This was an excellent psychological thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat all the way through. I thought the plot and the style of writing was amazing along with the characters that were intriguing. The twists and turns at the end were so unexpected.. This is one book that you can’t put down. It’s the first book that I’ve read by this author, but I’ll be keeping my eye out for more in the future. This was one of the best exciting books that I’ve read this year.  I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys reading this genre. 
Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book

Thank you very much to @ViperBooks and #NetGalley for this #ARC that I was given for free in exchange for an honest review. 

The Resident tells the tale of serial killer Thomas Brogan, who whilst on the run from the police hides in an abandoned house, only to discover that the attic space gives him access to all the other houses on the street. He proceeds to wreak havoc on the neighbours' lives by stealing food and moving items in their homes, all whilst watching from above. 

I feel like I've read a lot of crime fiction and thrillers recently, and whilst the premise for this novel was unlike anything else I've read, it included a lot of tropes which I didn't enjoy. The classic serial killer who hears voices in his head, the feeble old woman who's more than she seems and Brogan's troubled childhood all meant that I could see the twists coming, so this book lost the element of surprise for me.

This is not to say that I didn't enjoy this book. This is a good, solid, creepy thriller. But for me, with the limited characters and setting, this book wasn't able to blow my mind.

I read The Resident by David Jackson in staves with the other Pigeonholers as part of a group.

Thomas Brogan is a depraved serial killer, and is hiding in an abandoned end-terraced house on a quiet street. Discovering that he has access through the loft space to three other properties, he decides to have some evil and sadistic fun with their occupants, Elsie, Colette and Martyn Fairbright, and Jack and Pam...

This was a really twisted psychological thriller, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Brogan was perfectly portrayed by David Jackson as the ultimate creepy character, and his discovery of the loft space opened up the story very nicely. As he barrelled his way into the residents' lives I was given a powerful sense of exactly how manipulating Brogan was prepared to be.

Narrator Brogan was a strange mix, and I confess that I really warmed to him during the story's progression, despite him being a serial (or cereal) killer. I felt a splatter of sympathy for him as his backstory was revealed. David Jackson provided a terrifying insight into Brogan’s depraved mind, so chilling and very troubling, but it certainly ensured that my attention was well and truly captured and remained focused! As regards the rest of the cast, the frail and hard of hearing Elsie was another rather special character.

The author's decision to give Brogan a split personality was an ingenious one and some of the banter and repartee between Brogan's real self and inner self was pure comedy. The Fairbrights had a key role in this highly unusual tale as Brogan realised there were some problems within their marriage, and he used this knowledge with dramatic effect. As residents' secrets were forced to the surface, I was frequently on tenterhooks wondering what could possibly occur next. With buckets of tension, gory and grisly moments, and a myriad of twists and incidences, the reader is kept on their toes, building up to an interesting and enthralling conclusion.

All in all, The Resident is a smart, shuddersome and chilling psychological thriller with some great characters, an unorthodox plot and plenty of oomph!

A special thank you to Serpent's Tail / Profile Books, David Jackson, NetGalley and Pigeonhole for a complimentary copy of this novel at my request. This review is my unbiased opinion.

I read this for a blog tour. 

The second creepiest thing I ever saw on TV was an episode of CSI where the murderer was living in the victim's ceiling. My parents' house has a huge empty attic, there was a chimney in my room (hello very old house) and I don't think I slept for a week after that.

The Resident is as creepy but also funnier than that. Honestly bits of it are quite ridiculous, which alleviates the shivers. Thomas might be a very bad man but he is also very human and not the most ingenious of people.

His fixations on the people living in the terrace houses he haunts are pretty bizarre, but wouldn't we all secretly like to know what goes on in other people's houses, even if not quite to this extent.

This was really enjoyable, gripping and clever. I now live in a flat and know my upstairs neighbours so no nightmares for me over this thankfully.

Thomas Brogan was almost caught at the Carter’s but he just managed to slip the net, hurting a police officer as he went. How did they manage to find where he was hiding? 
Now he has to find somewhere else to hide. He hasn’t finished killing yet. For he is a serial killer and he wants more victims!

As he is running through the streets with the police not far behind and their cars sealing off some streets, he’s lost track of where he is. He finds a boarded up house, on the end of a terrace, he becomes the resident to the neighbours. He breaks in and bolts the door, then explores the house. An old mattress and a chair. From the loft, he can access the other three houses, this could be fun….

