Fast paced book that was quite the wild ride. Very different from the usual thrillers which kept me hooked and finished the book in about 10 hours!

This is a true psychological thriller. I sat with my mouth dropped numerous times throughout this book.

One of the main side stories never gets answered and that bothers me but it doesn’t detract from the main characters story. And really that’s the most important part.

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.
"The New Neighbor" by Carter Wilson was a tense & addictive psychological thriller.
The world could have ended around me & I wouldn't have noticed because I was so engrossed in this book.
This was my 3rd read by Mr. Wilson, I previously read & loved: "The Dead Girl In 2A" & " Mister Tender's Girl".
I am looking forward to his next!

This was my first book by this author and it did not disappoint.

The mystery surrounding the letters that arrive was super creepy and kept me wanting to know more. The suspense built throughout the story and had me invested, turning pages quickly to see how it would end.

3.5 stars...

This started off with a bang - a funeral, a lottery winner, and some very creepy messages after a widowed father moves with his two children.

The middle of this book is where I found myself bored/struggling... not much was happening and the characters were unlikable.

The ending finished as it started, stronger - however I was overall a little let down.

Thank you netgalley & publisher!

This twisted psychological suspense had me on pins and needles trying to figure out what was going on in Bury, NH. 

Aiden Marlowe is both the luckiest and unluckiest person. He loses his wife and on the day he buried her he realized he has won the lottery. He decides that Baltimore holds too many memories, so he buys a house (pretty much sight unseen) in Bury, NH, and moves his twin children there. That is when the story gets interesting as he discovers notes from someone saying they are watching him. The notes seem innocuous but they could be something more, so he starts digging into the past of the home he bought and why four people disappeared.

As this story unravels and more facts come to light, it made me wonder about the human psyche and how much it can endure before breaking. Marlowe finds out in this tale and at times I felt empathy for him and other times I wondered what he was thinking. We are spectators of his life including the events surrounding the death of his brother in Ireland. His relationship with his father is tenuous and teeters on the edge after more truths are told.

While we are only given a small timeframe of their lives, there is a lot packed into those moments. Not everyone is as they seem and perhaps love can be found again for Marlowe even though he had a wonderful relationship with his wife before her death. I don't think Marlowe is meant to be alone and I'm not sure how he would survive since he doesn't do the best job after Holly's passing.

The mystery surrounding the notes is intriguing and the truth surprised me when everything was revealed. I can't say much without giving away part of the plotline.

The only disappointing part of the book was that we never find out what happened to the Yates. That might be a bit of a spoiler but it was the only part of the book that I didn't like. That was a big mystery that was played up but is not resolved. There is a previous book, The Dead Husband, that focuses on this story but it occurs before this book. Perhaps there will be another book that reveals the full truth of that family.

Overall, this book was fast-paced and kept me guessing throughout. We give it 4 paws up.

I think this is my third, The New something or other book. This is a little different. HOw would you feel if you won the lottery on the same day your spouse dies? This will make you wonder just how 'lucky' people can be?

Aidan Marlowe just found out he won the lottery on the day of his wife’s funeral. Upon moving with his two kids to a new town, he begins receiving ominous letters that progressively get more threatening.
When I heard of this book, I knew immediately I needed to request it on NetGalley. Hearing the synopsis, I was immediately reminded of a case I heard from years ago about a house dubbed The Watcher House, where a family was terrorized by someone leaving threatening letters in their mailbox. This book had multiple parts that felt like they paralleled that case, and I am here for it. It had so many twists and turns, and always left me on the edge of my seat as Aidan is quite the unreliable narrator. I am excited to read more by Wilson as his writing is one of the freshest, most exciting ones I have ever had the pleasure of coming across.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to NetGalley, Carter Wilson and Poisoned Pen Press for the free e-book in exchange for an honest review.

I was a bit concerned to learn that there was a unreliable narrator in this novel; I really like this in a novel, but also it can be done so poorly. This novel did a great job with it because I honestly wondered if someone was screwing with the main character. I was happily confused throughout most of the novel and I loved how quick and easy this book was to read.

What happens to Aiden Marlowe and his seven-year-old twins Maggie and Bo is almost unimaginable. On the same day that they bury Holly, his wife, and their mother, Aiden wins the Maryland Powerball, using the same numbers he’s turned to for fifteen years. Thirty million dollars before taxes. He’s a superstitious man from Ireland, a land where there’s a superstition for just about everything. N.B. Maryland is one of the few states that doesn’t reveal the names of lottery winners.

