I'm not often a mystery/thriller reader but this one sounded too good to pass up.

In quiet Oak Hill neighborhood, you'll often find suburban bliss. That is until people start disappearing. First, Allison Langley, model and actress, leavers her rockstar husband Christopher in the middle of the night. And then, 5 year old Billy Barnes vanishes on his walk home from school. And now, everyone is on edge, wondering who took Billy - is it one of their neighbors, is there a predator on the loose? The police are stumped. And then the unthinkable happens - another kid goes missing. Will they be able to find the kids before it's too late?

I loved every minute of this book. I loved the snooty setting where everyone assumes that they're safe. I loved the gossipy neighbors who often fake sympathy to get closer to the action. And of course, I loved the mystery of who took the children. Though I ended up guessing who was responsible just slightly before it was revealed by the author, I didn't even care. I needed to see how this would end up. And I thought it was the perfect wrapup.

This book will be reviewed on episode 46 (July 6, 2022) of the Reading Through Life podcast.

I really enjoyed this book. I’m a sucker for multiple POVs, but will say this one has a lot of them and can get a bit confusing. Overall though, it’s well written and will keep you guessing.

This was a very enjoyable read. I loved the multiple POVs throughout the story. The mystery of who took the kids was enjoyable and I was proud of myself when I figured it out! I liked reading this and would read more by this author.

Small rant: this was hard to download and read on Netgalley because I was a late approval. The Publishing date is July but the Archive date is May. Annoying. 1st world problems. Smh.

Anyways,...

Once I finally got around to reading this it was deliciously twisty and filled with good reveals and twists. It was also not predictable which is probably the most important element when I am reading any book. Obviously, the perfect neighborhood is not so perfect, but why?

That is the single reason why I finished this book. I would definitely read another book by this author in the future and recommend this book!

Thanks to Netgalley, Liz Alterman and Crocked Lane Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Archive Date: 5/17/22
Available: 7/12/22

I literally went and begged for a copy of this book (do I even need to mention the reason? *cough house cover cough*) so I’m super bummed that I didn’t completely love it.

Per the house cover, I didn’t bother reading the blurb. I’ve said before, I’m not the biggest fan of missing kid stories. And it’s not because they “trigger” me – it’s because I’m heartless and find them a slog. Sorry not sorry.

This one is a mashup of missing kid with an attempt at a <i>Big Little Lies</i> delivery where you meet several people from the same uppercrust neighborhood. Unfortunately, they often blurred together for me and I had a rough time remembering exactly who was who. The payoff at the end was satisfactory, though, and it was definitely a quick read. If this is on your TBR, take my rating with several grains of salt.

<i>ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.</i>

Initial thoughts: Wow. Too many points of view. I think I counted 6? I don’t even know. This maybe would have worked better if we followed just Cassidy and her friend Lexi. Also some of the characters like Rachel I flat out disliked. The plot was way too predictable though. It’s obvious what is going on and why and it took way too long to get there. Also I’m not a great fan of the police, but there’s so much here that would never have happened in a real police investigation it was sad. For example, the FBI would have been called in real quick due to Billy’s age. It also made zero sense that no one would have asked for access to cell phones, or gone and looked for cameras on Billy’s route. There’s other glaring things too.

"The Perfect Neighborhood" follows residents of Oak Hill after the kidnapping of a young 5 year old boy named Billy Barnes. The book then follows the mother of the boy who was kidnapped (Rachel), his babysitter (Cassidy), a rich actress who used to live in Oak Hill (Allison), then other mothers in the neighborhood.

So Rachel isn't that great. I think that Alterman is trying to show you all sides to motherhood and gossip/towns, but it doesn't work when you get into more backstory on Rachel. I just got tired of her half way through this book. I had sympathy for Cassidy who is broken up about not being there to make sure Billy gets home. Alison's chapters/points of view make no sense in context of the larger plot for a good portion of the book. The other mothers are kind of awful.

