Things I liked: the descriptions of the neighborhood and homes, the appeal of the “perfect suburbia.” For some reason I really enjoy reading those in any novel and like picturing the perfect lawns and homes. I also thought the plot was interesting, I really couldn’t quite figure out where we were headed in this seemingly perfect neighborhood. I also loved learning more about this author! Sounds like she has an incredible background that she really utilized to write this book.

Things I disliked: the eating disorder that was not relevant to the plot…and the main character’s husband. What a total JERK and I found it hard to believe this young, successful woman would put up with his shit. Also the ending/twist we were driving towards was so weird and honestly gross that I was VERY WTF at the end. I wish that the relationship with the nanny, and the character’s backstory, had also been more developed. You’re led to believe it’s some shocking secret and it’s really…not.

Ultimately though, this was a quick thriller that I did enjoy breezing through. It just left me a little WTF at the end.

“What the Neighbors Saw” by Melissa Adelman is a slow burn domestic thriller. Alexis and Sam move into an exclusive neighborhood, purchasing a home slightly out of their means. The home requires many renovations, but came with the promise of safety and a good place to raise their children. However, soon after they move in, one of their neighbors, Teddy, is found dead. The police do not believe the death to be an accident, and Alexis finds herself bonding with Teddy’s widow, Blair. Through their friendship, Alexis learns all of the neighborhood drama and begins to form suspicions of her own.

This was such a fun read, and I did not anticipate the twist at the end. Thank you so much to NetGalley and publisher for an ARC of this book!

3.5 Stars

This book is described as Desperate Housewives meets The Couple Next Door and that's pretty spot on. There is lots of drama in this neighbourhood (and between these pages) with twists a plenty. This is a case of keeping up with the Joneses and be careful what you wish for. Alexis and her husband have bought a fixer-upper in an affluent D.C. neighbourhood and they desperately want to fit in but have a hard time doing so.

The story is very engaging and I loved the dual perspectives of Alexis and Blair. The best thing about this book is everything is wonderfully secret until the very end plus the plot line wasn't too out there. The author's characterization was wonderful as I could clearly picture each character (and there are many) in my head. It was a bit of a slow burn at the start and nothing really exciting happens until about halfway through. But if you're patient this one is a decent domestic suspense with a murder mystery thrown in!

I have been to Alexandria, Virginia many times and am familiar with the area where this story takes place. so it was pretty neat to be taken back there again through this story. Melissa Adelman writes a pretty satisfying debut and I look forward to what she comes up with next.

Only finished this one because it was a NetGalley ARC. I guess this domestic thriller was meant to be a slow burn, but there's a difference between a slow burn and nothing happening at all. In this novel, the husband of one of the neighbor's is killed at the 12% mark and then literally nothing happens until the 95% mark. Unless you count emotional and mental abuse from your spouse, body shaming, and general neighbor pettiness and cattiness as nothing. None of the characters were likeable, not even the main couple, who I think the wife was supposed to be somewhat sympathetic. The "twist" didn't make any sense and was a stretch for a reason behind the murder. Disappointing.

Finding the perfect house.... well not easy. Finding the perfect neighborhood, maybe. Alexis and Sam a young successful couple buys a fixer upper in an exclusive neighborhood. Alexis is pregnant with their second child and Sam hopes to become a partner in his law firm.
When their next door neighbor Teddy is found dead, they start to wonder if they are safe. Is their neighborhood safe? Do they want to be raising their children there?
Rich people behaving badly, nothing new in our society.
Neighborhood drama, secrets and lies.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read this book.

If you've always been interested in what goes on behind the scenes of your neighbors' houses, then this is the book for you. Alexis and Sam are looking for a new home and come across an older home in a well-developed neighborhood, somewhere they wouldn't normally be able to afford if not for the older home that needed some fixing up. But they may have gotten more than they bargained for when one of their neighbors turns up dead. Alexis is immediately drawn into the murder investigation. She wants to make friends with her neighbors while also judging them from a distance.