Aiden is grief-stricken and can’t conceive of staying in Baltimore. The money will give his family a fresh start. Or will it? Irish writer Jamie O’Neill (At Swim, Two Boys) sums up Aiden’s dilemma.

“They do say money is the root of all evil.”



“I thought that was supposed to be the love of money.”



“There’s neat for you. ‘Tis them without it that loves it best.”

It’s apropos: Aiden met Holly when he was an impecunious, feisty bartender at Marlowe’s, his dad’s pub in Dublin. Aiden had put his dreams of studying English at university on hold when his dad asked him to help get the bar on a steady financial footing. When Holly walked into Marlowe’s, he felt a “tingle of energy.”

Holly, she crackled.



She sat at the bar and ordered a Guinness.



It’s my first time in Dublin, so I wanted to have an authentic experience, she’d said. I thought a Guinness in a local pub would be a good way to start. Her American accent was gentle and unrecognizable. Definitely not Texas or New York, the ones I could identify the easiest.



I poured her a draught and placed it in front it in front of her, catching her scent along the way. Like flowers, brand new to the world. And her eyes, dark but gleaming. Sounds mad but she seemed to glow.

Aiden is a goner for Holly. A painful pleasure of The New Neighbor is hearing Holly come alive in Aiden’s memories. She never put up with any of Aiden’s guff, calling him out at their first meeting for fresh bruises on his face and torso from recent bar fights. He tries to sluff it off but Holly isn’t having it: “From that first moment, Holly wasn’t a person I could hide from without serious effort on my part.” Aiden doesn’t know how he’ll live without her. Holly’s spirit haunts him—he remembers her words when they were newlyweds and he was adrift: “Figure your shit out, Marlowe.”

To put it brutally, is Aiden bringing his shit with him when he moves to Bury, New Hampshire? He found the New Hampshire mansion online, paid cash for it and ignored the house’s troubled history. Troubled as in the previous family sort of disappeared—a rumor or reality? His kids dislike the house on sight. The issues might dissipate if bad things didn’t start happening right away. Aiden receives a hand-delivered letter: it’s a doozer.

Mr. Marlowe.



Welcome to Bury! Welcome to Rum Hill Road. Welcome to your new house.



We love your home. We’ve been watching it a long time.



Question: Did you know that winning the lottery actually INCREASES your chances of suicide? The numbers must really skyrocket when you also take into account a freshly dead wife. It must be a struggle. We can only imagine the effect it all must be having on your little ones.



If you’re feeling lonely or stressed, don’t expect the people of Bury to be of any help. They’re a nasty bunch. Maybe they think you don’t deserve to be here in Bury. Or in this beautiful house. Maybe they think you should go back to Baltimore.



But we don’t agree. We think you should stay right in this new house of yours.



In fact, we insist upon it. Don’t think about leaving—this house needs you. We’ll be back in touch soon.



With anticipation,



WE WHO WATCH

It feels like the beginning of a horror movie. Chief Sike and local police are not helpful. Aiden decides to throw a welcome-to-the-neighbor party and invite lots of townspeople, in the hopes of sussing out the person(s) behind the poison pen letters. In the middle of it, Maggie disappears. Other than Maya, his post-Powerball lawyer, Aiden has no one in his corner he trusts so he asks his da to come for an extended visit.

Petrified in the aftermath of Maggie’s temporary disappearance, Aiden resolves to find out who’s torturing him. Who needs the police? He’s not prepared to be blackmailed or beaten down but it takes a toll on him. His bar owner dad notices how much Aiden is drinking and so do his kids. They don’t like it. Aiden obsesses about who is close enough to “see” him and his family. He is really scared—and the house has a haunted vibe. The escalating threats against him and his family are enough to give anyone the willies.

“The surest way to ruin a man who doesn’t know how to handle money is to give him some.” ― George Bernard Shaw

Should he have turned down the money? How do people in his new community know that he’s a lottery winner? Welcome to the dark web. Aiden learns that for a price no information is unobtainable. He has off-sourced all his decisions which is understandable in the short term but it leaves him and his kids dangerously vulnerable. Readers of The New Neighbor are signing up for a ride on a frenetic and terrifying rollercoaster: it’s a top notch domestic thriller.

