This is a twisty, non stop rollercoaster of s plot. Every time you think you’ve worked it out another bombshell land. Fabulous story telling.

I pre-ordered this book, but I was thrilled to receive an early ARC release.
Claire Douglas is an author I discovered last year, and she has quickly become an auto-buy for me. Her latest work does not disappoint. I couldn't put it down and finished it within six hours!
It had me absolutely gripped from the beginning. I will be recommending this to EVERYONE.

What an engrossing family drama, and I love that it’s set in my hometown of Bristol. Lena lives in an upmarket area with teenage son Rufus, having recently separated from her husband Charlie. She has new next door neighbours, a wealthy retired couple, Henry and Marella Morgan. Lena is a good character, quite likeable if a bit naive and reckless. This book grabbed me from the start and it wasn’t long before I was totally engrossed.

Briefly, as part of his college course Rufus has a sensitive microphone for recording the sounds of the suburbs. One evening it picks up a conversation from next door, which Lena hears, and thinks it sounds very suspicious. The more she finds out about the Morgan’s the more concerned she becomes. Meanwhile, Lena works part time at Citizens Advice Bureau and she has become too friendly with Drew, one of her clients, and her boss is on her case.

There are a number of other characters with notable roles in the story and Lena starts to get very concerned about who she can really trust. The author does relationships really well and it was interesting to contrast those of Henry and Marella against Lena and Charlie. The plot was fast paced and interesting and there were some good twists and turns. A very enjoyable read.

This was ok but not very memorable. I found Lena rather annoying and I kept rolling my eyes at the decisions she made and her actions.
The story was a bit silly and didn't really make sense as it just seemed to rush into parts and then drag out other parts. I would've liked more of modern day Henry, he was a interesting character.

I loved this book so mix I thought about the premise for a week afterwards. No one is ever how they appear to be and some people can be more evil than they look. This book was fast paced and twisty and had all the ingredients and made a perfect book

While I've enjoyed many of the author's other books, I found this book a little slow for the most part but it did start ramping up in the last 30%. While I too was intrigued about what exactly the new neighbours were hiding, I did struggle to understand where Lena's obsessiveness (and subsequent actions) came from and in general I found it a struggle to connect with her as a character.

As others have said, there was a lot of spoon feeding going on with this novel, rather than leaving the reader to join the dots themselves, everything was very over explained which I found frustrating. There were some interesting twists throughout the plot and while I was gripped at times, the ending felt too rushed for me personally.

Thank you Penguin MJ and Netgalley for a copy of this book!

Lena helps her teenage son Rufus gather sounds for his media studies project. The boom-microphone picks up a conversation between her neighbours, the Morgans. And she’s certain they are planning a crime. Her friends and family tell her she must have misheard, but she is not so sure!

This was such a page turner! Claire Douglas is a great story teller. It was a difficult book to put down and it constantly held my attention.

Main character Lena definitely crosses the line a lot which added to the enjoyment of the story.

There are multiple POVs which come together really well towards the end. I did feel the ending was a little rushed and could have done with another twist.

There’s not much else I can say really but this was an enjoyable and easy thriller read!

This book is a masterclass in suspense, with thrillingly tense and twisty plotlines that will leave you guessing until the very last page. Just when you think you've figured it out, Douglas delivers a stunning killer twist that completely flips everything upside down. Her ability to weave intricate details into a captivating narrative is nothing short of brilliant. Don't miss out on this page-turner! Grab your copy today and prepare for an unforgettable literary ride.

Oh my goodness - The New Neighbours by Claire Douglas is a page turner which kept me up into the wee hours. I just had to finish it in one read!

Lena overhears part of a shocking conversation between Marielle and Henry her new respectable Boomer neighbours. It sounded like they were plotting a crime and Lena can only do one thing and investigate!

The story moves along at a fast pace from the perspective of Lena, Henry and another woman - teasing another thread of the story. The narratives are from the past and present.

I completely understood how Lena could get sucked into there investigation. Her life is a bit empty as she’s in a job she doesn’t really enjoy, she’s preparing for empty-nest syndrome when her son Rufus goes to Uni next year, and she’s separated from her husband. There’s a void to be filled and her investigation fills it.

There are twists and turns and red herrings. If you want a fast-paced, atmospheric, gripping thriller - The New Neighbours is a ‘must read’.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House, for making this e-ARC available to me in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was such an easy to read, engrossing novel, as I have found with several other of Claire Douglas' books. I finished it in days and never got bored or uninterested in what was going on. Her characters and plots feel effortless, and from the first page the reader is catapulted straight into the middle of the character's lives, able to empathise with them easily because they are so well drawn.

The main character here, Lena, is a woman living with her teenage son Rufus and still getting over the recent breakdown of her marriage to musician Charlie. She has the usual stresses and strains that many people will be able to identify with - worries over whether it was right to end her relationship, fears over how life will be when Rufus leaves for university, wondering what happened to her own hopes and dreams while she was busy supporting others to achieve theirs.

An early scene sees her spill a bag of shopping in front of new neighbours and her horror at them seeing the 'junk' food she's bought is something that will probably echo with lots of people.

