What the Neighbors Saw is the story of Alexis and Sam who buy a fixer upper house in their dream neighborhood. Each has their own ideas about the house, Alexis feels it will be a safe area to raise the children, and Sam likes the status symbol of living in the affluent neighborhood. Renovating the house and expecting a second child puts extra strain on the relationship.

The story is told from Alexis and Blair's perspectives. The story is a little slow as we get to know and see what it is going on in the neighborhood. It does pick up speed, but I didn't care for most of the characters and struggled to stay focused.

Tragedy strikes the neighborhood when their neighbor, Teddy, is found dead on the steep banks of the Potomac River, the police state it was not an accident and there are no leads to speak of.

I was disappointed by the book, after reading the description of the book I was really looking forward to this one, but it didn't live up to what I had hoped for.

Congratulations to Melissa Adelman on her debut novel!

What I loved:
1. I love a good neighborhood drama and this one did not disappoint. The author describes the neighborhood and it's occupants with such great detail that I could drive up and know where each of them lived and what they look like!
2. The suspense - there was suspense happening at night that I could only read this during the day!! Great job in keeping us guessing about what was really going on!!

What I wished were different:
1. It did have a slow start but definitely picked up about 1/3 of the way through.
2. I needed more help in really understanding why Sam and Alexis were together! There were a lot of non likable characters in the story but I think it added to the overall plot!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/Minotaur and Net Galley for a chance to read!!

I will admit that I started and put it down for a couple weeks while I finished two other books that came in from the library. This is why I rounded down from 3.5 stars. I want to be sucked in from the beginning. It started strong with a murder in an exclusive Washington DC neighborhood, but it took until 75% in to give me other clues. I like breadcrumbs the entire time. No one was suspicious and the cops had zero.
Alexis and her husband by a Cape Cod fixed up in a prominent neighborhood. They don’t have rich people money but this house will give them the status they want as two thriving attorneys. When their neighbor is murdered and weird things keep happening they both start to regret buying the house. Alexis just had a baby and Sam got the partner promotion he’s been wanting. All of these events have put a strain on their relationship. Alexis is realizing they’re skeletons in everyone’s closet. She starts piecing together everyone’s dirty secrets including potential motive for murder. Does she figure out who murders the neighbor and why?

When the body of a well known business man and father of three is found in the wooded area of an affluent neighbourhood, everyone goes on high alert, leaving newcomers to the neighbourhood, Alexis and Sam wondering if their dream house is everything they hoped it would be.

This is a weird one for me. It started so strong, then it got pretty slow and a little boring. I started wondering if we were ever going to get back to the mystery.
Then some real weirdness started.
You know in old Sherlock Holmes books, where Sherlock will jump to a crazy conclusion based on little, to no evidence, but in the end he is correct because that’s the story?
And it’s fine and you’ve come to expect it, but at the same time you’re rolling your eyes and whispering “oh come on” ….?
That was this book for me.

It did redeem itself a little at the end. But not enough for me to recommend it.

Alexis and her husband find a house in their dream neighborhood, but both have their own ideas for loving the picture-perfect area. Alexis feels it will be a safe area to raise her children. Her husband likes the status symbol of living in a the affluent neighborhood how they appear to others, especially as he works his way to being a partner at his firm. The house was not well maintained by the previous owners, so renovating the house over time puts a stress on their marriage.

Unexpected crimes start happening shortly after Alexis and her family move in and turns the neighborhood upside down. Alexis grows close to Blair, who lives across the street, but the other women in the neighborhood reach out to her, as well. Alexis quickly learns that the families in the neighborhood are not as perfect as she thought.

The story is told through first-party perspectives from Alexis and Blair; their perspectives help paint the picture how Blair sees the neighborhood after living there for years and Alexis, who just moved in.

The story is slower, but I enjoy the dual, first-party narratives and how little details in each chapter affect the characters and intertwines the story even more. As events unfold and details are revealed, my idea for who was behind everything continued to change until the very end.

