The Neighbor

Author: Lisa Gardner
Pages: 369
Type: Hardcover
Genre: Suspense/Mystery
Series: 3rd book in the D.D Warren series
Series Order:

1. "Alone" (2005)
2. "Hide" (2007)
3. "The Neighbour" (2009)
4. "Live to Tell" (2010)
5. "Save Me" (2011)

First Line: "I've always wondered what people felt in the final few hours of their lives."

Synopsis: When Sandra Jones, a devoted young mother, suddenly vanishes from her Boston home, and her four-year old daughter is the only witness, the police are called in. When Detective D.D Warren arrives on the scene something doesn't sit well with her. This seemingly perfect young family doesn't seem right to D.D but she can't put her finger on it.

With the media hot on the story and the minutes ticking away D.D needs to find the young mother before the trail runs cold. When the husband, Jason Jones, refuses to answer the police's questions and doesn't seem at all helpful in looking for his wife D.D needs to determine why and if he had something to do with his wife's disappearance.

As D.D looks into Sandra's disappearance the Jones' family secrets start to surface revealing very disturbing pasts and many secrets that the married couple have kept from each other.

My Thoughts: I've read one other book by Gardner, "Gone" and really enjoyed it. This book? Unfortunately, not so much. The premise was interesting, a dedicated mother who suddenly goes missing, but the first 2/3 of the book really lagged. I had to force myself to continue reading. The suspense and twists didn't come until the final 50 pages or so ... then ended abruptly with an ending that seemed thrown together. I did appreciate the number of potential suspects - I love lots of options for a who dunnit -- I just wish the momentum of the storyline could have started closer to the beginning of the book instead of right at the end.

One of the things that I found annoying with this book was how the beginning of each chapter started off from the viewpoint of one of the main characters but Gardner didn't let the reader know who was speaking. It was vague enough that it literally took me half a page to determine who was talking which became annoying after a few chapters. I also wasn't sure why Gardner picked "The Neighbor" as the title since it didn't really relate to the book. Yes, there was a neighbor involved in the storyline but that wasn't the basis for the storyline.

My Rating: 3/5 stars