2.5/5 Stars, rounded down. First a kidnapping and then a murder–this book hit the ground running in the prologue and first few chapters. “Best House on the Block” by T.R. Ragan tells the story of an aspiring journalist, Shannon Gibbons, and her move to the Fab-Forties neighborhood in Sacramento. With the death of her new mentor, 65-year-old renowned journalist Rosella Marlow, things in this seemingly pristine neighborhood start to unravel. Bitter and consumed by grief over the loss of her only child and husband, Rosella was convinced that the neighborhood was out to get her and she made it her mission to ruin the lives of everyone around her, so that they too would experience pain and suffering as much as she had. I loved the immediacy in this book at the beginning, though I’ll admit I stumbled a little bit when Shannon’s daughter was giving her mom a pep talk about how to proceed following Rosella’s death. It felt odd for a child/teenager to be telling Shannon what to do going forward, something about that scene just caused me to lose a bit of steam in terms of proceeding with the story. Shannon as a character never quite lived up to that street-smart investigator/reporter that I wanted her to be. Nevertheless, I kept reading it, but I have to say that this story fell flat for me. It seemed to sort of drag on and had a lot of information, perhaps too much information and storylines going on. At times I felt like the characters contradicted themselves and the twists seemed random and not fully meshed with the storyline. I suppose I enjoyed reading it, but I didn’t love it and there's something just not quite right about it for me.

I thought this book was good! It was engaging and a quick read. I hadn't heard of this author before, but curious to read more by them in the future.

This book falls short of being a thriller and barely qualifies as a mystery. It starts off strong but then peters out. The plot centers around the murder of a woman in an affluent suburb, with every neighbor becoming a suspect and the person who was murdered indicating that "everyone has a secret". However, despite the intriguing setup, there are entirely too many characters and too many threads to keep track of. The end was somewhat satisfying although the "big reveal" secondary to the murder is pretty preposterous. Not sure I would have finished if it was not an ARC

It's a decent read, a good choice for domestic and mystery thriller fans.

Shannon and her family have moved into a beautiful house in the Fabulous Forties of East Sacramento. Journalist Rosella Marlow is bitter, resentful, and consumed by excruciating grief. Rosella is obsessed with wiping the smiles off her contented neighbors’ faces. Now she’s watching closely, ready to expose their secrets - secrets dark enough to destroy lives. But when Rosella is found murdered, everyone on this quiet block is a suspect because everyone has a motive.

I was hooked at the beginning, and it kept me interested for the most part. However, it fell short in some areas. The mystery wasn't really a mystery as the "whodunit" was quite predictable. Nevertheless, the plot at the end was good as it came full circle.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for the eARC.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC!

Rosella, an older lady who lives in the perfect neighbourhood with perfect facades, enlists the help of Shannon, a new arrival to the area, to work out what is going on behind the brick veneers. Shannon is a complex character, with a mysterious background and a desire to get to the bottom of everything. Together, this ends up being quite the recipe for intrigue and mystery.

I enjoyed the main thread of this book, but I did find that there was a lot in here that got a bit confused after a while. There are a lot of characters, a lot of red herrings, and a lot of dead ends, and just when you think you've got it, you haven't. I did find that the threads got a little tangled after a while, and following a really strong opening, I think this book faltered as it went on and lost where it was going.

I did find as well that the main character was a little too much for me, and she was not quite as much of the street-smart journalist that she was supposed to be, with some surprising lack of knowledge. I enjoyed this book, but I just found that it could have been refined a little more and made a bit more of a punchy narrative.

This book falls short of being a thriller and barely qualifies as a mystery. It begins with promise but quickly deteriorates. The plot centers around the murder of a woman in an affluent suburb, with every neighbor becoming a suspect. However, despite the intriguing setup, the narrative is populated with numerous characters without any depth. The writing is disappointingly simplistic and the overall experience is tedious. If this hadn't been an advanced copy, I would have DNF’d.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This was a fascinating novel. Oh the secrets that neighbors may keep. The characters were interesting and delving into their lives was quite entertaining. The ending was definitely a surprise to me in several different ways. A lot of reveals though there are hints toward those reveals that you don’t pick up on till you find them out. Then it all makes sense.
Great read that will keep you hooked.

Rosella was a renowned journalist in the day and one of Shannon’s heroes. Excited about the prospect of being mentored by Rosella, she moves her family to the very neighborhood where Rosella lives. Unfortunately, Rosella doesn’t live up to the hype and instead turns out to be a bitter, nasty shrew who is the scourge of the neighborhood.

Shannon is almost immediately introduced to the clique of the neighborhood but then before she can even start emptying boxes, the neighbor is murdered.

The neighbor turned friend begins to lead the investigation. Of course, her friend knows everyone and pretty much their business so it doesn’t take long before they begin to uncover some interesting secrets. Throw in a twist or two.

The denouement is neatly drawn with one final douzy that was one too many for me.

I noticed a couple places where the author or editor used a name incorrectly. I also stumbled on names used for either boy or girl and was confused about which gender we were talking about more than once already having trouble with the sheer number of support characters.

