I had read "The Hike" and really enjoyed reading the novel. The Street---not so much. The Story seemed an odd concept to "hide" people. The persons involved seemed strange and inconsistent. The characters are non believable. The ending left you hanging. Just left me questioning, and disappointed.

An interesting thriller with plenty of twists and turns.
I read The Hike and wanted to experience more of Susie's work.
This was an easy read, but not quite as exciting as I had expected.

The Street by Susi Holliday
Rating 4.2/5
Are the residents ones you want for neighbours? Maybe not but who wouldn’t want a home in this fantastic location on the Scottish coast line.
The plot is quite fast paced but loses momentum here and there but this is overcome by the menacing undertones. Susi Holliday does it again, the Queen of Atmosphere.
A worthwhile read and a page turner.
I would like to thank Susi Holliday, NetGalley, Thomas and Mercer for giving me the opportunity to read the Street. In return I have given a totally honest and unbiased review.

Anna and Peter need to leave London. They have found the perfect place in a lovely house in a new development on the Scottish coast.
But all is not what it seems. They meet two lovely neighbours one evening...the next day the neighbours have vanished as if they never existed. This street is not what it seems.....enter if you dare!
Many thanks to NetGalley for an early read of this book.

Despite some rather far-fetched coincidences, this was a really enjoyable, very moreish read. A great way to spend a day or two.

What if you are put into witness protection. If you have to keep your past a secret from your new neighbours. I suppose you would want to get along and fit in. But what if your new neighbours are not particularly welcoming; and what if they have secrets of their own to hide? You would expect to feel safe but there is something about where you are that is very unsafe. Susi has written a compelling story, full of twists and turns, a story built on the shifting sands of lies and suspicions. A highly recommended book and a great read.

I just reviewed The Street by Susi Holliday. #TheStreet #NetGalley and I must admit, it has to be my favourite Susi book by far. Full of twists and thank goodness it doesn't replicate my time living in Scotland!! I look forward to my next fix of Susi.

Absolutely superb. This is my book of the year. It's so twisty. The characters are great, the storyline is fantastic,, and it had a great ending. Everything you want in a book. Highly, highly recommend.

Susi Holliday’s characters appear in a variety of settings and situations. The Lingering was set in a commune at a former psych hospital, The Substitute featured an experimental medical laboratory, and Violet took us on a trip from China through Mongolia and on through Russia on the Trans-Siberian Express. In The Street we stay mostly much closer to home, in a gated community on the coast of Scotland near Prestonpans, best known (at least to Jacobites) for inspiring the thrilling bagpipe tune ‘Hey, Johnny Cope’. The all new and soulless community reminded me of the setting for Tana French’s Broken Harbour, we have a strong sense that something is not quite right about it. That is true as well for the principal characters. Like Jack and Ali in The Lingering, the more we learn about Anna and Peter, the dodgier they seem. Quickly we find out that they have been relocated here under new identities in a witness protection programme. The neighbours turn out to be awfully nosey, even the teenagers. And when their hosts at a welcoming barbecue (one feels an American suburb has somehow sprawled all the way to Scotland) disappear, everyone insists no such people ever existed. Except later they turn up murdered in Dundee. Like Broken Harbour, The Street morphs from a boring waste land of new-builds to an eerie setting.

Personally, though, I dislike violent thriller endings, but I know other readers may not share my aversion. The flashbacks to earlier times, when the previous histories of Peter and Anna are slowly revealed, were a little confusing too. But as a truly creepy story, The Street was most satisfying and Susie Holliday’s fans will not be disappointed.

I am indebted to the author and NetGalley for a gratis advance review copy.

There are many books out there that go back and forth between characters and/or time periods, as well as keep you guessing the whole way through that are, frankly, annoying as all get out. Not so The Street... I was pulled along with the main character as she tries to figure out what's going on. Adding new information bit by bit, sometimes stepping back in time, was riveting rather than aggravating. Could not guess entirely what was going on but, unlike the last chapter of an Agatha Christie novel, I felt satisfied at the end. Intriguing through and through!!

The Street is sold to Anna and Peter as a 'perfect new development' on the Scottish coast. Beautiful houses with beautiful views, the address much more exclusive than anywhere either of them have ever lived before.

As a result they are nervous about moving in. Will their well heeled neighbours be standoffish, or will they welcome them with open arms?

They don't have to wait long to find out.

A couple appear the same day they move in, wanting to welcome them to the Street. An evening full of good food, good company and plenty of booze follows. When Anna wakes with a headache the following day, although cursing how much she drank the night before, she wants to thank the neighbours for being so welcoming.

But when she arrives on their doorstep, there is no answer, and when she looks through the window the house is mysteriously empty. As if no one ever lived there, or someone has just moved out. But that's surely not possible?

Even more mysterious, when Anna gets talking to the other neighbours they all deny knowledge of a couple living at the address, and are adamant that the property has been vacant for 'ages'. Anna doesn't believe them, but doesn't have any proof to the contrary.

Not for the first time, she wonders if her and Peter are safe on 'the Street'.

Anna is suspicious of everything, and everyone, and as we begin to learn a little bit about her past, we understand why. It's impossible for her to relax on the street, but is she just being paranoid, or does she have reason to be suspicious?

I couldn't possibly tell you, because you need to read this absolute gem for yourself. A thrilling read that will keep you guessing until the end.

I enjoy reading books that have plots that I can't figure out within the first few chapters ( who doesn't? Lol ). I thought I had it figured out a couple times but there was just enough of a twist to keep me reading to the end. Overall, I enjoyed reading it and will look for ward to more books by this author!

