What the Neighbor's Saw is a stunning debut novel that will have you glad you are not living in the same neighborhood as this one.

Alexis and Sam buy a fixer upper/money pit in an affluent neighborhood.

Alexis meets Blair the next door neighbor and wonders if she will ever fit in.

Then a body is discovered on the local trail and its a close neighbor.

The tension mounts in which was once a safe place to live

Secrets are coming out of the woodwork, nobody trusts anybody and its hard to believe who is telling the truth.

Not many nice characters in this book which I happen to love.

Twists and turns keep the pages turning and I could not wait to see who the murderer was.

Melissa Adelman you have a new fan and I cant wait to see where you take us next.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for a compelling read.

Everyone always wonders what their neighbors are doing and this one is just that! It’s so good and suspenseful! You will never look at your neighborhood the same again!

I went into this hoping for a drama filled who done it, real housewives type of scandal; unfortunately that's not what I got. Some of the "problems" felt as though they came out of no where, with no backstory or lead up and left me scratching my head or thinking "but everything was ok a few pages ago"? I struggled to connect to any of the characters or get sucked into the plot. I was hovering around three stars around the 80% mark and hoping the ending would be redeeming but again, that's not what happened (for me). Some things felt forced and others were predictable. I wanted more from this book, and with an almost 3.6 star rating on GoodReads, I am in the minority. Hopefully others will find What the Neighbors Saw a better read than I did.

Once I read that What the Neighbors Saw was compared to Desperate Housewives, I knew I had to pick it up! It definitely has the same vibes, but this one is much darker (in a good way!)

Our main character, Alexis, and her husband move into a very wealthy neighbourhood, however all that they can afford is a pretty run down and dilapidated home that will need to be completely renovated to be livable. Alexis really wants to live in the neighborhood so she’ll do anything to be there, including buying this money pit of a house.

We see Alexis getting to know the neighbours and how her and her husband both change as they feel like they need to keep up with the the others.

When one of the neighbours is murdered, the facade of the neighbourhood falls as Alexis starts to see people how they truly are and she doesn’t like what she sees.

I really enjoyed this and it was a great mystery! I wouldn’t say this was a thriller as it wasn’t super fast paced and thrilling, so you might be disappointed if you pick it up wanting a thriller.

I loved this delicious, twisty domestic thriller. Alexis comes from a poor, single-parent family devoid of love. It is no wonder she yearns to be part of an upper class neighborhood and fit in with the neighbors. While she finds her social graves, she stumbles into many secrets held by the residents, some that have appalling consequences. Alexis and the reader will be shocked at revelations at the end in a series of twists that left me slack-jawed. Great debut! Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. This was quite a treat!

This was a fun, dishy read, the story of a troubled couple living in a fancy DC suburban neighborhood where murder strikes not long after their move. It was an engaging mystery/thriller where everyone is not as they seem, and what hides behind shiny glass windows is not always as it seems.

You know with a title like this one it is going to take you for a thrill. Definitely suspenseful the whole way through. I loved the writing and that the author really did make sure you were guessing the whole time. Another thriller must read!

"I see that the same dirty sins stain everyone. The clean, bright wash of wealth is just a more effective cover."

This fast-paced, scandalous debut novel was a domestic thriller like no other! Sam and Alexis, a biracial couple move into an upscale neighborhood of their dreams, looking forward to raising their children in a safe place. The home is run-down and in need of numerous repairs, but this is a chance of a lifetime to live among neighbors with money and prestige. But what lies below the surface of those exquisite homes? Does living among the posh exempt one from greed, gossip, mind games and even murder?

The story is told through the alternating points of view of Alexis and a neighbor, Blair. One is whiny and desperate while the other is rich and judgmental. Each has a hidden need and purpose for grooming the friendship. The author threw in several red herrings, but the ending was a real doozy that included a theme that I have never encountered in a domestic thriller. This story will definitely have readers scrutinizing their neighbors more closely!

I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and look forward to the author's future works.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books, NetGalley, and the author for an ARC of this book.

This was not my favorite, at all.