Slow burn, lots of characters, twists and turns, but entertaining. 3.5 stars

Shannon Gibbons is closer to achieving her long-time ambition of becoming an investigative journalist. When she and her husband move to the upscale Fabulous Forties neighborhood in East Sacramento, she is contacted by renowned journalist Rosella Marlow, a community neighbor. Marlow wants to hire Shannon as a personal assistant for her new project.
After Shannon meets Rosella, her dreams of working with her are shattered. Rosella is obsessed with exposing her neighbors' dark secrets and plans to recruit Shannon to aid her in her efforts. Little does Rosella know that she, too, is being watched.
When the quiet neighborhood is rocked by a murder, everyone becomes a suspect. Shannon teams up with a friend, and they begin their investigation together. The dark secrets surrounding the members of a once quiet and friendly neighborhood soon become evident, creating a serious situation. Will murder be the only way to keep their secrets safe?

Best House on the Block is a suspenseful, domestic, mystery set in an upscale neighborhood in San Francisco. When a woman in the neighborhood gets killed, everyone on the block is a suspect. This is a good mystery but I felt aspects of the book were too far fetched..

This was my first thriller by Ragan, and really enjoyed it. I loved the plot and not knowing who to trust in the neighborhood, the characters, the twists. Will be recommending it!

This book started really well and was fast-paced, which I loved. I found the story a bit confusing the more I read. It felt like I was being given a lot of information- a lot of different plots and storylines. It was all just a lot.
The story is a really good one, but I can't seem to put my finger on what exactly it is that didn't feel right. I noticed that sometimes the tone of certain characters didn't seem true to who they were being portrayed as- or didn't have a consistent tone at all.
There were some surprises that didn't quite make a lot of sense to me. I'm not sure if I may have missed something, but it was definitely a surprise.
If you love fast-paced mysteries with lots of twists, this is the one for you!
T.R. Ragan does a great job at tying up loose ends so the reader has no questions at the end of the story.
While this may not be my favourite, it is worth a read.
Thank you to netgalley for giving me the opportunity to read this book in advance of its publication date (Nov. 2024) in exchange for my honest review.

Was a great mystery to read! However I predicted the ending around halfway through, but I still liked how everything played out. The characters were all interesting and the secrets were juicy. Everything tied up nice and neat at the end. Definitely look forward to reading more from this author.

Thank you NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Prologue was very good and so was the summary of the book, I was excited to get started. I felt this fell flat. I liked the setting of the Fab Forties, and the little community, but despite the book being short, I still thought it felt slow and did not feel that it lived up to the hype. I get that the point was to make everyone a possible suspect but to me it felt predictable. I can’t say much without spoiling, but I was expecting a nice twist related to the plot that I did not get. There was a twist unrelated to the main plot, felt very random and out of place, so not to my liking either.

Nothing is better than reading a book written by an author who knows what they are doing.
The author literally said, I'm going to take every cliche or stereotype of the genre and make it into something you'd like. She promised and delivered.
At the beginning, the book started a little bit slow, I thought the author focused so much on the relationships between the neighbors unnecessarily, the setting of the affluent neighborhood felt like a bubble, it was as if the characters were the last people on earth.
However, as I kept reading, everything just fell into place, it all started to make sense.
Rosella gave the interconnected ties between every household credibility. It wasn't just a miniature society where people's existence was limited, on the contrary, it was more of a closed circle of events either started by Rosella or ones she was privy to.
The plot and pace were so well written, I was literally consuming the words not just merely reading.
The ending was satisfactory, I was kind of expecting more but I wasn't disappointed. It gave the desired impact and offered closure.
Highly recommend.
*I received an ARC of this book through netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review*

T.R. Reagan is a master at twisty thriller writing. This was an exciting quick read that got me out of a funk.

WOAH! This book has one hell of an opener!

This is another one of those super binge-able reads, I couldn't put it down. It flowed well and I really just HAD to know everything. Look, l'm one of those people who wants no drama in my. own life but really wants to know everyone else's, OK? And this book, with its "did you hear what the neighbors did" vibe really scratched that itch. But with a murdery, who-done-it bonus. What more do you need??

This one isn't super thriller-y, or a big thinker. You'll probably know who did what. But it's a fun read on a lazy day and we all need that sometimes.

Wow! I did not know what to expect going into this book but it exceeded whatever expectations I did have.

Rosella Marlow was a renowned journalist who watched her neighbors and kept their secrets to use against them. She created many enemies in her neighborhood and one day she ended up murdered because of it.

This was a classic, fast paced who dunnit story that kept me guessing from page 1. I did not know who the killer was going to be and the twists throughout made this an amazing read.

Captivating from start to finish. This felt like a slow burn thriller and I am not complaining.
The twist and turns. I was SO sure I knew who did it but boy was I surprised. It was a little confusing trying to keep track of all the characters and their secrets but it was satisfying to see them all be peeled back and revealed.

I liked this book and I also didn’t. M not sure if I’d be as bitter and I really tried to understand the point of view. To have so much dirt to those that are happy around you, how?!