*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Yikes, good read! can't get enough of the crazy neighbor books after living next to one and finally escaping it! I swear my life is like some of these books!

The Perfect Neighborhood by Liz Alterman is about two children that go missing from a close-knit neighborhood. The babysitter is blamed; the crossing guard is blamed; the parents are blamed. But who is actually to blame? This story included a lot of unlikeable characters, and I didn't enjoy it very much. Especially since the big reveal wasn't much of a surprise. Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

Wasn’t my favorite but it was still a good storyline. Seemed very much like many other suburban thriller.

Books about small neighborhoods and their dramas are always a must read for me and this did not disappoint.
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The gossip mill is constantly spinning, especially after Allison leaves her husband. It’s all anyone can talk about until five year old Billy Barnes goes missing. Now the missing boy is all anyone can talk about, until another child goes missing and drama turns into real fear. I don’t want to give too much away here but this had me flipping the pages until the end to find out who took the kids and how it all connects together.
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Thank you #crookeanebooks and #NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

Thank you so much @CrookedLaneBooks & @NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 12 July 2022)

SYNOPSIS | Oak Hill is considered the "perfect neighbourhood", but when a 5 year old boy (Billy) goes missing during his walk home from kindergarten the residents start to realise that it isn't as idyllic as it seems.

WHAT I LIKED:
- I'm a sucker for a good suburbia neighbourhood drama
- the multiple POVs helped build up a more well-rounded visual of the neighbourhood

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- the story alternates between multiple POVs (maybe 5?) which I found to be confusing at times
- I cannot wrap my head around why on earth a 5 year old boy is walking home from kindergarten on his own or why on earth he has a cell phone?! Too unbelievable for me.
- I wanted Desperate Housewives vibes, but instead this felt like a very watered down & predictable version in comparison
- the last lines for Allison felt out of character & purely there for the shock factor

3.5 stars

This was an interesting read. It was a fairly typical domestic thriller in the sense that, although the twist at the end wasn’t completely obvious, there were only so many realistic possibilities, and the relationship dynamics were pretty standard. I enjoyed it and found the story itself engaging, just not super surprising. I wasn’t disappointed by it and will probably look for other books by this writer in the future.

Following different perspectives of women who all tie together in some way for this thriller. I enjoyed this a lot. It took me a minute to understand whose perspective I was reading and how to tell the women apart, but overall an addictive read!

Summary: When actress and model Allison Langley leaves her former rockstar husband, Christopher, in the middle of the night, it’s all her Oak Hill neighbors can talk about. The gossip comes to an abrupt halt when five-year-old Billy Barnes goes missing on his walk home from kindergarten.

Billy’s mother, Rachel, blames herself for being at work and letting her only child walk alone. Cassidy, Billy’s teenage babysitter, was also late to arrive on the afternoon he disappeared and blames herself for his disappearance.

As the clock ticks down, police are unable to find any trace of Billy, forcing Rachel to ponder the enemies she’s made in their well-off suburb. Could it be one of her neighbors who stole her son? Would they abduct Billy to hurt her? How easy would it be to take a child while the parents or nannies are distracted?

When another child goes missing, the town is put under a microscope as the police try to get to the bottom of the disappearances. Will they be able to find the two children, or will it be too late? What secrets lie at the heart of this tragedy, and how far will one go to keep those dangerous secrets buried?

My Thoughts: this was a quick and suspenseful read that kept me guessing.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. This thriller had my attention from the very start and I was held captive by this book until the very end. It starts with your typical gossipy neighbourhood, where neighbours want what their other neighbours have...sometimes this even includes wanting their neighbours husbands. Based in a "safe community" 5 year old Billy Barnes was walking home alone from school when he never reaches home, forcing the entire town and its cast of characters to be put under a microscope. AS the plot unfolds, we start learning that this community and its people hide a lot of secrets and they are slowly revealing themselves. The babysitter is also under scrutiny, especially when a second child in her care also goes missing. Told from 3 POVs, this mix of dark characters, a missing child the feeling of sinister undertones running throughout it as I was reading it, made it the perfect thriller for me. A reminder that we never really know our neighbours nor would we necessarily want to. #netgalley#thestorygraph#litsy#amazonaustralia#tea_sipping_bookworm #goodreads #thriller #bookqueen #bookstagram #greatreads

A Perfect Neighborhood....until children start to go missing. A five year old boy goes missing on his way home from school. His babysitter is blamed in part because she wasn't watching him...then another small child goes missing. The fear and uncertainty in the area is palpable and I could not put the book down. Excellent

A great plot with emotional depth.
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Perfect Neighborhood started off really strong. You can never really know your neighbors. The moms in this story reminded me of mean girls. There were so many bad decisions made in this book it made my head spin.