This book was one of the slowest books I have read yet this year. Another book where I had to force myself to finish it... mostly to see if my predictions were right, which they were. The twists weren't shocking to me at all. The author set them up just right as to them being the only logical things to have happened.

I am not a fan of the characters. I am not sure if that was intentional. However, they were too easy to despise and be annoyed with. I found myself sighing and eyerolling at them a lot throughout the book.

Overall, this book was slow and underwhelming.

3.5 stars

When Alexis and Sam find a fixer upper in a desirable neighborhood, they decide to go for it, regardless of how much work the house may need. However... after their neighbor is found dead and his death is ruled a homicide, Alexis finds herself questioning their safety in the neighborhood.

There was a lot of drama in this book - affluent neighborhood, spying neighbors etc - think Real Housewives. There were some twists that surprised me but maybe not as many as I would have liked. And while I did like Alexis, she was mostly the only enjoyable character in this book. Overall, a quick paced thriller with characters you love to hate. I will say, this book left me very thankful for my small house. :)

Thanks, Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

For a debut novel, What the Neighbors Saw was very well written! The want of a young couple to move into a rich neighborhood and raise their family is pretty common. The secrets kept after moving in is another story. I loved Alexis as she seemed like an overwhelmed mother who just wanted to be seen and do her best for her family. Her husband on the other hand started out okay and just got worse and worse. Blair and the other women in this novel were full on Desperate Housewives.

I really liked that I couldn’t figure out the twist until about 70% of the way in. Melissa Adelman was able to seamlessly write the friendship between Alexis and Blair so you never doubted that their friendship was genuine and Blair always came off as being a sad widow when her husband Teddy is found dead.

All in all this was a great debut novel and I hope to read more from the author in the future!

I just couldn’t figure out what the author was trying to do…unspool a twisty thriller, say something about class, wealth, and immigration, or write a family drama about marital issues and young children with working parents? This book was just not for me.

This normally might not have been a hit for me, but I read this almost entirely on a pool float, being hand-fed cheese and grapes, so this is now a hit for me.

If you read this, please know that you will hate all of these characters. That’s what makes it fun. Even Alexis, who has genuine struggles and insecurities as one of the only BIPOC homeowners in the McMansion world of wealth she’s elbowed her way into, was only able to rouse an occasional “damn…sucks for her” reaction from me. The real hatred however, is reserved for the husbands in this book. Similar to the way that Chandler Baker is a master of making women question WHY we would ever enter into a heterosexual marriage, Adelman provides a master-class in all the reasons we should get divorced from these men.

This is a fun pool-romp, perfect for indulging in judgment of the D.C.-elite, while knowing that each of us would probably commit a murder of our own so we could slip into their world.


For Fans Of:
‘A Simple Favor’
Home Improvement schadenfreude
Gardening as a form of anger management

In this new domestic thriller, we delve into an upper-class neighborhood where money doesn't always solve problems.

Alexis and Sam are looking for a place to build their growing family. River Forest seems like just the place, and they take a big risk on a money pit. But it is clear early on that this place isn't as idyllic as they expected.
First, a neighbor is murdered.
Then, a naked escort tries to gain safety in their home.
Add to that, cheating neighbors and others spying on one another, it is just a big mess.

The story has two POVs, Alexis and Blair (widow of the man murdered). I didn't fully trust Blair, but I couldn't pinpoint why. However, she is a good person for Alexis to lean on as she discovers how big a mistake, she made buying her house. And she's a source of comfort given her deteriorating relationship with Sam. This guy is truly awful and a lot of his words and actions were big warning signs for me. Not sure why Alexis didn't see the obvious signs.

While there were some interesting dynamics to the story, I wasn't really sure what the ultimate direction the story was going, other than to watch everyone in the neighborhood have some sort of drama and have Alexis' marriage fall apart. There were some interesting developments late in the book, but the story overall lacked the heart racing moments I crave in thrillers. Overall, this book is more character intensive than plot intensive, take from that what you will.