This book had several twists that kept it interesting. I feel like it started off pretty slow, but then became jam packed with action. The story is told from multiple POVs of Alexis and Blair. Alexis and her husband have just moved into a fixer upper in a prestigious neighborhood. Blair’s husband was murdered on the walking path near their new home. Is this new neighborhood safe to raise their family in? This question drives Alexis to search for the truth about what happened to Blair’s husband. The twists were slightly implausible, but made the book worth reading. 3.5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I'm a sucker for any setting in the Washington, D.C. or suburbs of Maryland. I grew up here and it will always be my favorite place to live. I absolutely loved this domestic suspense and all the neighborhood drama that came along with it! I can't believe this is Melissa Adelman's debut thriller! The alternating POVs between Alexis and Blair were a highlight for me. The pacing was excellent and this was on heck of a twisty ride!

Highly recommend reading!!

Pregnant with their second child, Alexis and Sam are trading in their modern DC condo for a sprawling house in the suburbs to raise their kids. The house was a steal, in their budget, and in desperate need of work after the last owners failed to maintain the home. But to Sam and Alexis, it was an opportunity to raise their children in a ritzy neighborhood fit for the up and coming Partner at his law firm.

After renovating their kitchen, they moved in and began their life in their new home. At the same time, their neighbor, who they met before putting in an offer, winds up dead on the walking/running path whose only entrance is on their secluded block. Did they make a mistake moving into this neighborhood? Is it now too dangerous to raise their family?

Interested in who did it, Alexis decides to befriend Teddy's widow, Blair. From two different worlds, the women become fast friends, but the weirdness doesn't stop in their neighborhood. Who killed Teddy? Are they still out there? Will Alexis and Sam's marriage outlast the impending partner promotion and additional work and hours?

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It had been awhile since I read a whodunnit novel and was excited to get an ARC of this one. That being said, I feel like maybe I read too many of these. While there were a few twists and turns, I was able to predict the ending from pretty early into the book. It was a relatively quick read, and I'd probably pick up Melissa Adelman's next novel to give it a try, too. But all in all, this wasn't a book I couldn't put down.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Alexis and Sam move into a rundown home in an upscale neighbourhood while expecting their second child. Their dream home quickly becomes a nightmare after one of their neighbours is found murdered near their home. When the truth starts to come out, the murderer might be closer to home than they expected…

This was a quick and suspenseful read. I did find the male characters in this book extremely unlikeable and struggled to understand why Alexis and her husband were even together. I would have enjoyed this significantly more without the inclusion of significant untreated disordered eating behaviours that were not in any way relevant to the plot.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced reading copy!

Set in an affluent suburb of Washington, D.C. this thriller debut was a well-crafted novel which centers around a young couple with two very young children. Alexis and Sam purchase a house in a ritzy part of town to provide more space for their growing family and to impress their friends and co-workers. The old house turns into a vast money-pit, needing renovations and upgrades that they can ill afford. So many money worries puts immense pressure on the couple and their marriage suffers as a result.

Oh, and the neighbors… Soon after they move into their new house, one of their neighbors is murdered on a trail near the suburb where they live near the Potomac River. The police investigation stalls and Alexis is fearful. She has seen someone in her yard late at night. Her new friend Blair is now a widow and grappling with loss and other family problems.

The story is split between narratives of Alexis and Blair. I must confess that I was not that sympathetic of Alexis’s money problems. She had a live-in-nanny and a cleaning lady a few times per week, so wasn’t exactly in dire straits… Her life with two young children was well depicted and she seemed quite lonely with little to no familial support. Her husband Sam, an attorney, seemed overly obsessed with social status, the advancement of his career prospects, and worried about what others think of him.

As the novel progressed, so did the sinister vibe. The neighbors and the neighborhood seemed toxic and dysfunctional. People of privilege with entitled attitudes, sordid secrets, and delusions of grandeur.

The final chapters contained a multi-layered twist – part of which I had guessed and part of which took me by surprise.

Though it took a while to get going, this debut was well worth reading. I look forward to the author’s second book.

What the Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman

Thank you to @netgalley, @minotaurbooks, and the author, @melissaadelmanauthor, for the opportunity to read this #eARC in exchange for my #honestreview! This book is available for purchase now.

Alexis and Sam have a lot to look forward to; they’ve just welcomed a new baby, Sam is about to make partner at his firm, and they’ve just closed on a fixer upper in a great neighborhood. The neighbors seem to embrace the couple with open arms and it seems like Alexis can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Things take an abrupt turn when one day the body of their neighbor, Teddy, is found on a walking trail in the neighborhood. The neighborhood is set on edge and Alexis, understandably, begins to question their decision to move to the neighborhood. With the cops unable to identify the killer, Alexis begins to pull at some inconvenient threads. She may discover the truth but what will it cost her?