This book started off very sad and I wondered if this was to be the theme throughout the book. The pace picked up quickly and I raced through. It was tense, slightly creepy and weird all rolled into one and I loved it. A real page turner. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

The New Neighbor is a stand-alone book, but also a follow up book to The Dead Husband. I have read The Dead Husband, and loved it. The Yates family is screwed up and irresistible to follow. So, I was excited to get a little more of their story.
There wasn’t a whole lot more of the Yates in this book, other then their home. The mystery of what happened to the family gives the house a haunting vibe, but so much of that comes from the family that moved into it. Aidan is a tortured man with a taste for whiskey, and is struggling to move on from his wife’s death. So much of the book is about his grief, making it difficult to continue reading. His black outs and impulsive nature are the only thing that kept the book moving and thrilling.
I wanted so much more from this book! I loved Wilson’s other book so much, and really wanted that creepy family vibe to continue on. This one was too much cryptic notes and strange Bury people.

Another win by Carter Wilson! This was sooo tense and kept me turning the pages. Excellent work with the unreliable narration.

Baltimore - 2018

Arden Marlowe, 35, has just lost his wife, Holly, from a brain aneurism. As the father to 7-year-old twins, Bo and Maggie, he is really struggling.

On the day of Holly’s funeral, he receives a notification email with the winning Powerball numbers and realizes that he has won! He has played the same numbers every week for many years just as his father did.

Thinking it might be good to leave the area for a fresh start, he buys a large home in Bury, New Hampshire. He soon learns that the house has a history. The former owner, Mr. Yates, his 2 daughters, and a grandson all disappeared one day from the house and were never found again. This news is disturbing enough but then Arden starts receiving threatening letters telling him he is being watched. Then, the letters start demanding money because it’s be discovered that he is a lottery winner.

Arden becomes increasingly worried about his children and doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t want to be run out of his home, but he also doesn’t want anyone harmed.

For me, this book is both creepy and sad. However, it kept my interest as Arden, or Marlowe, as he preferred to be called, worked his way through his own demons to figure out who was trying to run him and his family off. It’s gritty and scary, but I found him to be a strong character and the story to be very compelling. Enjoy! And no, it won’t keep me from wanting to win the lottery.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

EXCERPT: . . . she puts her arms on the table and folds her hands. Gleaming nail polish, raven black.

'I tell you about the disappeared.' Her gaze is steady. 'No one else.'

'The disappeared?' It takes me a second, then I connect the pieces. 'Right. Logan Yates.'

'No,' she says, raising four fingers. 'There are four disappeared.'

I look at Maya, who gives me the same uncomprehending expression I give her. Turning back to Abril, I say, 'Four?'

She nods. 'Mr Yates. Both his daughters. His grandson. All disappeared. Four.'

ABOUT 'THE NEW NEIGHBOR': Aidan holds the winning Powerball numbers.

Is today the best day of his life... or the worst?

Aidan Marlowe is the superstitious type—he's been playing the same lottery numbers for fifteen years, never hitting the jackpot. Until now. On the day of his wife's funeral.

Aidan struggles to cope with these two sudden extremes: instant wealth beyond his imagination, and the loss of the only woman he's ever loved, the mother of his twin children. But the money gives him and his kids options they didn't have before. They can leave everything behind. They can start a new life in a new town. So they do.

But a huge new house and all the money in the world can't replace what they've lost, and it's not long before Aidan realizes he's merely trading old demons for new ones. Because someone is watching him and his family very closely. Someone who knows exactly who they are, where they've come from, and what they're trying to hide. Someone who will stop at nothing to get what they want...

MY THOUGHTS: The New Neighbor started out as a truly gripping and suspenseful read. I was holding my breath as I eased the pages over, almost frightened of what might be hiding behind them. I haven't had such a visceral reaction to a book in a long time. This reaction continued for the majority of the book. If Carter Wilson let me relax, breathe normally, I knew it was only because there was more and worse to come.

Twist after twist kept my anxiety at peak levels. The plot is fast paced, and I loved it, reading it overnight, but I had a hard time connecting with the main character, Aiden. Marlowe I loved. Aiden? Nah. A great deal of the time his actions just didn't make sense to me, but I managed to keep a lid on my frustrations, swept along by the tension and drama, until almost the end. And then, I'm afraid Mr Wilson, you lost me. I deflated like a balloon.

I read through to the end, but the damage was done. I still, mostly, loved this read. It was never boring, or slow. The chapters are short and each packs a punch. But it also frustrated me that a mystery that was a major thread in the plot was totally ignored at the end. Not. Even. Mentioned.

