Newly moved in, Beth is just getting used to living in her new suburban family home in Reading.
While her husband is at work and her kids at school, Beth finds her days monotonous, missing her friends and their company. Deciding to get better knowledge of the new environment and it's residents, she organises a get together, which leaves her without the friendships she expected.
Feeling lonely she gets a dog and the days start getting a routine. But the dog is attracted to a garden next door and following him, she one day sees a young girl with a Help me sign in the window. Who is she? And what are the neighbours hiding?





The book is told in two POV's; we follow Beth in her journey of adjusting to her new life and in the other part we follow Sofia, a victim of human trafficking and domestic slavery. What bothered me was that  while Sofia's story is written in first person, Beth's story is told in the third one.The pace of the story was slow and it felt dragged out.

What happens in the first 70% of the story is just Beth getting to know her new surroundings, working in a bookshop and starting a book club. The remaining 30% didn't deliver anything promised either. 

Writing that can be best described as predictable story telling, with characters that left me with no emotion and care for them, a story where the ending doesn't bring an emotional or any kind of punch. Maybe the book could benefit from Oksana and Kevin's POV's.


Thanks to the author Susanna Berad, publisher Joffe Books and NetGalley for a free copy.

This was a very tense psychological thriller. This falls more on the gory, twisted side. I think these thrillers rely on more of a tense plot, rather than a build up with descriptive and emotional scenes that build up. Good for people who like that kind of book but not really my cup of tea.

Thank you Netgalley, Joffe Books, and Author Susanna Beard for this ARC.

This insidious domestic thriller delves into our everyday lives and flips it all on its head in a dark and suspenseful way. What would you do if you'd just moved into a new house, in a new, posh neighborhood, and see someone in one of your neighbor's houses holding up a sign that says 'HELP ME'? Yikes!

This was quite the page turner and is filled with dark secrets.

Written with compassion and empathy. We learn of the plight of Sofia, the secret, hidden servant/slave/prisoner, held against her will in a domestic household. Its very disturbing because the reality is, it could be a true story. No one knows what goes on behind closed doors.
Well worth the read.

the Perfect Neighbour by Susanna Beard


I would like to thank both Net Galley and Joffe books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.


The book is told from different points of view. Sofia tells her story and Beth tells hers.

The beginning of the story is a bit slow but about halfway it really picks up and compelled me to continue reading until the end, in one sitting.

I really enjoyed the wondering of what would happen to Sofia.

Learning about who lived with Sofia, and learning about Beth and her own family, was quite the journey. An enjoyable page turner.

A nice way to spend an afternoon for sure.

A quick suspenseful read. Beth and her family relocate to a new neighborhood where it’s not as warm and welcoming as their previous. Interesting characters and a fast read

This was such a quick read - it really starts off with a bang and hooked me immediately!
I won't summarize because I don't want to spoil any of the plot but if you're like me and enjoy a rich housewife / suburban mystery, this book is for you.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle by Joffe Books and #NetGalley for my honest opinion.

Twists, turns, thrills, gripping, emotional plots that keep you guessing.

I love a book written from different character points of view. In this book we see Beth, newly moved to a seemingly quiet and unwelcoming neighbourhood who is desperate to fit in and Sofia, kept hidden and a secret in her captors house.
Beth discovers a girl, pale and thin trying to catch her attention leading Beth to question what exactly is going on in the house next door and who would belive her? Who can help her?

I found that I had to get 50% of the way through the book before anything big happened. And even then I was about 80% the way through when all of sudden it all came together. It's a rather drawn out beginning, places you think something big will happen gets you excited only for it to come to nothing and when everything does come together it felt rushed.

Overall a good read, I didn't want to put it down because I did want to find out what happened to these characters but also when I had to put it down I did find it hard to pick up again.

The book was great, interesting characters, fast changing and twisting plot- exactly what I love! I would recommend this book to my friends and family!

What a wonderful book!! This is the first book I have read from Susanna Beard, but rest assured I will be reading more!!! This book kept my interest up to the very end!! Loved it!!!

If you like a problem and a solution and all loose ends tied up type of story this if for you! Don’t get me wrong - I like that too. I was just expecting more conflict. I love that the author didn’t add gratuitous violence for the sake of horror but it was also kind of a slow story. However, it should be noted that around the 50% mark the speed picked up and it was actually pretty fast paced and makes your heart race. Then the ending was just so neat but didn’t go into the whys or and details of the villain. My favorite part was the dog and, surprisingly, the father and son were actually really good male characters for the type of story it was. Overall, I enjoyed the story but I wasn’t overly excited about it. I’m also used to much more gory and murdery stories so if you’re not a fan of those then this is a great thriller for you!

A psychological thriller, my favorite genre!

Can you ever truly know what goes on in someone else's house?

This book was well written, albeit at a slower pace then I'm used to, but kept you hooked until the end

Really enjoyed this book. Prior to reading it had little knowledge of modern day slavery. Engaging, interesting and well written. Sad to know how some people behave and how little respect they can have for others. Look forward to reading more from this author.

