5 Stars!

This book absolutely lives up to the hype! The characters are so rich with many varying plot lines interwoven together to take you on an incredibly wild ride! You will not want to put this book down!

This is hottest summer on record. A new family is creating waves in the "perfect" neighborhood. A massive sinkhole opens up in the middle of a park across the street from the neighborhood.

This story is told from varying perspectives and will take you into the minds of all of the characters. You will find yourself relating even to the most depraved one....it's ok, I think we all did.

I need more Sarah Langan in my life! Please publish another, soon!

A special thank you to NetGalley, Atria Publishing, and Sarah Langan for providing me with an ARC.

3 stars for Good Neighbors. This one wasn't for me, I've seen some great reviews but this book didn't strike a chord with me.

Welcome to Maple Street on Long Island. It's 2027 and climate change has gotten worse. The Wildes have recently moved in and don't fit in at all, with their Brooklyn accents and mess of a house. Gertie Wilde manages to momentarily befriend Rhea Schroeder who is the unofficial leader of the neighborhood. Lurking underneath the perfect surface of those who inhabit Maple Street is a darkness and when a sinkhole opens in a nearby park things takes a turn for the worst. Rhea's daughter, Shelley, falls into the sinkhole and a search for her body begins. Accusations begin to fly and tensions run high amongst those who live on Maple Street. In the end someone will be dead.

I loved the author's use of foreshadowing. There are book excerpts, interviews, newspaper articles and other materials in between the chapters that give background info and a glimpse into the future. I thought these snippets were woven into the story perfectly and added so much to it, I honestly kept reading because of the the future glimpses. I wanted to know who would end up dead and who the murderer would be. If it wasn't for this I think I would've given up on the book early on, it felt kind of slow. For the first third of the book I was kind of bored and wasn't pulled in to the story. Once the sink hole opened and Shelley fell in is when the book really picks up.

I was absolutely shocked at how the adults in this book behaved. There were lies and rumours running through the neighborhood. They committed crimes and every new thing the adults here did was more shocking than the last. This was entertaining but it was also unbelievable that the children acted more like adults than the actual adults did. There is some shock factor here which did keep the story moving along but I just wanted to find out who would get killed in the end, and the ending did surprise me. I also didn't understand why it was set slightly in the future. The sinkhole was interfering with signals so there was hardly any tech in the book and it didn't feel futuristic at all. I think this could've been set in the present time and it being in the future felt unnecessary.

The characters in this book were pretty unlikeable, Rhea was awful and most of the side characters in the neighborhood felt flat and I kept mixing them all up. The Wildes were the best characters in the book, they were far from perfect but didn't deserve any of what happened to them. I think this book wasn't for me but I could see others enjoying it and I did love the use of materials (articles, interviews etc) from the future so I'm giving it 3 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Something horrible happened on Maple Street during the summer of 2027: a community’s unraveling ends with the murder of an entire family. If only the Wilde family had never moved into the neighborhood...

Good Neighbors is a dark and messy story about some really awful people tied up in absurd neighborhood drama. While the ending is tragic, what I found most unsettling about reading this book (other than all of the adults that I hated) was the continued presence of the impact of global warming... a seemingly slow but actually rapid acceleration towards the end of life as we know it. I personally found this to be slightly distracting to the plot itself, but a book set in the future that doesn’t seem that far away or unrealistic makes for an even more disturbing read.

Thank you to Atria Books for my very first #ARC! Good Neighbors is out February 2nd. Add it to your TBR!

This book was a pretty slow start for me. I almost gave up on it. It takes place in the future with some of the damage from climate change being part of the theme. the bigger themes are secrets, the destruction that a damaged person can do to their family and their community and the terrible power of the mob. It is worth the read

All the stars🌟🌟🌟🌟 🌟

I’m speechless. What did I just read?!

You know how occasionally you pick up a book firmly believing you know exactly what you’re in for? That’s precisely what yours truly did.
Okay sure, another book about feuding neighbors. Yes, we did have that...but paired superbly with so much more, providing shocking, revolting views of mankind in uncertain times.

The author takes us on a frightful journey into our world, exposing us to a side of humanity at its worst.
While this is fiction, so much of it rang true given the world in its current crisis, and the shameful things we’re doing to each other along the way.

