Carter Wilson once again shows what a great thriller writer he is. I loved this book. It had that Hitchcock feel to it. Great atmosphere. Aiden questioning his own sanity. Lots of misdirection, making it hard to guess who was behind the threats and blackmail... All the ingredients for a fun addictive read!

Intense and riveting! Aidan's story will keep you entertained up until the very end. I can't wait to read more of Carter Wilson's books!!

I will start with my star rating: 3. You may at first think, okay this is probably a pretty solid book with a 3 star rating. However, you have to understand the reason I am giving it that “high” of a rating is because I was so invested/interested to find out what exactly was going on. The author;s writing style was definitely captivating and leaves you at the end of chapters with a dangling carrot out in front of you Another thing he did was he would have super short chapters mixed in, I love that~So definitely snaps for the author for doing his job of keeping me entertained. But……….then the actual book happened. Should I start with the good? Okay.
The premise of the book: Aiden Marlowe’s wife dies, he wins the lottery, moves his twin kids to a mansion in Bury, NH, weird things happen
Suspensful I really wanted to know what was going on with the house and missing family that previously occupied the home.
Now the bad/irritating. The main character is so messed up! Yes I understand he lost his wife who he was madly in love with (apparently) but he is self destructive, narcissistic--he does not consider his 7 year old children in this whole situation, he treats them like they are adults, I wonder if the author has kids because some of the things the kids say/do/act is not what a seven year old is capable of (final scenes...seriously??) , Aiden/Marlowe (another weird thread throughout the book, he insist on being called Marlowe, not Mr. Marlowe or Aiden, Marlowe.) (By the way I am just writing down my thoughts as I type, please do not read this as a well planned/outlined review) Now there is his dad, Da (which is what I call my grandfather) but his Dad comes over to help and again weird relationship there, it is very cold/distant. Not quite realistic. Another weird relationship is Maya--she is Marlowe’s lawyer turned lover--uhh so awkward and weird. I almost feel like Carter Wilson wrote this book in a room all by himself and only imagines what relationships/people are truly like. These characters are so not real human beings in my opinion. BUT I KEPT READING, so obviously I wanted to know what happened.
Back to Marlowe, he has these weird visions that are super violent and graphic about his children being murdered/mutalated, talk about off the hinge. It is clear he is super unstable and part of the twist is that he is an unreliable narrator, but I mean come one people I picked up on that on page 20 I think. So I think about 75% into the book I was on bard with this book, but then in dragged and dragged and I was like okay PLEASE END. What is the “big reveal” well Scooby Doo episodes where they “demask” the bad guy are more exciting than this ending. Such a build up for such a fizzle ending….I will leave it at that.
MORE ABOUT THE ENDING: Umm...What? Please look at Holly Westbrook’s review---I am in TOTAL agreement with what she said--the MAIN question I had was TOTALLY NOT ANSWERED….Maybe because I read this as an ARC it is missing some chapters??? I really hope so….because otherwise….what was the purpose of the book except we learn that our MC has eaten wayyyy to many bowls of CoCo Puffs (crazy).

Thank you NetGalley & to the publisher Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review - always very appreciated! (less)

3-3.5 stars, rounded down. For me 4 stars means I’m telling you to grab this book & I’m fairly certain you’ll like/love it but I can’t say that. With that being said I actually was pretty invested in this book right off the bat due to something happening early on. The thing this book had going for it was the suspense. If it didn’t have me in such anticipation of who was messing with Aidan Marlowe & his family then I’d have really struggled to get to the end.

There were so many things that bugged me while reading this.
-The copy I read was an ARC so I understand it’s not the final draft but there were a lot of misses on proofreading it was distracting & annoying.
-I couldn’t stand the main character (who goes by his last name Marlowe), for a multitude of reasons. The way he spoke..to others and to himself. How cocky sounding he was when he described his ridiculously huge house, very material seeming when he should be focusing on his children. He loved his wife but yet didn’t really act like it? He seems like a garbage parent, or maybe I’m being unfair since his wife just died? No I’m not, people die that’s life & you still have to do life & parent if you have children. He was an unreliable narrator which is fine but not my favorite way to play out a story.
-Weirdly I think my favorite character was Maya his lawyer who’s a main character but also isn’t? Pretty sad she was my favorite considering.
-Some of the name choices really really annoyed me. First off his dad Da (every time I ‘said it’ it didn’t jive), the town he moves to named Bury.
-Aidan & Da were supposed to be Irish characters so sometimes the dialogue was written out in Irish accent & to me it sounded dumb reading it. Maybe I’m being too picky & it’s me that couldn’t get into it.
-The description of the main character or the narration sometimes wasn’t fitting for a male main character in my opinion, or maybe I’m not open minded? I just can’t picture a man saying “A light summer breeze kisses my earlobes..” or “I worked at one of the poshest bars in town.”.
-THE ENDING!!😣
(Anyone else mad about the ending?? Specifically the lack of tying up a very important part of the story?!)