Thomas decided to check out the neighbours, Elsie came first, he heard a voice say her name. He listened to their conversation, turned out Elsie had a carer in the morning and she was a bit deaf. In the next house, was Jack and Pam, they always seemed to be bickering and the only time he managed to go into theirs, he was lucky to get away from Ralph the dog with his life! The dog chased him up the stairs. It was hard getting away from Ralph at the top of the stairs, where Ralph got his ankles and up the ladder. Back where he was safe.

Then came Martyn and Colette. There was something about this couple that attracted his attention. Plus, if he pulled back the insulation in the loft, there was a spyhole that gave him a view of the bedroom. With Thomas, he liked to explore his neighbours lives, every little inch that he could and he would devise games for them until he had enough. Then he would kill them. He went through their house, personal files and photos, everything. Even saw Martyn with someone else. Game on.

I really enjoyed reading this book as it had a good storyline which had been written in a very descriptive writing style. It felt like I was living the story as I read it. I liked the fact it was written in a diary style so you got a perspective of the timeline involved. Very chilling.

A quick read. I feel that I got to know the characters and I liked that the narrator was the serial killer. I felt though that there was something missing. There was not as enough suspense and drama to make it a 4 star read for me.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

What a delightfully chilly read!!

I loved every minute of this book! There are some really dark and twisted parts that are definitely not for the faint-hearted but there's also some wickedly funny banter between the main character and his alter ego! At times you actually feel sorry for Brogan. What would have happened if he had a happy childhood? Who we are as adults are very much formed by our childhood. Who would he have become if he didn't witness the death of his parents or was the darkness in him the whole time? 

This book is definitely up there with the best I've read this year!

Thank you very much to Elizabeth from Profile books for allowing me early assess to this title on NetGalley.

First of all, I want to say that I saw this book last year commented by reviewers saying how good it was, now that I had the chance to read it, I can totally understand them, this is a read that any crime lover will enjoy, different and hunting it will not let you sleep. Ready?
This is not a story to discover who the killer is or the motive, you know it from the beginning, the mystery here is who will survive during his killing spree, because he is watching 3 families from the attic and his mind games are about to start, who will be the first one to die?
The story is told in first person, by the killer Thomas Brogan, explaining what he sees and his conversations with the dark side on his mind, we will review some memories from the past, to make us understand him the way he is and how he feels, he didn’t have an easy childhood but, what makes someone to cross the line between being angry to the world or being a killer? This is not an answer that this book will have, but it will make you think about it, don’t doubt it.
In this book the reader will feel like a voyeur, watching the families lives, their secret conversations and private moments, but as you can imagine everyone has secrets, could it be the end of their lives as they know it? If Thomas decides it, their fate will be sealed, that’s why he is an experienced killer without any remorse, and only one goal in his life, to kill.
I really enjoyed this read, how the reader portrayed an amazing character making the reader fear for his life even when he was the dangerous one on the story, you fear for his possible victim’s lives, but as you start discovering their secrets, you start feeling the killing spree too…
Ready to discover The Resident?

The book was a fairly quick read with easy to place characters and having the story told by the serial killer made it different. I didn’t really get the tension though and the placing of the action got a bit claustrophobic. 
The use of the voice in his head helped to make clear why Brogan was like he was but overall I felt a bit dissatisfied.

This is such a difficult one. I raced through The Resident. Brogan grabbed me as if it was my loft he was living in. I’m not going to go into the story for fear of spoilers as I do believe it’s one to read BUT the ending is so unsatisfactory. It’s one of those books where you go rattling through it thinking “oh this is good... this is great... the ending is going to be such a twist” to be utterly disappointed. Up until the final couple of chapters this was heading towards being a 5 star book but now I can only give it 3 - I was that disappointed. 

Brogan as a character is likeable which is a little odd as he is a violent serial killer. He’s so obviously damaged and lacking in love from his youth that it’s not really any wonder he hears voices. 

Overall this book is just ok. It feels as if the author got bored at the end, picked an ending and thought “that’ll do”. Bit disappointing really.

An excellent, creepy and gripping story that couldn't put down.
It's a book that you can't read at nighttime or when you're alone in the house because you will be frightened by any unusual sound.
The plot is flows and it keeps you hooked, there's a lot of growing tension and Thomas is an interesting and frightening characters. All the characters are well written.
It's the first book I read by this author and won't surely be the last.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Creepy doesn’t begging to express this book. It’s full of blood,murder,voyeursm and ghosting. The struggle Brogan has with the voices in his head is brilliantly played out. The tension builds up word by word until the book delivers a mind blowing twisted ending. Definitely one to read with the lights on omg imagine it as a movie how awesome would that be.