So…to be clear:
This isn’t JUST about one long hot summer in Long Island.
This isn’t JUST about a sinkhole that opens up in the park down the street.
This isn’t JUST about a new family not fitting into the new neighborhood.

This IS about human nature and how ugly that can be at times.

The behaviors were horrifying. I was aghast! How could this happen in real life. Yet all we have to do today is turn on the news and witness first-hand that this is indeed happening in our very own world gone sideways.

Not every reader is going to come away with similar views and opinions.
This is going to be one of those books you either love or hate. And folks guess what? It’s okay to disagree!!

Personally I HATED the depraved behavior of the characters, but LOVED the book and the message it conveyed.

A buddy read with Susanne that lent itself to some incredible discussions.

Posted to : https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend...

Thank you to Atria Books via NetGalley for an Arc to read and review.

"[Mob Mentality] explains how one's point of view can be easily altered by those around them...professing beliefs and acting out in ways which [one] would never otherwise [have] done or considered independently...It feels natural-and even pleasurable- to pass along gossip and counterintuitive to stop it". Think of storming the Sheriff's Office in the Old West. An uncontrolled, wild crowd with an appetite for vigilante justice.

The Wilde family had moved to a fixer-upper house in Garden City a Long Island suburb. Seventy two residents lived on crescent shaped Maple Street, a block bordering six acre Sterling Park. The Wilde's were out of their league. "[They] knew that they'd been breaking tacit rules ever since arriving on Maple Street". You only smoked in your backyard. No one told Gertie that "mom cleavage isn't cool". The upscale middle class neighborhood was all about the children, their sports and other extracurricular activities and the parental obsession with college.

"Queen Bee" Rhea Schroeder's "word was treated like gospel". Rhea was the perfect suburban mother and wife. She volunteered at her kids school, initiated block parties and befriended every new neighbor on Maple Street including Gertie Wilde. Rhea and Gertie became fast friends, each let her guard down...took a risk...told her innermost secrets. "[Rhea had] shown her true self and Gertie wanted no part of it. Retaliation was necessary". Rhea no longer allowed her thirteen year old daughter Shelly to be friends with twelve year old Julia Wilde. A smear campaign ensued. "It was fun to pretend to be a nice person and be my best friend and now it's fun to act horrible...Is it true that [The Rat Pack] took a vote not to hang out with me anymore", asks Julia.

The July 4, 2027 party at Sterling Park was in full blast when the Wilde's, excluded from the celebration, showed up nevertheless. "The vibe in Sterling Park was not hostile but something had changed since the last barbeque...because the vibe was not welcoming either". Suddenly the earth rocked...the picnic table shook...this was the third Long Island Sinkhole in as many years. When Rhea's daughter Shelly fell into the giant sinkhole, shocking accusations against the Wilde's spiraled out of control. "One mom's word against the others in a court of public opinion...a careless word can wreck havoc...the wreckage of a neighborhood...a crack in the veneer of civility among neighbors.

Interspersed within this novel about shocking events in the summer of 2027 on Maple Street are newspaper and magazine articles written in 2043, articles about the historic "Maple Street Murders". Fifteen years later, these retrospective glimpses are an attempt to "adequately resolve the mystery...how an upstanding community could conspire toward murder of an entire family...".

"The Good Neighbors" by Sarah Langan is a taut, twisting, compulsive thriller. All of the major and minor players, both children and adults, are well fleshed out. This dark read begs the question, how could vicious gossip and mob mentality overtake seemingly intelligent people? There is much to ponder. A highly recommended tome.

Thank you Atria Books and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review also posted on blog: https://books-are-a-girls-best-friend.com/

Absolutely Unreal.

Affecting, Enthralling, Tragic, Traumatic.

In a quiet picturesque community on Long Island, new residents from Brooklyn move in. As soon as they arrive, it’s immediately clear to the current residents of ‘Maple Street’ that the Wilde’s simply don’t fit in. Gertie is a former Pageant Queen and her husband Arlo, is a has-been Rock Star and a former junkie. Sadly, their kids, Julia and Larry aren’t exactly ‘Maple Street’ material either.