Sometimes the prettiest and nicest neighborhoods have the ugliest secrets. Never so true in this psychological drama as everyone seems to have something to hide. There are mysteries, shenanigans and murder!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this ARC!

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for an early copy of What The Neighbors Saw. This was a Fantastic read!! I felt like I was in the neighborhood living the drama. Sam was a very cruel, mean husband. The ending was definitely a shock how all was revealed. This definitely can be a lifetime movie. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Alexis and Sam buy the neglected house on a street of beautifully kept homes in a sought-after neighborhood of the DC suburbs. The sheer amount of work the house needs is overwhelming and causes strain between them. But Alexis is still thrilled to be a home owner in the neighborhood, until things start to get weird: a neighbor is found dead on the trail (murder? an accident?), a young woman shows up on their doorstep in the middle of the night, her sharp gardening tools disappear, she sees someone in the vacant lot at night,...secrets begin to come to light and neighbors start to suspect one another. A slow burn thriller...maybe more of a neighborhood drama than thriller. I had some issues - the characters felt a little forced at times (like what the heck was Sam's deal?), but overall of good read!

Thanks to St Martins Press, Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this one!

Very appreciative to have received an invitation from the publisher to read this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for a review. I love the eerie cover and the premise of danger and secrets in a wealthy DC suburb. Unfortunately, this was a subjective miss for me.

The novel opens with Alexis and Sam, parents to a son and a daughter on the way, who move from the city to a privileged neighborhood in DC. It's the worst house in the best neighborhood, and they're ready to take on much needed renovations to get into this exclusive spot.

But things quickly turn scary when their neighbor Teddy is found murdered. As the police slowly attempt to solve the crime, the neighborhood devolves into anger and innuendo, especially when Alexis becomes close to Teddy's widow, Blair.

For me, the most exciting part of this book was its summary. It's another case of a non-thriller being classified as such--this is too slow burn. And by that I mean nothing really happens. Teddy is killed and that's about it for that event. Most of it is Alexis's inner monologue about not being good enough--she spends so much time dwelling on her out of shape post partum body and the fact that she grew up poor than anything else. With the exception of complaining about the house and all its repairs--that she was well aware of and comfortable with before buying it. And something about the writing itself didn't really catch my attention. It's competent and all, but it didn't really feel alive to me.

But she's not the only character that dragged this book down. Her husband is atrocious--mean, condescending, really a complete jerk. I can't imagine how or why Alexis married him in the first place. Maybe if she'd take the chip off her shoulder she could see how awful he is. The rest of the cast isn't any better. They're all flat and petty and I really couldn't tell Laura from Jennifer from anyone else. Blair's the only one who felt real, but only because I was curious as to what her deal was. It was obvious from her demeanor right after Teddy's death that there was more to her story than met the eye.

The big reveal was fairly predictable (if you're paying attention to Alexis), but felt like it was created for shock value. This is going to sound ridiculously vague, because I'm trying to avoid spoiling anything, but you've really got to abandon all logical thinking to believe the twist is even possible. Blair's mom's allowing things to progress as the did makes no sense, among other things related to it. Looking back after closing this book, Alexis's peeping tom moment is even more questionable and sketchy, and not because of Alexis.

This was a fast, easy read, though it was less suspenseful than I had anticipated it would be. While I didn't particularly like any of the characters, I did like that the author chose to write the book from the alternating viewpoints of Alexis (the newest resident to the exclusive neighborhood) and Blair (recent widow of Teddy who was found dead on a nearby trail). The addition of subplots involving various other neighbors kept me reading on as I tried to determine who may have wanted to kill Teddy and why. While I had some theories, I can honestly say that I did not predict the ending of this book and applaud the author for the twist that I didn't see coming.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Although starting out slow, the plot in What the Neighbors Saw picked up and had me hooked waiting to find out all the connections.
When Alexis and Sam buy a fix me up house in an exclusive Cape Cod neighborhood, their dream is shattered with the discovery of a possible murder. They quickly discover not everyone is as perfect as they seem.
Good read! Recommended!

* I received an advanced reader’s copy of this book from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books in exchange for my honest review