I just had to stay awake last night to finish this book.

It was quite a quick and easy read I whizzed through in a few sittings. There are only a handful of characters so it is easy to follow. 

We begin with serial killer Brody evading capture from the police and finding a derelict boarded up house to hide in. He has a look around and finds a filthy mattress to sleep on whilst he decides what to do next. Bored, he sees the trap door to the attic and goes up for a look around. He is thrilled to see he can access the attics of 4 of the houses in the terrace.

Hungry and thirsty, he goes into each of the houses to find food, and to look for his next victims.

He becomes obsessed with a young couple who live in one on the houses. He can see them in their bedroom through a hole in the ceiling. He decides they will be next but he has to wait until the time is just right. He prides himself in being able to wait and build up the excitement. When they go to work he begins to toy with them by moving objects and making them start to have doubts about each other. He finds out secrets about them which he intends to make them tell each other just before he kills them.

How long can he wait?

The story is all told from Brodie’s point of view, plus there is a conversation going on with the voice in his head. We get to know about Brodie’s background and what turned him into a killer.
Once I got into this book I was hooked but it was not one which had me from the first chapter.

Thank you to NetGalley and Serpent’s Tail / Profile Books. I received a free review copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest unedited feedback.

Wow, this book was sooooo good! A rollercoaster ride with twists and turns that had you gripped from start to finish. 

It was about a serial killer, Thomas Brogan, who is on the run from the police and ends up hiding in the loft of an empty house. It's a terraced property which through the loft has access to the lofts in the three other houses along side it. 

The story is interesting because it is all told from Brogan's perspective and as you read along you get an insight into what lead to him becoming a serial killer. It's really well done,  because it really evoked empathy for Brogan. It really led to some hairy, heart in mouth moments, with you rooting for Brogan. Odd thing to do considering he's a serial killer,  but well, it tells you how well the character was wtiiten that you felt yourself feeling sorry for him.

The thing I loved was his conversations with his inner voice. They were hilarious at times. That's one thing that David did so well, balancing out the creepiness and gruesomeness with wit and humour.

I also loved Elsie, the old lady who lived in one of the houses next door. Everyone needs an Elsie in their life! She was amazing. 

It was a brilliant book and I would highly recommend it.  

Thank you to NetGalley and David Jackson for the chance to read this book. 

Ps. I don't think those of us with lofts will be venturing into them anytime soon!

Holy shitballs (is that a word? I don't know) that's what I said after finishing this book off. The Resident is utterly creepy and disturbing. 

Thomas Brogan is a serial killer and he's on the loose. He's just evaded capture and is now hiding out in an abandoned house. This turns out to be an ideal spot for a slightly blood hungry killer. As he now has access to three other houses in the row. Through the attic space!! 

Brogan is a fantastic character, he is obviously evil and twisted. The bloke loves to play games with his victims, what's more deranged than that? What I enjoyed were the conversations he had with...himself. It was like having the devil and the angel on his shoulders, though the angel part wasn't very angelic. More like the devil and an even more angrier devil. This is were we got some dark humour thrown in, and I loved this. It brings a different tone to the storyline, rather than it being all about killing and death. 

As the storyline develops we get more insight into who Brogan really is? And, this is the part where I started to empathise with him. And, actually feel sorry for him. This is a huge testament to David Jackson's writing skills, that one moment I'm squirming and getting creeped out by Brogan and the next I just want to mother him. 

Brogan is a devious character, and I really enjoyed how he broke down and evaluated the people that he was watching. This is when we got to see another layer of his character. His obsession with Colette and his...well I won't say much more because I don't want to ruin your enjoyment. 

Now, the bad thing about this book is, that you won't feel safe in your house anymore. I am now constantly looking upwards and checking my ceilings, I am counting my bananas daily. And, I'm wary of any noises in the house. This book will make you jumpy and anxious. Imagine someone watching your every move? Listening in to your private conversations! Watching you sleep at night. This book gives you that fear!! 

The Resident is a creepy thriller that will give you nightmares and make you fear what is lurking above your head. Do you #FearTheResident will you be brave enough? 


Thanks to Viper Books for my gifted digital copy

I'm a huge fan of David Jackson's work although, with dark twisty thoughts like his MC in The Resident, perhaps I'd prefer not to meet hin on a gloomy wind-swept night or any day...or night for that matter. 
This is chilling, riviting and horrifying in one breath - the only downside I can see is that I live somewhere, which could be thought to be similar. Not going to sleep much from now on!