I will say that the plot was straight forward, but as I said above, too many things were not realistic as I was reading this book that just took me out of it. A young boy being kidnapped would have his parents investigated, along with his siblings from the get-go. It seems at times that the local police don't even know basic things about Billy, and I don't know if Alterman is trying to show how incompetent the police were or what, it just didn't really work when we know that this would have pulled in not only local, but state police along with the FBI within 24 hours. A white 5 year old boy goes missing and his family lives in an affluent area? Come on.

The writing was just okay. I could tell everyone's "voice" apart, but the flow was pretty bad after a while. I think the POV I enjoyed the most was Cassidy. Honestly if we had just followed Cassidy and her true crime best friend I would have been all for it.

The setting of Oak Hill feels a bit bland. You hear about how big these women's homes are and how they look, but the whole thing felt like bad set dressing.

The ending left things up in the air a bit and I just went what in the world.

A great read and I always enjoy when celebrities are thrown into the mix. Regular people assume they have it all, just because they have money and fame.

The book is focused on 2 missing children that vanish into thin air while the same babysitter is watching the kids.
I enjoyed the multiple POV. The only thing I found, it was a bit hard to keep track of who was who at first, but this book will suck you in rather quickly!

How could this happen in OUR neighbor? Children don't get kidnapped in Oak Hill.

The perfect neighborhood wasn't so perfect after Rachel's son Billy disappeared while walking home alone from school.

Rachel was at work, and the babysitter was late getting there. Why was the babysitter late, and would it have mattered if she had been there on time?

We meet Rachel, her husband, her husband's son, Evan, Cassidy the babysitter, and Allison who also left her husband and the neighborhood and who desperately wanted a baby.

The police have no clues as we follow along with the investigation trying to figure out along with them.

Then the unthinkable happens again - another child goes missing and again while the child is under Cassidy's care.

Did someone know she would be there?

Did the family plan this to discredit Cassidy?

It had been a last minute request to have Cassidy babysit the three children.

Another horror for Cassidy and a few more suspects I had in mind.

Along with the kidnapping, most of the characters had some issue going on besides being involved in this situation.

You will be guessing and not sure if you will be guessing correctly, but the responsible person was not the one I chose.

My first book by this author - a good thriller that kept me on my toes.

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This mystery explores the heart breaking days around a parent's worst nightmare of a missing child. Were they kidnapped, abducted or did they just accidentally wander off?
The setting is in fictional suburbia Oak Hill, away from big city Manhattan. The small community where crime is uncommon and residents seem to have the "perfect" house, marriage, family, and schools.
Allison has been married to Christopher several years. They're thirtyish, perfectly beautiful, fit, successful people. He was a singer in a rock band, now a music teacher. Her lovely face is recognized for movie and TV appearances. They have it all, sort of. One day Allison is just gone from the neighborhood. She has returned to Brooklyn and moved in with her best friend Viv. Chris doesn't know where she's gone.
Rachel married Ted because she was pregnant with Billy. She's flipping houses (and more) with partner, Derek. Ted already had a teenage son, Evan, who's a typical troubled, moody kid. He is not close to Billy.
Cassidy, the babysitter, is sleeping with one of the "perfect" neighbors and lies about where she was and why she was late for Billy after school. Billy never arrives home from school.
The police begin gathering clues and interviewing neighbors. Billy’s mother is beyond frantic. Ted doesn't seem particularly distraught that Billy is missing. The theories and gossip run rampant in the "perfect" little suburb.
There are possible suspects in each home. Even the school crossing guard and a recently fired au pair are questioned. Then the unthinkable happens, another child disappears.
The mystery has several surprising twists. Parts of the story were emotionally traumatic due to the unfathomable subject of a missing child. It was not an easy read, but well written none the less. The author touched on important womens issues.
Thanks to NetGalley for the advance digital copy of "The Perfect Neighborhood"  by Liz Alterman and to Crooked Lane Books. These are my honest personal thoughts and opinions given voluntarily.

