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I just finished reading The Perfect Neighborhood by Liz Alterman and here are my views on it.
The gossip mill is on a 24/7 loop after actress/model Allison leaves her hottie former rockstar hubby one night. Don't the neighbors have something better to talk about?
Five year old Billy goes missing one afternoon, not having made it home from school to his babysitter. His babysitter wasn't even there on time and the gossips can't help wondering if she had been there, would he still be missing? Things take a turn for the worst when Cassidy is asked to babysit at the very last minute, for another family and another child in her care disappears without a trace.
Did Cassidy do something to the little kids in her care? Is she just negligent? Or is something more sinister going in their perfect little neighborhood......
I actually really enjoyed the premise of this book. What I didn't enjoy was each new point of view came from a first person perspective. I really hated that. One person point of view for a book in the first person, sure. Several? No. It was a little messy for me there and if you didn't pay attention to who's chapter it was, it was really easy to get a little lost. I thought I knew who the POV was a couple of times, just to be wrong. I do not think 1st person POV works on multiple POV.
Other than that the character development was pretty spot on. I found the Chris and Allison storyline to be quite entertaining and the pace was well kept. I really enjoyed the fact that you never can tell what is happening in what appears to be the perfect neighborhood. The storylines all fell into sync and worked really well.
I did figure it all out before the halfway point but I don't know if it is because I have been reading a lot of thrillers lately that I have gotten really good at deciphering the plot because honestly, it wasn't obvious. The plot twists were very well done and showed real talent from this author.
I will definitely be looking into more from this author. If you enjoy a clever general fiction book with a little dash of thriller, then you should add this to your wish list!
Thank you to netgalley and Crooked lane books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.
3.5-4 stars.