Deliciously dark, sinister and addictive, The Resident is the kind of twisted story you won’t forget. Get ready to read your new favourite thriller...

Serial killer Thomas Brogan is on the run, but residents are hopeful that he’s long gone from the area after the police found his latest hiding place and victims. But for five people he’s much closer than they think. They are unaware that the ruthless killer is hiding above them, sneaking into their homes when they sleep and waiting for the perfect time to strike...

WHAT. A. BOOK! This chilling thriller is the thing nightmares are made of. I devoured it in one breathless sitting over the course of just a few hours. It jumps straight into the action and the author doesn’t take his foot off the brake, keeping me on the edge of my seat from beginning to end. 

The story is told from Brogan’s point of view and I enjoyed reading from his sick, twisted perspective (though I don’t want to think what that might say about me lol). The Brogan we meet is a cunning, vicious, merciless predator who delights in toying with people before slowly torturing and killing them, but through flashbacks we are given glimpses of his past that offer small clues as to how he became a killer. I found myself feeling really sorry for Brogan at times and came to have a real affection for him. This is a testament to the spectacular talent of the author who manages to evoke feelings of revulsion and affection simultaneously, The potential victims are also brought vividly to life and I had a particular soft spot for Elsie. I spent the whole book really hoping that she wouldn’t end up Brogan’s victim and loved the arc of her story.

The Resident is like no other psychological thriller I’ve read - and I’ve read a lot of them. Sharp, searing and filled with dark humour, this was an easy five-stars from me. Read it now!

The Resident is a fast-paced, creepy and gripping read.

I enjoyed that the story was written from the perspective of the serial killer (Brogan). This helped to add suspense to the dynamic of the story. It also allowed for some back story into his life which caused me to develop some empathy for him - despite the fact that he is a serial killer and a sadist!

I found The Resident to be a clever and well written novel with moments of high tension, dark humour and twists. However, as enjoyable a read as it is, not a lot happens and I definitely expected more developments that didn't come. The ending does not do it justice either. As fitting as it was, it was far too rushed and made me think I must have skipped a few pages. 

Overall, I'm really glad my house doesn't have an attic.

Thanks to Viper and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Resident is David Jackson’s latest standalone serial killer thriller that has more than a little touch of horror added into it for good measure. It is an utterly riveting read from the moment you begin until the last page is turned and it has me furiously racing through its pages like a bit of a maniac. 

Thomas Brogan is a sadistic and ruthlessly efficient serial killer who murdered his parents and who is currently on the run from the police having left a trail of devastation in his wake with many bodies discovered brutally tortured and mutilated. Whilst looking for a place he could hide away he trespasses by breaking and entering into an empty terraced house and he feels as though he has won the jackpot when he discovers that all the houses in the row are interconnected via the shared loft space. He takes pleasure in spying on them without their knowledge and when the oblivious inhabitants leave he loves to venture into the main house to eat and shower. He watches them both day and night, watching their every move and listening to their private conversations. He soon discovers some of their darkest secrets and uses them in a game of masterful psychological warfare which he enjoys immensely. So let the games begin...

This is a riveting, chilling and addictive read which hooked me in from the very beginning and had my head spinning and my heart thumping. I have NEVER been disappointed by a Jackson thriller yet and I have read all of his books. This is by far his best and most gripping of them all. This is the first book of Jacksons where black humour is utilised quite a lot and I enjoyed the contrast between the lightness of the darkly funny quips and the horrific nature of the slayings. It becomes quite sick and twisted so it is not for the faint-hearted but I adored this aspect of the story. I particularly liked that the author tried to humanise Brogan and there were definitely times where you felt for him despite his despicable actions; the parts where we get to hear his thoughts and feelings were very well executed and made for compulsive reading. It's a brilliantly creepy story full of fun and it provides edge of your seat entertainment. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Viper for an ARC.

Thomas Brogan is a serial killer on the run when he finds an abandoned house along with an attic that links to the other houses. He has somewhere to hide and soon finds himself venturing into the lives of the houses around him but he's getting too close. This could be dangerous. 

This was such an interesting book, it's not often the whole story is told by the killer. It gave a whole new dynamic to the story. The plot itself is slow but in a good way as you know its building to something but you're not sure how it will play out. It also throws you that you find yourself almost wanting to escape despite knowing how awful he is. The ending is so well done and fits with the story. A brilliant thriller.