The neighborhood is ruled by Rhea Schroeder, a master manipulator, who is adored by everyone and just happens to be the Wilde’s next-door neighbor. At first, Rhea appears to be their friend, little does Gertie know, however, that Rhea is not who she seems. Shortly thereafter, she turns on her new friends. Unfortunately for the Wildes, Rhea is a very persuasive woman and she convinces everyone in the neighborhood to turn against them as well.

While this is happening, an unfortunate incident occurs in the community. A sinkhole opens up and it swallows one of its residents. Once that happens, things go from bad to worse.

Thereafter the Wildes are brutalized and victimized by everyone in the neighborhood all because of Rhea Schroeder, one woman who wields all of the power.

A tale that takes place in the future and for which a reporter interviews the residents of Maple Street after the fact. Upon being interviewed, the residents questioned what was true and what was not.

Trying to sum up how I felt after reading “Good Neighbors” by Sarah Langan is virtually impossible. Frankly, at first, I was stunned and I had no words. I read this with my book buddy Kaceey and we found it to be wholly original. Wild and crazy, it had some quite interesting, and funny passages. Then this novel started to take a darker turn, which was unexpected, and then it became something else entirely. Something wholly astounding, devastating, and heartbreaking. To say that it broke me doesn’t quite cover it.

Even though this book wrecked me, I must say that this is one of the most brilliant books I have ever read. In my opinion, this entire novel represents a much bigger picture. An allegory if you will. I won’t spoil it for those of you who haven’t read it but what I will say is that it took me an entire day to come to that conclusion and when it struck me, I was dumbfounded.

If this book is not on your TBR, it should be. It is an incredible story and it is a MUST READ.

Sarah Langan, I applaud you for this brilliant novel and cannot wait to see what you come up with next. This is my first 5-star read of 2021 and it is also the first book that will appear on my Goodreads best-of list for 2021 as well.

As I mentioned, this was a buddy read with Kaceey - I’m so glad we shared this read together, I’m not sure I could have read this one alone.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books and Sarah Langan for the arc.

Published on Goodreads and Twitter on 1.17.21.
Excerpt posted on Insta.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for gifting me a digital ARC of this fabulous book by Sarah Langan - 5 stars for a creepy look into suburbia.

The Wilde family has never quite fit into the Maple Street neighborhood of Long Island. Mom, Gertie, is a former beauty queen who never feels like she fits in; dad, Arlo, is a former rocker with the tattoos to prove it; daughter Julia is a strong teenager who has recently been hurt by the in crowd; son Larry is just different. Gertie felt she found a friend in neighbor, Rhea, who is the queen of the neighborhood but a late-night talk changes all that. Then one evening, a sinkhole opens up in the neighborhood park and nothing is the same. One girl is missing, the neighborhood is covered with underground muck, and accusations start flying.

This is a hyped up example of the damage caused by neighborhood gossip and innuendo, resulting in a mob mentality of craziness. All of the adults in this book behave badly; some of the children give a glimmer of hope. Certainly should give pause to anyone even thinking about starting or spreading a rumor! This is a beautifully written book. Set in the future, with interspersed chapters from news media reports that give glimpses of what happened in the neighborhood that July. You will not be able to turn the pages fast enough to see how it all plays out. I loved this book!

Wow! I wasn't sure what to expect from this book, but what a wild ride! Good Neighbors is like a mix between Celeste Ng's Little Fires Everywhere and Lisa Jewell's Girls in the Garden. Throw in climate change and a game of Telephone, then *bam,* you've got Good Neighbors. If you're into dark domestic thrillers with lots of neighborhood drama, then this book is for you.

Maple Street is the picture of what an ideal middle-to-upper class neighborhood looks like in suburban Long Island. The residents of Maple Street are like in their own little bubble - the kids and adults are close knit and feel safe within the confines of their neighborhood.

On the surface, Rhea Schroeder, the Queen Bee of Maple Street, appears to be the perfect wife and mother. But deep down, she is just a lonely professor of a community college harboring a dark secret. Four kids keep her on her toes, but her husband of 20 years has been largely absent throughout their whole marriage. She is used to being alone but puts on a happy face every day to keep up appearances.

