I have to say I didn’t like a single one of the characters in this book. It isn’t that they were poorly written, but that they were very well written and believably horrible. Each person on the block embodies the stereotypes that are often associated with upscale and exclusive neighborhoods, from gossip to lush to sexual predator. The motive for the crime was unique and unexpected, illustrating the extremes people will go to in order to protect the facade of perfection they present to the world. This novel definitely exposes the rot behind the mask that wealth and privilege provide. The pacing was slow and I don’t really enjoy female characters written with a victim complex, so despite Adlemans skillful writing and character development I struggled to stay engaged with the story. This is in no way the authors fault and instead, is reflective of my reading preferences. Overall I give this three stars but I definitely feel this novel will appeal to a large number of readers.


This review will post on Instagram on 4/20/2023

I had such high hopes for this book, but my expectations just weren't met. I LOVE a suburban thriller, and I'm from Maryland so the whole area was very familiar to me. I really enjoyed the premise, and I thought the actual twist of the story was pretty well done, but on the whole I found this story to be predictable and none of the characters were remotely likeable.

Generally I find that these type of suburban thriller books don't have a lot of likeable characters, but some of them at least have enough HBIC energy that their attitudes aren't a deterrent. Unfortunately, our two main POV characters lack enough personality outside of being rude to everyone around them (who are also rude) to make them interesting, much less redeemable. And absolutely nothing happens in this book for so long other than different groups of people, usually Alexis and Blair, having drinks with one another, until the last 10% of the book, if that. Eventually, after Twist #1, you get Twist #2 to find out who actually did it, but they had been such a bad person the entire book that at that point I wanted them to be the murderer just so they would leave everyone else alone.

Plus, everyone here was wealthy, and Alexis & Sam were supposed to be the fish out of water...but they still purchased a 1.5 million dollar home and continued to make renovations, so it all felt a little out of touch, but that's a relatively minor criticism.

And for the love of God, it's not 2009 anymore. Stop using "ya" instead of "yeah" because nobody writes or talks that way.

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS*** You really back yourself into a corner with the eventual solving of the murder when you only flesh out a couple of characters and give no other characters even the slightest bit of motivation to be the murderer. Everyone in this book sucks. Multiple characters have their chance to shine as a terrible person in some way or another, but none of their terribleness actually gave them motive to be the murderer! Every murder story needs a red herring or two to throw suspicion off the actual killer, but we never got it. We barely got anything. Of course the result was going to be what it was. ***OK done with that***

On the whole, there was so much potential that this book just didn't live up to. I would probably try another book by this author, however!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC of What the Neighbors Saw, which publishes on June 20, 2023

Thank you Net Galley and Publisher for sending me an advanced copy of this book! It was a fantastic read...kept me guessing who the culprit could be. I enjoyed the different point of views from the two main characters and really liked that they became friends in the neighborhood. I despised some of the other characters, but you are supposed to. Alexis' husband is a complete jerk. Which makes it more satisfying later! Fun domestic drama...not very thrilling but definitely entertaining...could easily see this as a tv show, like Desperate Housewives.

Solid 3/5. A bit too much filler and there were subplots added in the last 20 pages. Peppering in more hints at The Bards connecting would have been better than tacking it all in at the end or the unneeded details about the neighbors' businesses.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this advanced reader copy that I could not put down or walk away from during this holiday weekend. I found myself running back to this book to find out what had happened. Alexis and Sam move to a dream neighborhood where all the characters are going through their own situations. Blair will remind you of a real housewife or one that is putting all the glitz into the role. There is a murder and then the typical neighborhood dramas that will draw you into the mystery, gossip, and jealousy that housewives experience. Who is the killer? Who is real and trying to live up to the standards? If you want a book that will grab you from the first chapter, pick it up.

"Desperate housewives meets the Couple Next Door" is a fairly accurate description! The twist was bit predictable, but it was a well-developed plot. The beginning was slow and I didn't really like any of the characters (especially Sam). I feel like quite a few subplots were started but not finished (like all the comments about Alexis' weight, which didn't really lead to anything). All that being said, it was well-written and enjoyable to binge!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

Posted to GoodReads, live now - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5305858674

How could they pass it up? Alexis and Sam find a fixer-upper Cape Cod in an exclusive, wealthy neighborhood in a D.C. suburb and decide to buy it, even though it will stretch their budget and the house will need a lot of work. They have a toddler and Alexis is pregnant. Sam is trying to make partner in his law firm and Alexis is on maternity leave from a small firm. She had given up the fast-paced partner track in the same firm as Sam so that she could spend more time with the children.

It isn't long before they start arguing about money and about what needs to be fixed and when. They start meeting the neighbors and getting to know them. One neighbor suffers a tragic fall from the trail over the river and his body is found on the rocks. Alexis starts getting uneasy. She finds out there are a lot of secrets in this neighborhood and they couples they meet aren't really what they seem.

This was a good domestic suspense thriller and it kept my attention as the plot progressed. There were quite a few surprises in the neighborhood - some real eye-openers. The pace of the book kept it moving and the revelations were stunning. This was somewhat of a disturbing book. The people I thought I liked at first I didn't like so much by the end.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on June 20, 2023.

This book kept my interest. Although I found that much going on in one little neighborhood a little too coincidental. Did not see the ending coming. I enjoyed this book.

What the Neighbors Saw by Melissa Adelman is an intriguing, complex mystery that keeps the reader guessing to the very end.
The book gets off to a bit of a slow start, but picks up a few chapters in with the two different points of view adding to the fascination of the story. With plenty of salacious details about the lives of the wealthy as seen from both of those points of view, Adelman keeps you turning the pages to the very end.
I did find that the book lagged in parts, but it is well-written and has an ending that is well worth the read.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #WhattheNeighborsSaw.