Main Characters:
-- Allison Langley – actress who leaves her husband, former rockstar Chris, in the middle of the night two months before the story begins
-- Rachel Barnes – 37-year-old real estate agent, mother of five-year-old Billy who goes missing on his way home from kindergarten, married to Ted and step-mom to Ted’s 22-year-old son Evan
-- Cassidy McLean – 18-year-old babysitter for Billy who arrived late the day he went missing, also a piano student of Chris’s
-- Sarah Davies – former teacher, stay-at-home mother of three, lives nearby Chris and Allison, her son Tucker took a guitar lesson once with Chris but never went back

Talk about a twisty thriller! Liz Alterman’s The Perfect Neighborhood kept me guessing the whole way.

Told from the perspectives of four women—Rachel, Allison, Cassidy, and Sarah—the story covers just about four weeks of time. The middle of June is when Billy Barnes disappears, and the story takes us through the beginning of July with a prologue-type section in the final chapter “six months later.”

We learn very early that Oak Hill, New Jersey, is a small suburban neighborhood chock full of gossipy moms who expect everyone to dress like them, talk like them, be like them. And the Langleys, seemingly perfect in every way—him a former rockstar and her an actress—never quite made their way into the inner circle of the community.

The first chapter starts with the gossip of Allison leaving Chris in the middle of the night two months before. Some claim they saw it coming, some think she met someone else. No one knows the real reason, but everyone has a theory. What stops the gossip about Allison? The disappearance of Billy Barnes.

Alterman created some fantastic characters in this book. Even though we have four points of view, all in the first person, each woman has a very different voice. Rachel is a full-fledged member of the gossip patrol until Billy disappears. Sarah is ridiculously judgmental, along with all of the other stay-at-home moms in the neighborhood. Cassidy finds herself in the middle of the controversy because she’s late the day Billy goes missing. And Allison is just trying to figure out her next move. At the start, we have no idea why she left, but we know she doesn’t want to be found.

I don’t want to give anything away here. There are so many possibilities, and the author does a great job of not revealing the truth until the end. I suspected the person who took Billy at one point, but only because I suspected everyone at some point. In the final chapter six months later, we get an update from each woman’s point of view—a kind of “where are they now.” And let me just say, this story may not be over.

You’ll want to pick this one up.

I enjoyed this one! It kept me guessing until the very end, which I feel is hard to do!!! I usually can guess the twist or the “who done it” early on. I had no clue with this one.
I do wish that there were a couple more twists, I got a little bored throughout.

Overall, good read.

I just finished reading The Perfect Neighborhood by Liz Alterman and here are my views on it.

The gossip mill is on a 24/7 loop after actress/model Allison leaves her hottie former rockstar hubby one night. Don’t the neighbors have something better to talk about?

Five year old Billy goes missing one afternoon, not having made it home from school to his babysitter. His babysitter wasn’t even there on time and the gossips can’t help wondering if she had been there, would he still be missing? Things take a turn for the worst when Cassidy is asked to babysit at the very last minute, for another family and another child in her care disappears without a trace.

Did Cassidy do something to the little kids in her care? Is she just negligent? Or is something more sinister going in their perfect little neighborhood……

I actually really enjoyed the premise of this book. What I didn’t enjoy was each new point of view came from a first person perspective. I really hated that. One person point of view for a book in the first person, sure. Several? No. It was a little messy for me there and if you didn’t pay attention to who's chapter it was, it was really easy to get a little lost. I thought I knew who the POV was a couple of times, just to be wrong. I do not think 1st person POV works on multiple POV.

Other than that the character development was pretty spot on. I found the Chris and Allison storyline to be quite entertaining and the pace was well kept. I really enjoyed the fact that you never can tell what is happening in what appears to be the perfect neighborhood. The storylines all fell into sync and worked really well.

I did figure it all out before the halfway point but I don't know if it is because I have been reading a lot of thrillers lately that I have gotten really good at deciphering the plot because honestly, it wasn’t obvious. The plot twists were very well done and showed real talent from this author.

I will definitely be looking into more from this author. If you enjoy a clever general fiction book with a little dash of thriller, then you should add this to your wish list!

Thank you to netgalley and Crooked lane books for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5-4 stars.