In walks the Wilde family. who move into the much smaller run down house next door. It's clear that they don't quite fit in. The father, Arlo, is a has-been rock star and his wife, Gertie, is a bottle-blonde former patient queen. They have two small children, Julia and Larry. Julia is close to Rhea's daughter, Shelly's age, and the girls become fast friends.

Rhea is insecure and is threatened by Gertie so she befriends her to keep her close. But one day when they are hanging out, Rhea gets drunk and reveals too much. With this realization, Rhea begins to distance herself from Gertie - their falling out is how the book begins.

One hot, dreadful day, Shelly ends up falling into the large sinkhole in a nearby park. With tensions rising between the Schroeders and Wildes, Rhea takes it a step further by blaming Arlo for Shelly's fall. She makes up a dangerous lie that will irrevocably change the Wildes' lives forever.

The plot is interesting and twisty - as you put together the pieces, the story gets even crazier. I thought the way the story was told was really clever. The story takes place in the future, but much of it is told in the way, way future - as retrospectives in the form of news articles and interviews with the detectives and the residents. These retrospectives help fill in the gaps.

Good Neighbors breaks apart the portrayal of the perfect American suburban neighborhood. It challenges how you see or define your relationships with your neighbors, friends and even family. It was riveting to see the disparity between social classes in this seemingly middle-to-upper class neighborhood - and how people can be easily influenced or pitted against each other with just one person's word.

A solid 4 out of 5 stars.

CW / TW: Childhood Trauma, Sexual Abuse / Trauma, Domestic Abuse / Violence

Thank you, NetGalley, Atria Books and Sarah Langan for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to @atriabooks and Sarah Langan for my gifted copy of Good Neighbors! This fascinating, dark look at suburbia is out on February 2nd.

All of the neighbors on Maple Street are EXTREMELY close. When the Wilde family moves in, they are initially accepted, until a false accusation after a horrific event brings everything to a grinding halt.

If you like a book with strongly written characters that reminds you of Desperate Housewives, this is the book for you! These characters brought on a wide range of emotions, from disgust to pity. I also loved how the suspense was written into this book as things started to escalate. It kept me on the edge of my seat! Langan is a very thoughtful author as well, inserting maps of Maple Street in as neighbors moved in and out. It helped me keep the various families straight, as chapters often started with the address of the family featured.

Are you close with your neighbors? We are friends and acquaintances with a few of ours, but not particularly close with anyone.

Good Neighbors by Sarah Langan was quite the read. I was not expecting so much action . There is a central theme of family dynamics and climate change. Hello sinkholes! If you live on Maple Way you are expected to fit in or get out, LITERALLY. The characters were well written and fleshed out albeit a bit crazy.

The story wowed me. I look forward to more books by this author.

The Celeste Ng comparions are perfect. I think Langan really captured the themes of hysteria and suburban tensions quite well. It's also a great modern companion to the classic Twilight Zone episode. I mean the action literally plays out on Maple Street. It's definitely not a feel-good story, or one that's following likable characters. I liked the newspaper articles and idea that this incident became national and historic news and became a pop culture staple with broadway adapations, which I could definitely see happening. Check it out if you like domestic thrillers, especially those that turn neighbor against neighbor

Wow, what a read! I'm not sure where to start with this one. Nothing like what I expected based on the blurb. A beautifully written, dark and satirical story with mostly unlikeable characters yet I was completely invested in them. Though it was set just a few years in the future, it had a bit of a dystopian feel with a sinkhole most likely caused by ungodly high temperatures. I honestly felt like I was reading an episode of the Twilight Zone directed by Quentin Tarantino. It was over the top and relatable at the same time. The children were the mature ones and the parents were a bunch of sheep that only cared about making themselves feel justified in their fear driven hate toward one family on the street. I definitely recommend this one and look forward to reading this author again in the future.

You think you have good neighbors well you might just want to think again! This is a great book and I highly recommend it! Pick it up today and you will always wonder who really lives next door to you!

An absolutely great book! A group of people each fighting their own demons and hiding their own secrets are thrown together, explosively, when a sink whole develops in their neighborhood. Slightly dystopian and told in a variety of ads and from a variety of view points it is not to be missed.