This was so twisty. The beginning had a slower buildup and then the end had a ton of action and twists! This has a similar feel to The Couple Next Door meets Such A Quiet Place. This is one I’d really like to see made into a movie. Highly recommend for those who enjoy domestic suspense/thrillers!

TW: ince$t, @dultery, st@lking, SA, violence, g@slighting, abandonment

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ - 4.25/5

This was a fun suspenseful, neighborhood family drama filled with secrets and lies.

Sam and Alexis choose a fixer upper in a nicer neighborhood. She’s pregnant. He’s working to become partner in his firm and things seem great until a neighbor is found dead on a trail in their neighborhood.

Is the neighborhood safe? Who did it ? Why did it happen?
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t know what is going on with this trend in books lately where the husband is a complete (insert your favorite bad word here) and treats his wife like she is below him, but I’m getting over it. There is nothing more frustratingly annoying than this situation in books and unfortunately the husband in this novel, Sam, is the worst.

Not sure how the title ties into the story because nobody seemed to see anything so I was also confused about that.

This was such a slow book where nothing happened. I didn’t like the characters especially Sam who continues to treat his wife like garbage throughout the book by talking badly about her including her physical appearance even after she just had a baby.

I read this book because it was an arc and I do not like to rate a debut author badly but I could not get into this one even after NetGalley approved me for the audio since I could not get through the physical copy.

However, many other people have enjoyed this one so who knows what I was reading.

This is a story about giving your neighbor more than a cup of sugar.

This book took a tired formula and added life to it by exploring the nuances of culture, class and belonging. I had absolutely no idea how it was going to end- which is always exactly what I want from a suspenseful novel! As an added bonus, it stuck the landing in exactly the way I always hope these books will end, but they rarely do- it fully delivered!

This was a big meh to me. The whole plot was weird and not plausible at all and the characters were annoying.

Amazing book ! I recommend 10000% . The characters are well develop and plot of the book is unique . You will never guess . Keep you reading all day

this was SO good. I couldn’t book this book down. It’s very much desperate housewives mixed with murder. If you haven’t read this yet definitely go read it!!! Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Would it have been possible to insert one character who wasn’t depraved and despicable? Apparently that was too much of an ask. Horrible people inhabit the pages of this book, even the ones that are portrayed as almost likable. A young couple one of whom is multiracial (and you are never to forget this) chooses to be so house poor that is laughable. This is so beyond keeping up with anybody. They all live in McMansions, they are perverts, social and sexual deviants, adulterers, nasty, sarcastic, and evil decked out in designer clothes, fancy jewelry and expensive cars. Why would anyone care about any of them? OK throw in a murder and maybe it gets more interesting and maybe not because we know one of them did it.

The story is narrated by Alexis and Blair, who were equally annoying. Their thoughts and discussions are repetitive and the fact that one is always holding something back from the other does not evoke the cat and mouse drama which might have added interest. There are a few twists but once again not very compelling as these characters are beyond rehabilitation.

Thank you Minotaur Books and NetGalley For a copy.

What the Neighbor Saw, by Melissa Adelman, is a domestic thriller/mystery set in an affluent DC neighborhood. Perversely, I enjoyed the detailed descriptions of huge homes, although I wish they brought more joy to their owners. The pace and plotting worked for me, and I was completely taken in by the final twist. Unfortunately, not one of these neighbors were likable. I'm a bit tired of novels filled with characters that are absent any virtue, morals, or ethics. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read a digital ARC.

This story drew me in right from the first page! I truly was enthralled with all the goings-on in this Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous kind of neighborhood.

It seems like it’s going to be a typical murder mystery, because it starts pretty early on with high profile murder, but most of the book really isn’t about that at all. It’s about the things that happen in and around the neighborhood where all these people reside.

It didn’t seem like something that would be so thrilling, and yet the rumors, the inside scoops, the budding friendships, the domestic situations, and the scandalous nature of all the relationships in the neighborhood was what kept me going.

Truly, this book is highly entertaining, especially if you like gossip and drama, if nothing else. Recommend!!