The House on Cold Creek Lane

Publication date: August 6th, 2024
Page count: 346
Genre: thriller
Setting: NJ suburbs and FL
POV: multiple

Laurel and her husband Rob move into a new home with their young family. Laurel’s mother’s killer has just been released from prison. This, and some things happen in the house/neighborhood that Laurel isn’t comfortable, and Rob is not particularly empathetic. Which neighbors can she trust?

Corey is trying to cope with the death of her young daughter, and seems to be the only one to believe that it wasn’t an accident.

How are these women connected? Will their paths cross?

I enjoyed this book, and will be reading more by this author! The story was methodically and skillfully built. It was difficult to guess how it would all come together- which added to the motivation already there to keep reading!

Thank you to author, publisher, NetGalley for advanced copy. This is an honest voluntary review.

Laurel and Rob give up their crowded apartment to move to a cute suburban Cape. Note that Rob buys the house before Laurel sees it, claiming to take pressure off her because she’s dealing with a three year old and a newborn. Laurel is a shy, non assertive young woman, forever damaged by her mother’s murder when she was twelve. Rob encourages her to make friends, join groups and invite other mothers over for a meal. She does, with mixed results. An older woman who lives across the street seems prying and critical but Addie, who lives next door, becomes a true friend.

Corey is adrift in Florida. After her daughter’s death and her divorce, she has moved in with her mother in a Florida retirement community. Still grieving her daughter, she is stuck in a world of anger, with pain that is only lessened by reckless behavior.

As Rob urges Laurel to prepare for his sister’s wedding, Corey is pressured to move out of the condo because of age restrictions. The tensions affecting both woman grow and move inexorably to unexpected disaster.

The House on Cold Creek Lane is my first mystery by Liz Alderman and it will definitely not be my last. The sad puzzle that is this domestic thriller moves slowly, alternating between the voices of Laurel and Corey. Both women feel the isolation of suburban communities, the gossip that fills social gatherings and the loneliness of grief. As the plot moves toward an inevitable conclusion, you feel their despair. The House on Cold Creek Lane will stay with you long after you have read the final page. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Severn House and Liz Alderman for this ARC.

You know when a thriller is good when you look at the clock and realize it's 90 minutes past your normal bedtime and you're still reading.

This happened with The House on Cold Creek Lane, a quintessential domestic suspense thriller filled with all the expected and unexpected tropes so beloved by thriller fans.

In this story there are two female main characters (1st person pov's): Laurel and Corey. Both of them are grieving losses and are connected through a Cape Cod-style house in New Jersey.

Corey used to live there.

Laurel just moved in.

This simple yet intriguing set-up swiftly morphs into a scary, suspenseful plot. Why did Corey move out of the house and is now living in Florida in the guest room of her mother's condominium? Why is Laurel not quite comfortable in her new home and what's up with the neighbors? On one side is a sweet old lady who wants nothing more than to help watch over Laurel's young kids. On the other side is Addie: single, beautiful and snarky--exactly the kind of friend Laurel needs, especially since Laurel's husband Rob is being a bit of a dick lately.

We go back in forth between both women as they deal with their personal ghosts from the past, an ever-rising terror shadowing them along the way.

Alterman writes like a pro--I totally related to her depictions of motherhood, daughterhood, and the oft-times fraught foray into trying to make new friends in a new hood. Her dialogue rocks. She's also very funny at times.

This was a great read.

This was one that I requested on NG on a whim as soon as I saw it. I loved this book so much. Liz has an amazing ability to weave together a remarkable book full of scandal, deception and lies. I love a good Neighbourhood Drama read. This was full of characters I loathed and loved. This was a super fast and propulsive read. Amazing book Liz! ALL the Stars!

When Laurel and Rob West move into their dream home in suburban New Jersey, Laurel has no idea that this house has a dark history. Fully occupied with managing their two young children, she has little time to make proper friends in the neighbourhood, even if she had been a better fit with some of the other mothers.

Ironically, it is Addie, their single, childless neighbour that Laurel hits it off best with, since she also begins to wonder if the single mother in their neighbourhood, Zoe, in fact has designs on her husband Rob.

On top of all this, she is struggling with her suspicions about her elderly neighbour, Marian, who has charmed both Laurel's husband and her young son, but is deeply critical towards Laurel's skills (or lack thereof) as a mother.

If Laurel knew what the previous occupant of their home, Corey, had been through thanks to the neighbour(s) she would probably pack her bags right away. Rob, meanwhile,has little patience with what he consider his wife's paranoia. But Corey is debating whether or not to warn Laurel to watch out...

This was a complex and highly readable story, with plenty of twists. The characters are well-drawn for the most part, but I disliked Rob and his family immensely, finding his sister and mother borderline caricatures of their roles. Corey and Laurel are, however, easy to relate to, tragic as their circumstances may be.

I figured out the key villain, but not the final twist. Enjoyable and worth a read. It gets 3.5 stars from me, just missing 4 stars because Rob and his family were so incredibly unsympathetic as characters. Readers who don't mind that will give it 4 stars, so I've rated it accordingly.