I really enjoyed this book. What started off to be a simple move turned into something much darker. A real page turner as always.

I am a big fan of this author so was looking forward to reading her new book. The two main characters in the novel, Laura and Peter have moved to a seemingly close knit community in Scotland. You are aware that they are running from something, the reason is slowly revealed the more you read. But what isn’t revealed as quickly is what was really happening within the neighbourhood. Nothing was as it seemed, nobody could be trusted, and initially, in all honesty I’d have run away from all of them.

But Laura isn’t one to accept everything she is told and carries on digging, despite being warned not to by her handler and an extremely annoying app that everyone in the neighbourhood had to have on their phones. If anything would encourage me not to carry a phone with me it would be this app. As the threat increased so did her determination to understand what was happening around her.

I have to say that I didn’t really like or have much sympathy for either Laura or Peter, especially when I realised why they had to move, but another couple featured in the background who I felt differently about. I couldn’t work out their connection at all at first but this was slowly revealed. These two were probably my favourite for many reasons. I can’t say why, or discuss that much about them, but they were the characters I thought about when not reading the book.

I would love to read a short story collection about all of the families who feature in this novel, just out of curiosity.

The Street is an fast paced read that catches and holds the readers interest immediately. The idea is an unusual one that I've not come across before with lots of scope for twists of which there are plenty as the story progresses. The reader's attention is held trying to work out who the characters actually are.
Although some twists are more easy to guess than others, the book eventually reaches a satisfying conclusion. An enjoyable read.
Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishing Ltd for a free copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Lots of hidden things, lots of secrets. From new and old neighbours.
My first by this author. Not my last!
I was intrigued by the woven, I suppose, lies.
As things were opened it got me wanting to know more. Nothing stranger than people!

My parents used to live on a road called “The Street” – thankfully it was nothing like the one featured in this book. Also, it was not in Scotland – a country which, up to now, hasn’t featured much in the books I’ve read (I’ve been particularly aware of the country hopping I’ve been doing in books read this year).

More surprisingly, despite being the fourth book by Susi Holliday that I’ve read, it’s also the first one of those set in her native country. But other than a few bits of description, and perhaps some of the phraseology of some of the characters, its Scottish locale isn’t a key part of the story. This street could be almost anywhere – and, given, the nature of what the street’s purpose is and what transpires there, readers will be thankful that they don’t live on it.

Much like many of the books by Mark Edwards, there is a certain degree of being able to identify with characters in the book and being to think how you could get sucked into this nightmarish world. It is perhaps that element that makes the book most interesting.

There were other elements that I could identify with – such as the idea that others see being an author (and some would extend this also to being an academic) as being “cushy”. But mostly, I was glad that I couldn’t imagine being in the situation that the characters find themselves in.

This was the second book that I’ve read in the past few months where someone writes a journal or diary on the basis of a recommendation from a therapist. While I don’t keep a journal or diary, I have taken up sketching again this year, and so could relate to the person in the book who had taken to choosing something other than the cheapest book and pens available. But the character also has to come to terms with living inside their head and their book too much and that they have to “live again”. It’s all about balance, I suppose.

I could also relate to some of the comment that,

She loved eighties music in particular because it took her right back there, to simpler times when she had fun and no responsibilities. Where she could be who she wanted to be without having to hide. Where she felt safe.

I primarily love eighties music for the music itself. But there is a nostalgic element too. I don’t particularly remember it as being a time of no responsibilities and being who I wanted to be, but I suppose in comparison to life now, the statement is valid.

Returning to being a writer, one of the characters comments about the job as being literally being paid to make things up – worse than a tabloid journalist. While these thoughts reflected a moment of self-doubt in the character, the reality is, of course, that the two are worlds apart. While many tabloid journalists may make things up like a novelist, and both may have financial reasons for what they are doing, ultimately novelists, when they are doing their job properly, not only avoid outright lies, they can do a better job at helping us to question society and the way things are. Holliday does this in “The Street”. You can just enjoy the story for what it is. But there are deeper issues underpinning the book – ones which will make you question what you would do in certain situations, and, depending on your answers, have implications for how justice can work.

Overall, I enjoyed “The Street”.

This street is full of secrets. I enjoyed finding out what they where. A professional couple Anna and Peter move to a new housing complex, built on the site of an old power station. That evening their next door neighbours call round to meet them and enjoy an Indian meal and the drinks flow. But the next morning there is no sign of them ever living at their own address....

I first discovered Susi Holliday when I chose The Hike as an Amazon Prime first read book of the month and thoroughly enjoyed the book. It was full of unexpected twists and turns so I was excited about The Street.
I am a slow reader and other elements of life get in the way whilst reading but I really got into The Street and managed to finish it in 3 days (sometimes a book can take me a couple of weeks to read). This was another great story which had me hooked from the outset and I strongly recommend it for people who enjoy the works of Ruth Ware and Mark Edwards I won't go into details about the book as I wouldn't want to accidentally give away any spoilers

This was my first Susi Holliday book and I really enjoyed it. Anna and Peter move from London to Scotland and think this will be a fresh start. On their first evening, Anna and Peter have a lovely night of a takeaway and drinks with their next door neighbours but the next morning the neighbours have vanished and their house is empty. Everyone in the street then denies any knowledge of people living in the house next door.

The story was fast paced and an easy, enjoyable read. I would definitely read more from this author.