As a former high school English teacher who loved teaching The Crucible, I was intrigued by the comp titles for Good Neighbors and was thrilled to be approved for en eARC through NetGalley.

Set in a near future in a cookie cutter suburban neighborhood, Good Neighbors follows the lives of the citizens of Maple Street as a sink hole opens up. When Rhea's daughter falls in and a troubling accusation is made, doubts about why Shelley was near the sinkhole in the first place turn to fears, and the easiest targets are aimed at the Wildes, the newest addition to Maple Street who don't quite fit the mold. Is there merit to the story? Or is there something more nefarious lurking beneath the pristine surface?

I loved this book.

While it took me a minute to adjust to the narrative voice over the first few chapters, I couldn't put it down. The mixed media structure, alternating from book excerpts to interviews to flashbacks, worked really well to keep the intrigue up and tensions high. The sinkhole storyline was by far my favorite, focusing on the children of Maple Street in a defining moment in their lives. The dialogue was spot-on, and the tone felt both nostalgic and fresh, reminiscent of some of my favorite Stephen King novellas. I think anyone who likes their suspense with a dash of coming-of-age horror will find this appealing, as well.

But there's a lot more going on here than a darkly-entertaining search in a sinkhole. Langan does a fantastic job of highlighting contemporary social issues that will resonate for years to come: shifting cultural paradigms, racism and ableism, abuse and identity--and climate change, perhaps more than any other. I enjoyed the subtle references to the environmental catalyst--the escalating heat, the increasing frequency of sinkholes, the collapse of certain industries as companies move into more remote capabilities. It's a fascinating study on where we're headed, and as someone who is frequently terrified of the repercussions of global warming, this added an undercurrent of terror that was above the mob mentality of the neighbors. There is an inescapable danger, and while it might not be where Rhea or Gertie are looking, it certainly can't be ignored.

Overall, Good Neighbors is an engrossing, smart, terrifying read that will make you question what it means to be a good neighbor. For fans of Desperate Housewives and things that go bump in the night, add Good Neighbors to your TBR ASAP. Out in February, this is one you won't want to miss.


Big thanks to Atria and NetGalley for providing an eARC in exchange for honest review consideration.

Maple Street is a community where you fit in or get out. One woman has the power to compel the neighbors to do her bidding, even if it’s completely nonsensical. They’re all so used to deferring they don’t know any other way. Things can turn dangerous when you either don’t or won’t think for yourself.

The writing is unique because we have this fun storyline, interspersed with newspaper articles that help to further the storytelling. Langan has given us this fantastic book, with entirely unlikeable characters, an entire neighborhood of them. The storyline is gripping, and the characters are utterly ludicrous at times. They are so well-written it makes you want to reach into the book to ring their necks. The lies and manipulation keep building, and you get drawn into this wicked web, unable to put the book down, hoping for some resolution that puts these horrible neighbors in their place. It’s a testament to how good the writing is with this. Nicely done. Thank you, Atria Books, for sending this along.

Holy heck!! Sarah Langan has really wow’ed me with Good Neighbors!! By all appearances Maple Street seems to be an ideal place to live and raise your family, but looks can be deceiving!!! Every family on Maple Street has their own unique dynamics...and some have buried secrets! I felt like a fly on the wall while reading this novel and was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what secrets would come to light and when!!! The craziness that happens on this block will knock your socks off! I love a good suspense novel and Sarah Langan came through big time with this 5 star read! I can’t wait to read more from Sarah in the future!

I seem to be having a streak of reading fiction that is freaky, bizarre, and unsettling. Good Neighbors explores the relationship, between the Wildes and the Schroeders, amidst all the other people living on Maple Street. I didn't care for this book. The false accusations, the tormenting, the hate. I didn't like any of the characters, but Rhea was especially vile. She was deranged and responsible for so much pain. There were way too many characters as well, everyone kept getting muddled in my mind. This book is a miss for me.

Wowza, I would not want to live on Maple Street. I loved the way that the author wove together this story. She teased you so much in the beginning that it was impossible to put it down. I really needed to know what happened but doubted each character as I read. Langan did a great job with this one!