This newest title by Kia Abdullah does not disappoint. Moving into a new home is stressful for Salma and her family, but when she realizes her neighbor is secretly targeting them because he is a bigot, things quickly go from bad to worse. When tragedy strikes and neighbors are pitted against neighbors, the deep undercurrent of despair to keep one's family safe takes a shocking turn.

Perfectly Nice Neighbors
Kia Abdullah
Pub Date Sept. 12, 2023
G.p. Putnam
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
This is the first book I have read by Abdullah and it won’t be my last. This book explores themes of racism, community, social media, class differences, hypocrisy and violence. The court part of the book is extremely well written. It made me agitated, angry, confused and eager to keep reading.
This book was a winner for me and I highly recommend it and the author.
5 stars

Perfectly Nice Neighbors is the first novel I’ve read by Kia Abdullah, but it certainly won’t be my last. Neighbors can often be the bane of our existence. We can choose our neighbors and when we look for a house, we often don’t see the true nature of the neighborhood. This is certainly true for the Khatun family. Salma and Bil Khatun have moved with their son to this new house and neighborhood with the hopes of protecting Zain from hanging out with the wrong crowd. They were also looking for a safer atmosphere. Never did they imagine that this new house would turn out to be far more unsafe than their previous. Right after moving in, tensions build when their neighbor, Tom is observed by Salma to knock down the Black Lives Matter sign that Zain placed in the front garden. Salma confronts Tom, and tensions rise. Before you know it, the disagreement becomes public and people are taking sides in the neighborhood. The peace that Salma and Bil were hoping for, has not come to fruition. As more and more individuals become embroiled in this situation between the neighbors, the ante will rise and people will get hurt. The ending was completely unexpected and left me shocked. There were so many emotions that I felt while reading this story: sadness, astonishment, disappointment, and anger. The character development was amazing and I really felt as if I got to know the characters, even those that I instinctually disliked. I highly recommend this book. Thank you to Penguin Group and NetGalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book!there was so much going on, I couldn’t put this book down! Salma, Bil and Zain move into a new neighborhood. When the neighbors become upset by the anti racist flag, things really spiral out of control quickly. I’m looking forward to reading more books by Kia. I really enjoy her writing!
Thank you NetGalley, Kia and Penguin Group Putnam for the ARC.

I read this Arc through Net galley. What happens when you move and are not a perfect fit for your neighbors? Pandemic closed Bil’s restaurant. Their son was expelled from school.
A move to start over for Salma, her husband Bil and son. But small issues start happening with their neighbor Tom and these issues ignite a nightmare. When things go bad, then people get hurt.

2.5-2.75

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I went back and forth a lot on this rating, to be honest. I loved so much of this book, and was flying through it, so the ending felt like such a bummer.

I don’t need happy endings nor do I expect them - especially with thrillers, you certainly don’t read thrillers expecting a “and they lived happily ever after.” The ending was just SO wildly depressing to me though that I wondered why I had stuck through. If it was just that it would have been okay - probably not the 4 or 5 I wanted to give it but different people like different things, and for the most part I really enjoyed the book, the ending just wasn’t for me - but the plot twist really threw me off.

I think as with every thriller, everyone has their own idea of who is culpable (and sidenote, imo this book did a great job in showing complexities and writing the characters as feeling real, not black and white villains or heroes). You’re going to be wrong sometimes and that’s okay, but the book didn’t really give out any actual plot twists until the final act of the book, and it was just completely random and convoluted. It felt like a plot twist meant to shock readers, not where you could reread the book and see the hints.

This didn’t really feel like a thriller, which isn’t really good or bad for me. At times I felt like characters had either underreactions or overreactions that kind of baffled me, but maybe that’s just my own expectations in that scenario.

I think if you can move past the plot twist and you like bleak endings this will be a fine book. I don’t want to completely disparage it, because I really did enjoy it for the most part and appreciated the commentary, but the ending just really was not for me.

When Salma and Bilal move to a new, nicer neighborhood in order to protect their teenage son from the bad influences in their old neighborhood, they are delighted to be welcomed first thing to a neighborhood barb-b-que. But that's where the subtle racism starts to show. The white neighbors aren't too sure about the Pakistani family on their block especially when they post a Black Lives Matter sign on their front lawn. Vandalism starts, words are exchanged and the situation with the next door neighbors escalates from there to the courts.
As tragedy unfolds, readers are left guessing if the aggressor is indeed the one on trial or if there might be other factors involved. A surprise ending destroys not one but two families and the neighborhood will never be the same. Empathic characters, a series of misunderstandings and readers are torn between two possible truths. Once the pace of events ramps up, readers won't want to stop reading until they reach the end.

What a nail biting, intense, this is making me nervous novel! If you love domestic thrillers, Perfectly Nice Neighbors is for you.
Have you ever moved into a neighborhood and didn’t know anything about your neighbors? My biggest fear came true in this story.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A family moves into a new neighborhood and immediately encounters problems with the next door neighbors. Salma and Bil and their son are hoping for a new start. When their son places a BLM banner on their lawn and the neighbors take it down, things take a turn for the worse. Hostilities escalate and it is hard to tell who is to blame for what. A good level of tension and suspense with surprises more than once. A good cul-de-sac noir novel.

Perfectly Nice Neighbors examines racial hatred and the fight against it. In our current world this book is thought provoking and will linger long after you put the book down.