While I didn’t love love this book I will say overall Wilson is quite the writer. A couple examples that reflects the style & detail of how he writes:

“I try to push away the thought of her face being anything other than radiant and smooth, but I can’t do it anymore. I can only picture it collapsing in on itself, a pumpkin rotting in the sun.” Definitely gives you a visual haha

Another sentence I liked that stood out “Maggie’s voice rings out like a sentry spotting an advancing army.”


If you have the opportunity to read The New Neighbor it’s a good book & I recommend it in that way. I would absolutely give another Carter Wilson book a try. This isn’t one I’d bump up in my TBR pile though.

Thank you NetGalley & to the publisher Poisoned Pen Press for the advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review - always very appreciated!

A new and stellar mystery by Carter Wilson is always a great fun to read, even though the subject matter is not an easy one. The passing of his wife and the subsequent lottery win lead the protagonist and his family to embark on a seemingly new life, but there are some secrets that are very difficult to leave behind…

This book was a page turner from beginning to end. Aiden plays the same lottery numbers everyday. And he finally wins. On the day he is burying his newly married wife. So what does he do? Take his new earnings and uproot his family and buy a new beautiful yet slightly creepy house sight unseen and move in. Then the letters start demanding money and threatening his family. Should he take them seriously and ask for help? Who should be trust? I have to be honest I NEVER saw the ending coming. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have been addicted to Carter Wilson's books since forever; no two are ever the same, but they are always chilling and thought-provoking! This one was no exception; it starts off at the funeral of Aiden's wife as he mourns and tries to keep his twins from going off the deep end. Needing a fresh start, he moves to a town called Bury and buys a huge house (did I forget to mention he just won the lottery?) hoping a fresh start will be what they all need. But of course things quickly go awry as he begins receiving threatening notes, has uncomfortable visions of his brother's untimely death, and never feels quite "welcome" in this town. So many surprises await! I stayed up almost all night to finish this as it grabs you by the throat, shakes you around, and threatens to never let you go! I always just give in to his books' grip on me as the pacing is perfect, the characters are fascinating, and the plot-lines draw you in from the beginning! Another winner for me (but maybe read in daylight)!
Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC and wish granted!

3.5 STARS

Won't you be my neighbor?

I love a good neighborhood thriller! I'm always intrigued by the ambience of a quiet street, a looming mansion, or any house with a story and the people that reside within the walls.

This was my first Carter Wilson book. I've seen much praise for several of his titles and wanted to give him a try. This one felt more like a character study of the protagonist, Aiden, rather than a typical neighborhood type thriller (imo). There is a mystery that involves his winning big with the lottery powerball numbers all while Aiden is coping with the recent loss of his wife, raising his twins, and managing the new wealth. Then some harrasing letters show up at his new home (he hides them inside a Stephen King hardback lol). The anonymous letters are signed We Who Watch .

Instead of an insecure wife, we have an unsteady, paranoid father who often has "gaps" in his memory. He feels an "energy" in the house, some hidden secrets are revealed, and eerie scenes from his childhood haunt him (there is a scene that describes a rabbit that was harmed). The big twist, felt anticlimactic and was quite a stretch.

It was a fast read with a good pace, and short chapters with those cliffhanger endings that make you want to read another chapter. Never boring or slow, however, the ending had me shaking my head a bit.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of this thriller, The New Neighbor by Carter Wilson.
Money, madness, and mystery. This author was new to me and though at times I disliked the redundant vernacular and dialogue, this thriller did not lack the favored formula of short, action-packed chapters and unreliable narration. This book, though mostly a superficial read, manages to ask questions of what a mind in pain is capable of and what money can or cannot solve.

A pretty damn enjoyable read, though the slightly mystic narration juxtaposed with the hyper-short chapters was a touch jarring.

Can you have the worst day of your life and also the best day of your life all in one day? Aiden Marlow did. He found out on the day of his wife Holly's funeral that he had won the lottery and he hit it big. How are you supposed to feel ? Aiden just knew he needed to move with his two kids to get a fresh start. They moved to a new city to a huge house that had a very questionable history. Aiden felt weird vibes upon entering his new house but felt he would get over it once he moved in, but disturbing things started happening and brought Aiden and even his children to the breaking point. Who was trying to scare them and why? Aiden was obsessed with finding out what had happened in his house and he thought it would bring him closer to understanding why these things were happening to them in the present. The shocking twist at the end blew my mind! This book was satisfyingly creepy and intense.