I love when books center around a full neighborhood and a cast of characters. The Perfect Neighborhood is exactly that. The stories of the characters are wonderfully woven together and very twisty. I will say, I figured out the suspect pretty early on, but it didn't ruin the rest of the book for me. Honestly, it was a pretty wild ride.

There are a lot of different storylines happening, but they all come together pretty seamlessly. Full warning, infertility and infant loss are a very large part of the book.

Overall, a good twisty read - perfect for the summer.

4/5 stars

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the eARC!

Amazing read. Very well written. I am always drawn to stories about neighbourhoods, and this one certanly did not dissapoint.

It seems like the perfect neighborhood. Until it isn’t. It is a neighborhood that is slowly unraveling. Gossip abounds in this upscale neighborhood, but it intensifies when the actress, Allison, is seen leaving her home late one night and doesn’t return. Then five-year-old Billy disappears on his way home from school. When a second child vanishes, the secrets begin to emerge.

The Perfect Neighborhood is a twisty story told from several perspectives. It is well-written, well-paced, and just plain good. The characters are varied and well-defined and the author has done an excellent job conveying the grief and guilt that the various neighbors feel. The Perfect Neighborhood can definitely be called a page-turner and the ending is unexpected, with yet a final twist and a gasp.

Thank you, Ms Alterman, for giving me such reading pleasure. I’m already on the lookout for your next book!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

A tense thriller steeped in grief and guilt where small decisions have enormous consequences. Set in an affluent suburban community a child goes missing. This is not your average missing kid story though. Alterman uses the plot to deliver richly drawn flawed women we really care about, women whose lives revolve around their families, for good and for bad. Excellent work here!

Told by 3 peoples perspectives as soon as I saw the blurb I was sold. I loved the short chapters . There wasnt a stand out character but I really enjoyed the book.

Whew! What a fast moving plot that kept me on my toes. With the shorter chapters and the continuous secrets coming to light, this book moved at breakneck speed. The plot is from multiple POV with each chapter so it really keeps the suspense going. And the ending! Totally unexpected.

There is a kidnapping in this tony, upper middle class neighborhood in New Jersey. As everyone starts to blame everyone and all the neighbors secrets start to come to light, Rachel, Billy’s mother just wants her child back. But doing that will require that she question everything and everyone. But then a second child goes missing. Is anyone safe here? Will they be able to save the children before it’s too late? And what evil lies at the heart of this community?

Liz takes you through this thriller with much insight into the characters and the neighborhood they live in. Grab this book for your pool read!

How well do you know your neighbors? Do you think you are safe in your own neighborhood?

These are the questions that this novel examined. With multiple POVSs, we get to know the people in Oak Hill one by one including their deep dark secrets. A lot of those neighbors, especially the moms, are (gasp!) gossip mongers.🙄 I can’t say I liked any of the characters, but I did enjoy reading this suburban drama/mystery. My only issue is that there seems to be too much backstory per character and I think they can be shortened. I also guessed who kidnapped those poor kids. That being said, I was still pleased with the ending and that bit of twist in the end.

This is so much more than the story of a child (actually two children) who go missing from an apparently very desirable neighbourhood. It does tell you about the neighbourhood, the neighbours, the gossip, fingerpointing, hierarchy of a small community but it is so much more.

This is a story told from various perspectives and for me that worked. Hearing about Billy from the people who loved him, his mum Rachel and his babysitter Cassidy really makes you grieve for this sweet little five year old, who loves nature, exploring and craves the attention of his loathsome big brother. I had to keep reading and reading to find out what happened to him and I actually cared. I think Liz Alterman does a brilliant job dealing with the guilt and grief of the people who loved Billy and what they wished they’d done differently.

Getting Allison’s story from her perspective adds a different dimension. A beautiful model and actress with the handsome husband and the seemingly perfect life. However, not everything or everyone is as perfect as they appear and Allison’s story brought home the true tragedy and mental toll of childlessness and miscarriage and how thoughtless people can be.

There is certainly no shortage of suspects, and I didn’t get it until the big reveal at the end, even then there is a twist I didn’t see coming. I hate clichés but cannot think of anything to replace - this book is a real page turner.