I found this novel a page turner and an addictive read even though I probably guessed most of what was going to happen. Probably because it is a fairly quick read I found the fairly simple plot engaging and was keen to learn what was going to happen.

Beth moves into a new house and is keen to make friends with the neighbours but soon discovers that they may be difficult. The next door neighbour Oksana is far from hospitable and ignores Beth’s advances to make small talk. Oksana is a bit of a mystery figure to the locals and Beth’s attention is raised when she spots a young teenager in her neighbours window. The girl is holding a sign saying ‘Help me’.

I found this novel an entertaining read, not a classic but a page turner all the same.

I would like to thank both Net Galley and Joffe books for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

How can you ever really know what is going on behind closed doors?

Beth and her family have recently moved to a new house. Formerly from a terraced house in London with a close group of friends and neighbours, she finds herself lonely and directionless as she settles into her new surroundings, which seem less welcoming and friendly as she might have hoped. The surrounding housings are large, imposing and with owners that are not hugely sociable or welcoming, especially that of her immediate neighbour, Oksana, a glamorous and rich Russian housewife who is as cold as she is glamorous and keeps her house tightly locked and away from any prying eyes. After rehousing a michevious dog who escapes, Beth chases him into next door's garden where a lonely face at the window suggests that Oksana and her husband are more than they seem...

The cover and title of the work immediately caught my eye as I love this type of genre and I was soon settled into the introductory paragraphs meeting Beth and her family. Although very likeable, the main character Beth is quite needy and a bit of a people-pleaser, perhaps linked to the reasons they moved. She places huge importance on meeting others around her and the first half of the book follows these attempts of varying success, including inviting the neighbours round for drinks, working in a book shop and starting a book club. I'm not sure if these are just vehicles as a way to give opportunities for Beth to meet and try to forget a friendship with Oksana or if they are to contrast the extraordinary difference of Beth's and Oksana's lives, but some of these parts felt like fillers just to extend the story rather than adding to the overall narrative.

The second half of the book is much more exciting and, without giving away spoilers, follows a very clearly well-informed and researched process. I can't really say much more without giving away the whole premise of the book.

Overall a good book and an interesting angle that I haven't explored in other books.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

#ThePerfectNeighbour #Netgalley

The Perfect Neighbor is mostly the cut and dry, foreign girl kidnapped and trafficked into becoming an abused maid for years until something deadlier occurs. We drift from Sofia's POV as she grapples with her situation and how she can escape, to a rich privileged white family with a nosy white mother who gets a dog who happens to be the reason Sofia is found at all.

The plot from the summary doesn't really kick in until the 50% mark, which is dissatisfying. I felt the author could have explored this topic more, delved into something more serious and uncovered more about what we don't know about human trafficking and black market.

Instead, this was rather cliché and I found myself skimming towards the end to get to the big reveal and rescue. I found myself wondering, could the author not think of a more important family of characters than the modern, white, privileged sort? Isn't the narrative always centered around the white woman who has nothing better to do because her family is lucky enough to be doing well off and she has no responsibilities besides poking into the other rich neighbor's house? I understand the situation, of course only someone so close to the crime could have been involved and seen it, but... this novel left me feeling confused about it's importance or entertainment, and least of all, the lack of education on the matter.

It was okay.

What a privilege it was to get an early copy of this book in order to give an open and honest review. A huge thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher. This was the first book I’ve read by Susanna Beard and I will definitely be looking out for more of her books. Any way on with the review.

Beth and her family are looking to start a new life in a new home after her husband gets a new job meaning this will be less of a commute to work for him. Not only that Beth has had a falling out with her previous friends and no longer felt welcome in her old town so decided a new life was in sore for her and her family.

Beth is determined to get off to a good start with her new neighbours and make lots of friends. She throws a house warming party and invites all of her neighbours, she finds she gets along well with all of them however the couple that live next door to her Oxana and Keith seem strange and Beth gets a gut feeling somethings not quite right about them.

Apparently it’s not only Beth who is intrigued by her new neighbours, beths dog has a habit of escaping and it seems his favourite place to escape to is next doors garden. One day when Beth goes to retrieve her dog from the garden she sees a young girl Sofia in the window with a sign in her hand saying “help me” in that instance Beth knows she must help this poor girl and find out what is going on with her neighbours. With the police telling Beth they need more evidence it’s up to Beth and Beth alone to go it alone to prove she is right about her neighbours and help to uncover the truth of what has happened to poor Sofia.

I really wanted to like this book. However the first 70% can be found.I'm the description. It finally got interesting over halfway in but ultimately was a let down. So much potential but just didn't do it for me.

I wouldn’t call this a psychological thriller but more a sad story of how some people really do get exploited and treated badly. Unfortunately the characters were all a bit flat so I lost interest and found it hard to finish. I did read to the end but a confused ending didn’t help my overall opinion.