Was excited about this one and I Really enjoyed the twists and storyline. Would definitely recommend to any thriller lover. Thank you NetGalley for this advanced copy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book. After winning the lottery on the day of his wife's death and finding out at her burial, Aidan decides to start over with his kids in a new city. He buys a house unseen and then discovers the secrets of the family that lived there before. I found myself skipping forward in places just to get to a better part, but i did finish the book. It's not my favorite of the year, by far, but it is a good, solid book with an interesting twist to the storyline.

Carter Wilson is a thriller writer I’ve come to enjoy reading enough to acquire his new books on name recognition alone, as was the case here. Wilson isn’t the most consistent author, but, although he’s seldom great, he’s always, reliably, good and that’s pretty impressive in and of itself, a built-in quality control of sorts.
With his latest, he is, once again, good, very good. At least for the first two thirds on the novel, the last one can strike readers this way or that.
So, the wealthy denizens of Bury are getting a new neighbor. Bury’s a place Wilson already created and established before, so this is a revisit, after all a town with a name that creepy deserves one. The neighbor’s name is Aidan, he’s a recent widower, his beloved wife suddenly died and now at 35 he finds himself devastated and unmoored, but since he has two young kids to take care of, he can’t allow himself to unravel, so he does the next best thing…buys a new life. The reason he can do this isn’t his prowess as a bartender, it’s his winning lottery ticket. The win he, eerily, finds out about on the day of his wife’s funeral. Now Aidan, who has always, at best, threaded water, is a multimillionaire, and so he goes out and buys a mansion suited for one. A place that used to belong to a family that had mysteriously vanished. Does that factor creep Aidan out? Apparently not. It puzzles him, though, makes him want to solve the mystery, until a mystery of his own crops up in form of increasingly threatening letters.
Is someone merely after his wealth or is here something more sinister at play here? Well, read and find out.
It stands to mention that Aidan in his grief (his multilevel grief spiked by guilt as it turns out) is something of an unreliable narrator, increasingly so as the novel progresses, so it adds to the general WTF*ckery of his situation. Staying authentic to his Irish blood, he drinks too much, which muddles his existence. But overall, he’s a nice guy, someone you want to succeed and so you read on.
By now, with so many thrillers under his belt, Wilson has gotten the formula down perfectly. Short chapters, each ending in the way that you simply have to read the next, the novel zooms by, the last third in a somewhat hallucinogenic state of uncertainty, but still…There’s a nice plot twist in the end too. Likable characters, etc. Although it stands to mention one of Aidan’s seven year old twins, Bo, seems/talks almost distractingly mature for his age. Overall, a very engaging production that’ll certainly have you turning the pages.
It is very disappointing the way a central mystery of Aidan’s new place is introduced and then left unsolved. I definitely would have loved more on that, it seems like a more interesting secret to uncover than Aidan’s own letters situation, in fact. But alas, the author chose not to. We’re given the story he wanted to tell, the mystery he wanted to solve, and that’s perfectly fine and mostly sufficient. Makes for a fun and entertaining character driven suspense thriller. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Winning the lottery on the day of his wife's funeral, Marlow moves his young children to the town of Bury and buys a house with a mysterious past. A well written taut thriller that kept me guessing to the end. A great read!

The New Neighbor looked like it would have everything that I love in a thriller, but it fell flat for me. I got through the first third before I got too restless to keep going. It just felt like a lot of telling vs. showing, and that made it hard to lean into any suspense.

Great book. Marlowe loses his wife, now devastated he is left to raise his 7 year old twins on his own. After a major event happens in his life he decides to pack and move the family to a town called Bury. He buys a huge house and is looking for a new start. But what is ahead will change his life even further. Ghosts from his past will haunt him and life becomes very complicated. I loved this book, great story that had me reading the book in an afternoon. Carter Wislon is a brilliant author and presents a tale that will have you turning the pages at a very fast pace. I highly recommend this book and thank NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Carter Wilson’s latest novel, “The New Neighbor” is exactly what I’ve been looking for, so many “thriller/crime/horrible/“domestic suspense” novels in recent times have been such a YAWN.

This was a an excellent return to my earlier favorites of his novels (“The Dead Girl in 2A”, “The Comfort of Black”and “Revelation”). Yay!!!
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Great writing that held me in it’s grip and didn’t let me do anything else until I finished the last page (which I dreaded because I loved this book so much)..

Highly recommended.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC for an exchange of an honest review.

I enjoyed the book, but would have like a bit more wow.
Warning: there a brief talk about animal torture. So keep that in mind.

This book was sent to me electronically by Netgalley for review…family secrets…money…being hunted by strangers…starting over…this author has woven a tale that could really happen…that makes it more frightening…mystery and intrigue…although the story takes awhile to conclude, it is a good read.