Very nice plot development. The pace is excellent. Nice clues scattered throughout. Looking forward to more books by Melissa Adelman.

This was a big fat NOPE. It went nowhere until 90% of the book we finally got somewhere and that somewhere was like a skip of where we were. Oh god this was so frustrating. I had to fight to not put this in a dnf category and it hurt. I felt like it took me three years to get through it. The drama was painful, the characters were not even the fun kind of petty it was just a mess.

Alexis and Sam move into a fancy neighborhood with a fixer upper home. They have dramatic wealthy neighbors and everyone is just a bunch of a holes. Zero personality. You meet Blair who has the picture perfect life with her picture perfect husband who ends up picture perfect dead. Alexis and Blair become I guess friends and everyone is all sus in the neighborhood on who dunnit and then the reveal. That’s it and it hurt.

Thank you St. martins and netgalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

What the Neighbors Saw is one of the most thrilling books I've read this year. The author is a master storyteller.

This was a decent slow-burn mystery/thriller. I liked the setting and the two alternating povs of two very different characters. This book was incredibly well written and I loved the author’s writing style. I found this book to be unique and interesting. However, as intriguing as this book’s plot was, the pacing was a bit too slow for my taste and I often found myself losing interest. If you like slow-burn domestic suspense thrillers this book may be for you.

This book was just okay...I had a hard time getting through it and was too bored to finish it. The storyline was just all over the place.

Alexis and her husband move to a derelict house in an exclusive area of Washington DC. Her husband is on the cusp of making a partner at his law firm and she is pregnant with their second child. Their glamorous neighbors begrudgingly open their arms and invite them into the neighborhood. But when one of them is found dead on the steep of the Potomac River, the community is shaken and the police struggle finding the killer. Alexis finds solace in the deceased wife and as they grow closer secrets are revealed. Alexis is faced with how far she is willing to go to protect the life she holds dear.

This was a solid mystery. I had anticipated a thriller going into this one but it isn’t, it’s a slow burn atmospheric mystery. I was, however, hooked from the start. I really enjoyed the twist and turns of this one as the different mysteries were solved and revealed. This story hinged so much on how entitled rich people can feel and boy was that a trip. The writing style was flawless and enjoyable. I hope you check this one out.

If you are looking for an entertaining mystery than check this one out June 20th!

Thank you to the publisher St Martin’s Press, @stmartinspress, and Netgalley @netgalley for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The book start out when Alexis and her husband buy a "money pit" house in a very exclusive neighborhood. It is a bit beyond their means but they are determined to make it work. They get to know the neighbors a bit but when neighbor Teddy ends up being killed, the whole neighborhood is on alert.

Alexis and Blair, Teddy's widow, soon become fast friends and Alexis gets the scoop on all the neighbors. Meanwhile, the police still have no leads in Teddy's murder. Soon, Teddy realizes that not everything is as it seems and maybe there is something else going on. She slowly startrs to figure out what happened to Teddy. Was she right? You have to read it to find out.

I loved how the book kept things moving along. Some of the stuff with their nanny, seems a bit weird, for lack of a better term.

A solid 4/5 stars

This plodding attempt to unwrap the salacious and secretive behaviors of the residents of a small neighborhood in northern Virginia failed to engage me. While the core dramatic event is the murder of one of the husbands of this glittering and wannabe glittering group and the attempt to solve it as the glue that holds the plot together, that is a mere backdrop for what goes on behind closed doors.

While the writing is quite good, the story is not. The characters are flat and the way the intrigue is revealed is not only boring but sordid.

There is probably an audience for this book. Sadly, that audience doesn’t include me.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.

Not a fan of "What the Neighbors Saw" unfortunately. None of the characters were particularly likeable, there were so many unnecessary details that did not add to the plot, and the story dragged on longer than it should have. This was my first book from this author, and while I did not enjoy it, I would try another book of hers.

I liked this book about “keeping up with the Joneses”, desire, friendship and the black hole that a house can be. Melissa Adelman has written a compelling read that I enjoyed but which seemed to drag a bit in the middle and then felt rushed at the end. I think #whattheneighborssaw could have benefitted from a more development at the end or simply end it before the last two chapters which felt like after thoughts. Thank you to #netgalley and #minotaurbooks for this arc to read and review. All opinions are my own.

Desperate Housewives meets The couple next door is a pretty apt synopsis for this book. If you love domestic thrillers, you will love this.

Our protagonist Alexis has had a difficult upbringing with a single absent parent and never felt like she belonged anywhere. Though she found the love of her life, when she saw the house in the very upscale neighborhood near the Potomac River, just over their budget, Alexis felt that this would be the place and the house that would finally make her feel at home and at peace.
Everything seemed promising until weeks after her little family moved in, a neighbor gets murdered while running on the much coveted train behind his house.
Alexis is thrown off and feels unsafe. In the process, she gets close to the murdered man’s wife Blair and strikes up a friendship.
The story follows Alexis and Blair in their journey to find the truth about the death of Blair’s husband.
Could it be one of the other neighbors who are all so rich that they are above the law as proven by multiple events occurring within the book?
I read this within a day because I just could not put it down until I knew what happened. I did not expect the ending at all.
One star taken down because I did not like Alexis at all. Neither did I like her husband. She kept complaining about her husband but I didn’t think she was much better than him in any way since she seemed to have everything easy, like have a live in nanny, cleaners, etc and still acted like she was having the hardest life which seemed a little out of touch with reality. She didn’t come across as a great mother either, who connected with her kids, which she kept complaining her husband wasn’t.
Apart from that, This has all the makings of a great TV show, looking forward to it!