⭐⭐⭐.7

I: @carterwilsonauthor @poisonedpenpress

T: #CarterWilsonAuthor @PPPress

#contemporaryfiction #familydrama #mentalhealth #mystery #psychologicalthriller #suspense #thriller

THE AUTHOR: USA Today bestselling author Carter Wilson has written eight critically acclaimed, standalone psychological thrillers, as well as numerous short stories. He is an ITW Thriller Award finalist, a four-time winner of the Colorado Book Award, and his works have been optioned for television and film. Carter lives in Erie, Colorado in a Victorian house that is spooky but isn’t haunted…yet.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The New Neighbor by Carter Wilson for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

Thanks to NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press and Carter Willson. This was a read that I kept wanting to read even though I didn't find it jaw dropping or overly thrilling but definitely a book that keeps your interest and makes you want to read more. The chapters are fairly short and most of the time end in a cliff hanger way that allow you to want to keep reading. I would suggest people read it as it was interesting.

Aidan Marlowe is standing by his wife’s grave at her funeral when he receives a call - he has won millions in the lottery. Aidan decides he needs a fresh start and now money is not an issue so he takes his twins and buys a house unseen in Bury, New Hampshire. The house they move into has a dark history- the family that used to live there disappeared. Aidan begins suffering from weird childhood memories and losing track of time. Contributing to his paranoia are letters he is receiving with vague threats signed “ We Who Watch”. Aiden begins falling apart and turns to escapism through alcohol. As the story plods along we eventually find out who is the villain but it was kind of anticlimactic.
Trigger warning- animal cruelty involving a rabbit.
I enjoyed “ Mister Tenders Girl” and “The Dead Husband” (about the missing family in this one) but this one unfortunately fell a bit for for me. If you enjoy slow burn psychological thrillers give it a try.
Thank you to #netgalley and Poison Pen Press for the chance to read this one and I look forward to the authors next one!


Happy Publication Day!

𝘎𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭!

I love a good psychological thriller and this book kept me at the edge of my seat. It was dark, creepy, disturbing and chilling, I loved that it kept me guessing until the very end, a fantastic ride.

Thank you Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this gifted copy!

𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦: 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘔𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺, 𝘚𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦, 𝘗𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘴.

https://www.instagram.com/booksandcoffeemx/

Thank you to @poisinedpenpress and @dreamscapemedia for the advance review copies of The New Neighbor by Carter Wilson. It's pub day today, so this book is available now!

Aiden Marlow is dealing with enough when his wife dies suddenly, as he is saying his final goodbye to her, his Powerball numbers come up and he doesn't know if its the best or worst day of his life. He takes is winnings, and moves with his twin seven year old a beautiful house in the town of Bury, NH.

The town, and the house have secrets and a dark history that slowly reveal themselves throughout this twisty, atmospheric thriller.

I really enjoyed the many short chapters (80+ chapters!) that varied in length a little bit. It made it easy to get sucked in, and read way more than you expect in one sitting.

I was pulled into all the different plot aspects and did not see the ending coming at all. Dropping my rating a little bit because after reading I'm a little confused about one part of the book.

3.5 stars rounded.

Oozing with the vibes of Home Before Dark, The New Neighbor is an enjoyable read, for those who love psychological thrillers set in huge, creepy mansions with a dark and mysterious history.

Synopsis -

Aidan Marlow hasn’t really been lucky with his Powerball lottery. But he hits the jackpot on the day of his wife’s funeral. Overwhelmed by the instant wealth and the grief of his loss, he decides to move to the town of Bury with his twin kids, to a colossal house. Already tormented by demons from his past, Aidan’s promise of a peaceful life is shattered when he realizes that they are being watched by their neighbors.

Review -
Aidan’s first-person narrative gets us to understand his disturbed mind-set. Having lost the love of his life, his need to move to a new town for a fresh start was substantial.

Wilson soon hints at the possibility that Aidan might not be a reliable narrator. I loved how his character gets developed, describing his past life in Ireland, the tragedies he has left behind and the love for his wife. I could empathize with his dilemmas about his wealth, the enormity of his loss and some of the memories that haunt him.

What grabbed my attention was obviously the way in which “someone” is keeping a watch on Aidan’s home and family. As and when the threats kept mounting, the pages couldn’t turn fast enough.

The setting is another ingredient that blends well with the multi-layered plot. Aidan’s obsession to uncover what’s hidden in the belly of this house edges close to insanity and drives him to cross the limits. With the elements of his fear and paranoia, the author does a great job of planting the seeds of doubt around his behavior.

Some of the twists were cleverly disguised and while the big reveal wasn’t utterly jaw-dropping with my speculations, I liked how Aidan finally discloses the secrets from his past, learns to let go and confronts the immediate danger.

A solid nail-biting page-turner that is sure to provide the thrill and entertainment that we are looking for!

Thanks NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!