"The Man Next Door" by Sheila Roberts is a slow-burn novel that follows three generations of women navigating life, family dynamics, and fresh starts: a 44-year-old broke divorcée, her house-bound mother, and her adult daughter.
Zona’s been dealt a rough hand in love and money. Her first husband cheated on her, and her second destroyed their savings—including her daughter’s college fund—with gambling. She had to move back in with her mom, Louise, and is trying to make ends meet by taking a second job so she can help put her daughter through nursing school.
Her mother, Louise, hasn’t had much luck either. After breaking her leg on a senior singles cruise, she is now house-bound. She and her caretaker spend their days spying on their mysterious new neighbor. They’re influenced by the movie Rear Window and other true-crime series, so tensions and imaginations run high. Her neighbor, Martin, is a great help, but she is too shallow to really appreciate him.
Bree, Zona’s daughter, has trust issues due to her mother’s bad luck with men. She works as a waitress and has put walls around her heart. She’s afraid of being in a relationship, so she doesn’t take any risks. And she definitely doesn’t want her mother to have a relationship with the new, dangerous neighbor—or any man, for that matter. They also have a dog named Darling, who keeps running away to explore the area. Things come to a head when the woman next door disappears, and they suspect foul play.
I liked the relationship between the three women. Zona was a great mother and daughter. Louise was also great. Bree was a whiny young woman. While I liked Louise and Zona, Bree irritated me. She whined a lot, kept blaming her mother for ruining her life, acted like a brat, and even tried to dictate who her mother could date.
Bree was too judgmental and bossy for my taste, always trying to control her mother’s life. I could understand her bitterness—she wanted to enroll in nursing school but now lacked the funds—but she took it out on the wrong person: her mother. Her mother did everything she could to fix the situation by taking on a couple of side jobs, and didn’t get the appreciation she deserved—at least not at first.
Another thing that nagged me was the dog. He kept running away, and I found it irresponsible. He ran away several times, and it became tiring after a while. Enough already! And another thing—the story moved at a slow pace. I enjoyed it, but I never felt compelled to keep reading.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. I liked the psychological games playing on our minds—not being sure what to think of the man next door—and the story arc. The writing was good, alternating between viewpoints in third-person POV and giving us a window into their feelings. However, I expected a thriller based on the description. While it bears a weak resemblance to Rear Window—a house-bound woman spying on a suspicious neighbor, a dog digging in his garden, and a cynical, middle-aged nurse—it lacks the tension of the movie.
After consideration, I rate it 3.5 out of 5 stars. While I did enjoy it, it wasn’t the suspense tale I expected. It’s more of a family drama than a thriller, so keep that in mind. There’s plenty of drama and a subtle hint of mystery, but little suspense to speak of. Still, if you adjust your expectations and approach it accordingly, you’ll likely enjoy it.
* Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for the opportunity to read this arc. All opinions are my own.
* For more info about the book: "The Man Next Door" by Sheila Roberts
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