The watchful neighbour by Debbie Viggiano is her first foray into the thriller category and she has created a story that makes you a little jumpy and distrustful of almost every character in the book.
We meet Jade Ferguson who has moved into a new home due to her splitting with her partner and experiencing a mental breakdown. All the neighbours at her new home seem nice, well, apart from Greg Good. He is TOO good, keeping an eye on everything when the neighbours are out. Weird things start happening when Jade is out at work. She thinks someone is going in her house while she is out and she has an idea who it may be.
I liked Jade, a woman who has paid dearly for a mistake in her life, and you see that she was previously in a self-fulfilling prophecy, creating some of her own issues due to not letting go. A fresh start for her is the best thing possible, new house, new people around her. We learn of Jade’s affair with a married man that lasted ten years and then she moves home, this is when the suspense begins.
This is a great premise for a book and one that makes you think, what is the line between keeping an eye on things and being classed as intruding or invading one’s privacy? The fact that due to Jade’s previous breakdown it does make you wonder is it Jade’s paranoia or are strange things actually happening? I was wondering about every neighbour’s motive throughout so I didn’t warm to them, but this made for a suspenseful read that’s for sure.
The mystery, unease and mistrust had me flipping the pages right to the end, which, I must say is something you should not miss! A great book that I can highly recommend.
Thank you to Rachel’s Random Resources and Debbie Viggiano for the copy of the book to give you my thoughts, on its publication day.
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