A woman moves into a new neighborhood and her neighbor steals her anti-racist banner from her yard. After she puts it in the window she wakes up to find her window painted.
Things move to a courtroom which is a setting that Abdullah writes compellingly.

A good read.

Kia Abdullah perfectly captures the sickening feeling of being harassed and stalked by cruel, relentless neighbors. The action is steady as the story progresses to a shocking - not once, not twice, but multiple times - ending.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I went into this book with zero knowledge of the author and the plot.

Salma, her husband Bil, and their son Zain have recently moved to a new neighborhood. Zain's anti-racist flag starts triggering the neighbor's next door, leading them to acts of passive aggression. The situation quickly spirals out of control.

This story was told in multiple POVs. The story felt real and relevant. Believable.

I took off a star for the very end. It felt like it came out of no where and unnecessary.

Thanks for the ARC!

Is this a thriller?. Actually, this is something that could happen to read, and it’s kind of cringy to think that if things got really out of hand, this could happen to you and your family. That being said, I couldn’t stop reading it, but I can’t say that I liked it.

"Better a bad harvest than a bad neighbor." (Croatian Proverb)

You can always look under the hood when buying a new or used vehicle. A little hard to do when settling yourself in the midst of roof-tops of new neighbors. But then humans are territorial by nature. Some take it to the nth degree. And the baggage that they carry has been years and years in the making. People molded and chiseled into creatures that can flip on a dime at the least spark of personal intrusion. And hiding behind that perfectly placed facade are the true inner linings of a multitude of hardcore sins.

Salma and Bilal Khatum want to provide a better life for their teenage son, Zain. They lost their restaurant during the lockdown when small businesses took a mighty hit. They also need a fresh start after Zain was expelled for being falsely accused of having a knife in his locker at school. Bilal turned from owner to worker at another restaurant. Salma is a secondary teacher. Money is tight.

When a home became available at the right price in Blenheim, they jumped at it. But a neighborhood barbecue opens their eyes to the shifting sands around them. Little snipes here and there put the Bangladeshis on edge. And a simple act of placing a politically threaded banner in front of their home will lay the groundwork for what is to come.

Meet Tom Hutton, his wife Willa, and their son Jamie. Jamie is sixteen years old and partially deaf. They've met the new neighbors next door. The sons seem to get along and are working on an app together. All is well until it no longer is. Tom takes offense at the banner. His problem-solving skills are a problem in itself.

We will experience the festering build-up of in-your-face intolerance and the drive to strike a heavier blow than the one preceding it. As the story unfolds, there's no taking sides here. Plenty of outrageous behavior whirling through on both sides of the equation. And it will escalate with some brutal consequences. As readers, we will be exposed to plenty of the uncomfortable realities of life in a so-called civilized world.

Kia Abdullah formulates this storyline to do just that. At times, it tends to be overkill. It's almost a feeling of dread when more and more unacceptable behavior is paraded before us. The conclusion goes off the rails at the very end and the actions of one of the main characters seems so over the top. It was a 3.5 Stars kicked up to 4 Stars because the writing is Kia Abdullah. She is renowned for taking on the heavy lifting topics and making firewood out of it. Can't wait for the next.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review. My thanks to Penguin Group Putnam and to the talented Kia Abdullah for the opportunity.

Perfectly Nice Neighbors is a fast paced thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end.

Salma and Bilal move into a nice neighborhood to escape some drama that has found its way into their son’s life. Hoping to start over fresh and new, they quickly realize that they aren’t welcomed with open arms into their new neighborhood- what follows is a back and forth fight that ends in tragedy. I loved this book because it makes you think about whether it is truly possible to not have preconceived notions about people and what happens when those biases surface. Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group Putnam for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGallery and publisher for allowing me to read the arc ebook of,Perfectly Nice Neighbors.I found this novel highly enjoyable but disturbing in many ways. It’s how neighbors get into a minor disagreement which gets more and more out of hand.It’s escalates to the point there’s no going back without repercussions.I don’t want to tell more to spoil the ending which is a shocking surprise.

I felt that this was a great domestic thriller. The dynamic and the ongoing battle between the neighbors gives readers that tense and suspense feeling that leads to an exciting conclusion that they won't see coming. (I didn't). There is social commentary about race and how we use social media, but I think that makes it very relatable to the world we live in now, just adding suspense to the story. The battle between these neighbors makes me rethink moving to the suburbs.

This book has so much in it to discuss, the violence of two families in crisis, while one appears to be the sympathetic ones, no one is one thing, racism, financial issues and difference, bullying and much more. Many fruitful discussions could be opened up with this book.

A complicated book about families in conflict, racism overt and microaggresions, classism, lookism and the assumptions we make about each other. The need to hurt, get revenge builds up as other life pressure cause an explosive confrontation. As often with her books, the legal issues, a trial happens and will the guilty get punished and how can people move on, with their families after the worst happens

no one is right, and everyone is wrong in #perfectlyniceneighbors by @kiaabdullah. such a painful read about "perfectly nice" people who act and feel anything but. misjudgment, mistakes, overreactions and overcompensations abound - none of them seem to have bad intentions yet they each exist in their own bubbles, thinking they are so magnanimous and open-minded when again, they are anything but. and when i arrived, heartbroken, depleted and breathless, i find that the one character who might be redeemable, is...sorry...anything but! quite the page turner, i highly recommend for these woke times.

p.s. thanks to #netgalley for the ARC.