I figured out the twist so that disappointed me. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either.

This is a great domestic thriller.
I was totaly gripped and loved the suspence that it builds right until the end.
The plot twists keep you on the edge of your seat too.
Great for this time of year too.

Oak Hill looks like an idyllic place to live from the outside. It seems picture perfect and like a close knit community. When actress Alison Langley leaves her husband, it’s all the neighbors can talk about. In a small town like this, gossip runs rampant and everybody knows each other’s business (at least, they think they do). Then five year old Billy Barnes goes missing, and suddenly it seems that everyone has more secrets than they ever let on. Not long after, a second child goes missing. Could someone from the neighborhood be responsible?

Oh my goodness…this book left me shook! Two missing kids, who were being watched by the same babysitter? You never know who could be watching your family and that thought is terrifying! I had a few guesses as to how it was going to end but I did not come close to how it all actually played out. Told from multiple viewpoints, we get to see the perspectives of the parents, babysitter and Allison what happened after the children go missing. These characters were all SO well written; their fear after the children went missing was palpable. The author also did a wonderful job of capturing what neighborhood life can be like (especially from a mom’s point of view)!

Thank you to @lizalterman and @penguinrandomhouse for the ARC! I enjoyed this story so much ❤️ “A Perfect Neighborhood” is out now!

This review will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly 😊

This is a book to definitely pick up during spooky season. If you love domestic thrillers with neighborhood drama than definitely give this one a try!

Liz Alterman has crafted a riveting mystery that epitomizes every parent's greatest fear. With characters so compelling and real in both their humanity and flaws, you’ll feel certain you’ve known these people in real life. A page-turning whodunnit that also packs an emotional wallop, if you love Lisa Jewell’s dark domestic suspense, don’t miss Alterman’s captivating new book. This perfect neighborhood is anything but!

Oak Hill looks like the perfect little neighborhood, where children are safe, people are friendly, and nothing bad happens. When Billy Barnes doesn’t come home from school one day this impeccable image of Oak Hill is shattered. Rachel, Billy’s mom, blames herself. The babysitter, Cassidy, who was late the day Billy disappeared, thinks her actions led to his disappearance. As blame and gossip makes its way through the neighborhood, another child disappears, bringing more attention to Oak Hill. As the search for the missing children intensifies, some discover that they are at risk of having their secrets exposed, secrets that they are desperate to keep buried. 

I liked The Perfect Neighborhood, although I had things figured out relatively early on. I liked that the story contains multiple narrators. It allowed me to experience the individual events and emotions for many of the characters, pulling me into their lives. The mystery surrounding Billy’s disappearance is a good one, but to me it seemed as though Alterman was trying to send a bigger message about people’s desires to appear perfect, often due to societal pressures and regardless of the costs–both financially and personally–while often failing to obtain true happiness.

This domestic suspense was a complete cover/title selection for me. Right away, I knew the 'neighborhood' was far from perfect. Celebrities, upper class, gossip, creeps. Characters were believable, well developed. Thank you, Netgalley, for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. 4 Stars

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Is Oak Hill as perfect as it seems?

Gossiping and backstabbing neighbors? YES! The Perfect Neighborhood was nothing short of dramatic. In the middle of all the drama, Billy, a five-year-old boy goes missing on his walk home from Kindergarten. This book packs a punch and had me guessing. All the characters in this one were pointing fingers at one another. It was pretty entertaining!

Anyone who is a huge fan of domestic suspense books will definitely love this!

A neighbourhood and its people and what is the worst can happen? Someone kidnaping the child. And what is also hard for a woman? Lose a child, miscariage... next? cheeting, lies... all here unfortunatly. Difficult themes were present here.

Well i have to say I love the writting style and msybe the story left me a little sad and unbelivable, also crazy what people could do but it was greeping and I wanted to know and could not put it down.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for the arc