Alexis was one of the few characters I enjoyed reading in this book. Most of the other neighbors were unlikeable and didn't provide as much interest. And the author was creative in the different surprises she left the reader, however several were pretty outlandish in scope.

Thank you to Minotaur Books/St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review.

A very good debut novel. A domestic thriller set in a DC suburb. Alexis feels like being part of a desirable neighborhood will be great for her family and convinces her husband Sam to buy a large fixer upper. What she discovers is that grand houses and tree lined streets don’t change the ugliness of unhappy people,
Their neighbor Teddy’s murder seems to be the start of uncovering everyone’s flaws.
My favorite part of a mystery is when I don’t see the plot twist coming and this story fulfilled that for me.

Thank you so much for this ARC!

Deliciously addicting! I loved this one and devoured it quickly. Alexis and Sam move into a fixer upper in a nice neighborhood. They quickly learn that all is not as it seems when a neighbor is found dead.

As we learn more about Alexis and Blair (the widow of the dead man), we uncover more secrets about the neighbors and about the two narrators themselves.

I thought this flowed nicely and quickly with an interesting dual narration. Would definitely recommend this for all lovers of domestic suspense!

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of What the Neighbors Saw in exchange for this review.

This is a quick and enjoyable debut novel by Melissa Adelman. Alexis and Sam feel lucky to be able to buy the big, ramshackle house in the prestigious DC suburb, picturing themselves attending fancy dinner parties and the exclusive country club with their new neighbors. But not long after they move in, there’s a murder down the street and suspicion brews between the neighbors.

While Alexis does her best to take care of her toddler and newborn, in the midst of renovations and unwelcome new issues with the house, she befriends the new widow and tries to piece together the motives, alibies, and relationships between the various neighbors. Will her curiosity be her downfall?

I hope to read more by Adelman in the future. Check this one out—it’s a perfect summer read!

Alexis and Sam have bought their dream house among the wealthy elite neighbors that they envy. When one of those neighbors is murdered, Alexis’s friendship with the deceased’s wife becomes revealing.

My favorite part of this was that it takes place near me. I could really visualize the home and the neighborhood. I loved that the view point changed between only two women. It added variety from chapter to chapter. This was almost like the game clue, but with a neighborhood full of wealthy, mysterious adults. I liked how there were a few clues within the book that the reader won’t notice until the end

What the Neighbors Saw comes out 6/13.

What the Neighbors Saw focuses on the main character and her family as they move into a new neighborhood. Shortly after moving in, a neighbor falls over a cliffside and it was not an accident. Who would want to kill him?

In a community where everyone is nice to your face lies a web of secrets in which everyone is connected - for better or worse.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

Publication: June 20, 2023

I love thrillers and when I saw this cover and synopsis- I figured it was right up my alley!

Unfortunately, this was so slow and bogged down with too much descriptions. I wish there was more thrilling aspects. As a reader, I personally enjoy when the author throws us in with a balance of descriptions and thrill. Adelman had the potential with her writing style if some of those descriptions could be shaved back just a smidge. Overall, I wasn't a fan and I think there are other thrillers out there someone could try.

What the Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman was a slow read for me. Unfortunately, I couldn't connect with the main character Alexis. The ending also seemed not well thought out. Alex and her husband Sam have moved to a house in the suburbs of DC. The neighborhood is exclusive and the house they bought needed alot of work. I felt as if the story could have been broken out into 2. The author does talk about Alexis's background. She alludes to the fact that it was not easy growing up but we don't get all of the story. I almost didn't finish the book. However I do think there was alot of potential in this story. Unfortunately, it fell flat in the end.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

This book was fast paced and told from multiple points of view. A who done it story woven with exterior stories of mystery and intrigue that will have you at some point suspecting everyone.

