them in a completely different light.I really enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more books by this author in the future.

Helen is the new wife who comes into a settled ex-pat community in Germany set around an international school. She quickly finds it all a bit overpowering and claustopobic. Her husband Gary is away teaching all day and she feels bombarded by Louisa, the headmaster's wife, to conform and join in all that she does. From coffee mornings to the school shop from the swimming club to the local outdoor pool, Louisa has a finger in every pie. These are the perfect neighbours - keen to get Helen involved but they all have secrets which could blow the community apart.

Helen isn't really someone who joins in with all the paraphanelia which goes on around a school. She may be a teacher's wife but she has no desire to be on all the committees and attend all the coffee mornings. She sees Louisa's welcome as intimidating and forceful. On the other hand, Louisa is just so keen that she wants to include everyone and sees it as a personal slight when Helen finds excuses. Who is right - well both of them of course. We have all met people like this and eventually they will settle down together if allowed. Unfortunately events get in the way and Louisa sees Helen's reluctance to get involved as a deliberate attack. Peace is shattered.

The relationship between these two women is central to the book. It creates the atmosphere of distrust and allows a chink for other people to edge into the perfect community. Who kidnapped Murdo and ransacked the houses? Was it the strange German Helen met at the pool, so her fault? Or was it someone closer to home.

All the way through this book there are questions being asked. Who is as they seem? Any of the community? Is Mel as mentally unwell as she seems? Is her husband Chris really making a film or is he downright creepy? Is there anyone in the community who is really as they seem or even particularly nice? Actually these people are quite realistic and I feel the author has created them well.

There is an excellent plot which builds up to a very satisfying ending. Throughout the book is another occasional thread about Fiona. Is this relevent and what connection does it have to the main plot? Actually this was quite a suprise and not what I had anticipated.

I did enjoy this book. There were a lot of things to hang onto throughout the pages. Don't miss any of the little clues - they all become relevant in the end. I thought it was well constructed with very believable people acting in ways that fitted with their personalities. I would certainly seek out another book by this author.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

I would like to thank Netgalley and HarperCollins UK for allowing me to read this novel by Rachel Sargeant in return for my honest review. This is a new author to me and I liked the style of writing and the way the story developed.

Helen moves to Germany to be with her husband who is a teacher. The cul-de-sac she finds herself living in is full of people who all seem to have something to hide. Helen doesn't fit in with her neighbours and struggles to cope with the ex-pat community with the dinner parties and social gatherings which drives a wedge between her and her husband.

She meets the man which the rest of the cul-de-sac believe is a stalker at the local swimming pool and forms a bond with him, alienating her even more from the rest of the community.

As the plot develops the sinister things the neighbours are hiding become the central themes, including the secret her husband hid from her. I enjoyed the twists and turns and it kept me guessing all the way to the end. Clever and enjoyable. Recommended.

This is an excellent book. With really great characters and a brilliant plot. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this book and would highly recommend it.

Sadly this book was not for me,I found the characters unlikeable and the story hard to follow with too many back stories etc,the book did not flow and I found the constant German words used with the English in brackets annoying,,the idea of the book was interesting but sadly imo did not deliver as the cover and write up promised.

I just couldn't get into this book. The story didn't flow for me, and so I found I couldn't get gripped by it which is what I want from a psychological thriller. Not for me I'm afraid.

I am finding it difficult to put into words why I disliked this book so much, but it just did not work for me. When a book promises to be 'the most addictive debut psychological thriller of the year', you have high hopes for a book. A plot centred around a British ex-pat community in Germany, straight off the characters are mostly unlikeable and grated on me. There wasn't a single character I could relate or warm to, and so from the start the story felt very disconnected from reality. There were far too many names and back-stories to get used to and I found myself having to keep going back over previous pages to refresh my mind as to who was who.

Eventually I got to grips with the character, only to find that the plot became incredibly far-fetched, very convoluted, and full of completely unbelievable plot points. There was nothing 'thrilling' about this as it all seemed so far removed from reality. The last 20% of the book was a real slog to get through as I wasn't enjoying the plot and just wanted to find out what happened, and that chunk of the book is when it gets even worse. It feels almost like several different plot lines strung together to make a very mismatched book. The only saving grace here is that the technical writing ability is great.

The Perfect Neighbours is a brilliantly addictive psychological thriller with really excellent twists and turns, some divisive characters and a proper full on beautifully placed finale that pulls together all the strands of the narrative perfectly.

To be honest, even when the Neighbours were initially introduced I couldn't help but think to myself "actually for me these would be the neighbours from hell" with their involvement in each others lives and the fact that they all are attached to the school and that one know it all in charge of it all person that you really would like to slap. Still, they are welcoming and our main protagonist does her best to fit in - but everyone is hiding something, there is a truly dark and horrific secret lurking beneath all the bonhommie and it is extremely compelling as things unravel.

The setting is well described, I liked the fish out of water feel everyone seemed to have, Rachel Sargeant writes with an immersive style and a wry eye towards the realities of our social structures. Add into that a truly unpredictable sense of what might happen and you have a winner.

Really enjoyed it. I do like the good psychological thrillers. Still life in the old dog yet.

Recommended.