Lena as a character is really interesting and likeable, and the plot that quickly develops is engrossing. Lena accidentally overhears her new neighbours, Marielle and Henry, seemingly discussing possibly doing something sinister and illegal. She quickly gets suspicious of them, encouraged by other bits of odd behaviour, and decides to try and investigate further.

The host of characters brought into the story - her friend Jo, her husband, Rufus' guitar teacher Kit, Drew - a customer at the Citizens' Advice centre where she works - all help add to a sense of unease for the reader. Who can Lena trust?

The plot is pretty fast paced and there is plenty going on in the various interwoven threads of Lena's life and subplots. I thought the characters were also very well rounded and realistic - for instance, Lena's relationship with Charlie isn't one of antagonism and hatred, but simply one of people who love each other but don't quite fit together anymore.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to hunker down with a good mystery and great characters, and have already collected a couple more Claire Douglas novels to read in the future.

I enjoyed this book. Lena has new next door neighbours. They do seem friendly when she meets them briefly. They are a retired professional couple and Lena feels that she will be happy to befriend them. Her son, Rufus, is doing a film course at college and brings home a microphone to record sounds of the suburbs as part of his course. Lena overhears something which disturbs her and she is determined to find out what is happening as she is slightly freaked out by the conversation. She gets far to involved in the drama and this leads to all sorts of problems for her. Lena is convinced that Henry is the one to watch. As she has a key to the property from the original owner, she decides to investigate the house when they are away. What she finds disturbs her. Lena confides in a friend who tries to persuade to leave this alone but she feels she must continue to investigate. This leads to her getting into all sorts of trouble. She starts to investigate on line and comes up with all sorts of questions. Eventually her fears come home to roost, things become serious and the truth comes out. The book twists and turns into different eras and I liked this especially as it flows freely without losing momentum. Great read

Whilst The New Neighbours isn't as good as some of Claire's previous work, it is still a satisfying thriller and Claire will continue to be an author I'll pick up time and time again.
4 stars.

An absolute classic Claire Douglas in my mind.

This was thrilling and mysterious. Obviously, there were aspects that i guessed, but when you read enough it is hard to come across a book where you cannot see the tropes.

That being said, I loved the ending and it always tinkers on morally grey- which i eat up

This is her best book yet! I loved it.

I’ve read all of Claire Douglas’s other books and really enjoyed them, so was really looking forward to reading this new one. It certainly didn’t disappoint. I was engrossed from page 1 and raced through this book.

It’s more than worthy of 5 stars.

Enjoyed this though felt the pace dropped a bit in the middle and it could have been tighter - found myself skipping forwards to find out how it was going to resolve. Having said that I liked the central character Lena, her fallibility, and the messy domestic situation she finds herself in.

Lena lives in a quiet neighbourhood with her 17 year old son Rufus. She has new neighbours move in next door and initially they seem lovely but then she overhears a conversation, one where they sounded like they were planning a crime. Surely she misheard. The Morgans are a retired couple but she just can't stop thinking about it. As small things start to occur, Lena begins to wonder what the Morgans are up to.

This was another intriguing novel by the author, where she leaves tiny clues throughout and intertwines some very clever twists. While I did guess one small part, there were lots of surprises and as always, the writing was brilliant!

Thank you to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House for this gifted review copy.

Claire Douglas is one of my favourite thriller authors, and in this taut, chilling story, she takes the reader back and forth with suspicions, complications and multiple points of view, in a way that really does a number on your head.

When an older couple moves in next door, Lena initially finds the Morgans charming. But then, elements begin to emerge that throw suspicion on their behaviour.

With Lena herself being someone who struggles to maintain boundaries, and is driven by the experience of a dark secret from her past, the combination of characters that Douglas sets up here is an explosive one. And the result does not disappoint!

This intelligent, atmospheric, creepy thriller is definitely worth a read.

Immersive, Compelling..
An overheard conversation is the catalyst for a spiralling sequence of events in this suspenseful mystery where not everything is as it seems. When Lena overhears her new neighbours seemingly plotting a crime she tries to convince herself that she must have misheard, indeed friends and family tell her as much - but Lena just cannot let it drop… Immersive and compelling with a well crafted plot brimming with twists and a credible cast of characters.

Best book this year. New neighbours move in, an accidental recording, a crying baby. What is going on next door? The list of people I found not to trust got longer. Lena is sure there is something amiss with her neighbours, a long lost colleague has gone missing, the neighbours have clippings from newspapers on their wall. The baby is a fake. This story twists back to the 1990’s when Lena was training to be a midwife and ends dramatically. I couldn’t put it down.

I've loved reading Claire Douglas since she published 'The Couple at No 9' and once again she's pulled a rabbit out of the hat. 'The New Neighbours' is deeply tense and delightfully ambiguous, carefully and cleverly misdirecting the reader to think one thing, when actually something else is going on. A number of parallel threads - plots and subplots - weave together beautifully, and the main characters truly inhabited the space. In fact, 'the neighbours' were very creepy and, occasionally, made me feel a tiny bit paranoid. It's a good job my neighbours are lovely. At least, I think they are...