Great debut! I'm not sure I would consider this a thriller since it's more of a domestic drama, but there was a bit of mystery woven into the story. It's a very slow burn focused more on the intersections between neighbors, which I found entertaining. The final quarter of the book really amps up for an ending that I wasn't expecting.

The writing is excellent. When parts of the plot dragged a bit, that writing is what kept me reading. If you pick this up expecting a murder mystery/thriller, you might be a bit disappointed. If you enjoy a good neighborhood/domestic drama with a little twist you'll like it. I definitely look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you to Melissa Adelman, St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books and NetGalley for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for giving me an ARC of this debut novel in exchange for an honest review. Even though many of the characters were unlikable, I kept turning pages, enjoying the story.
Alexis and Sam are young professionals, with a small child and another on the way, when they buy a fixer-upper in a prestigious Washington, D.C. neighborhood.
The money-pit house, the challenges of parenthood (although they do have a live-in nanny), and their career concerns put a strain on their marriage.
Shortly after they move in, one of their neighbors, Teddy, is found dead on the banks of the Potomac River, having fallen from a nearby jogging trail. When the police investigate, they determine Teddy was murdered, although they have no leads about the killer's identity.
The story.is told in first person, alternating POV between Alexis, the biracial newcomer, and Blair, Teddy's widow. Despite their different backgrounds, the two women become friends.
Although this novel is technically a murder mystery, it's more about the relationships among the neighbors and within the various marriages. Avid mystery readers might find the pacing slow, and once it's unraveled, the motive is a bit creepy, but I stayed engaged in the story to the end.

Alexis and Sam finally find thier dream home, in an idyllic neighborhood that would normally be out of thier price range, it seems to good to be true. When a neighbor is found dead this "safe" neighborhood is on high alert. Meanwhile, the house that just needed a little TLC, is eating away thier savings at an alarming rate in repairs. As money issues become marital issues, thier relationship becomes strained. Alexis befriends the now widowed neighbor and finds that there is more to this neighborhood than meets the eye. Alexis and Sam moved to the suburbs to have a better life for thier family, but will this end up destroying thier marriage and with a killer on the loose, will they even get out alive?
This book has a great premise. There are some exciting and even scary moments, but overall there are far more unbelievable moments. The book was a quick, fun read, which I enjoyed to the end, however you need to look past logic.

This is a very slow burn. Alexis and Sam have bought a fixer-upper and Aexis is pregnant with child no.2. A neighbor is found dead, and Alexis befriends the widow. Whodunit? I loved the Cape Cod setting as I have always wanted to live in that area. The house details were great! The author did an excellent job of setting up the characters. Alexis just wants to feel like she belongs. I hated Sam. Now, gonna be honest. I almost did not finish this one, but right around the halfway mark I understood just how messed up this entire neighborhood was, and I realized I was very interested in the outcome. This is more of a mystery, and I was surprised by the ending. Definitely glad I stuck with it.

Thank you to #NetGalley, Melissa Adelman and St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

I will post my review to Amazon, Instagram and various other retail and social media sites upon publication.

This was a decent domestic thriller, though it was more of a mystery in my opinion. It was pretty flat until the last 25% of the book, when the twists started. But for the duration of the novel, I was wondering who did it. They made every character look suspicious, so I wasn’t really set on anyone being the killer. The thing that bothered me the most was how much I despised the husband of the FMC, Alexis. He was mentally and emotionally abusive and took advantage of her poor self-esteem. Some parts were difficult to read, and I didn’t really get why they had to make him like and make him putting her down and treating her terribly be such a large part of the book, it didn’t really serve a purpose. I felt bad for Alexis for the whole duration of the book.
Overall it was a good read and kept my interest. Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martins Press for the E-ARC.

I was super-excited about this one. I love the title and I love the cover but sadly that is where my love ends.

This was too slow a burn for me and I couldn't get into any of the characters and the plot meandered
I struggled to get through this one. I don't like to not enjoy a book and I really tried to get into this story but it just fell flat and constantly felt like it was on a road to nowhere.