Those People

A wild ride from start to finish. So many twists, turns and blind alleys that I was constantly turning the page to discover what happened next. A great read and the perfect start to my rainy Easter weekend.

Thanks to #netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. This was my second time reading a Louise Candlish book and it did not disappoint. The plot grabbed me from the very beginning and kept the suspense building. Those People are the new neighbours who move into a quiet and harmonious street where all of the neighbours get along. The new neighbours ruffle everyone's feathers they seem to go out of their way to offend and annoy everyone. The death of a neighbour on their property leads to further animosity and a sinister conclusion with some great twists along the way. A mesmerising read. It will have you looking twice at your neighbours. #netgalley #bookstagram #tea_sipping_bookworm #kindle #amazon #goodreads #litsy

Set in the present time at Lowlands Garden in London. The residents enjoy a tranquil life in their quiet residential street of Lowland Way. But when one of the resident’s dies and her nephew Darren Booth moves into number 1 the peaceful existence is disrupted as Darren begins renovations on his house, plays loud music and fills the street with old cars and caravans that he intends to sell.
The residents try to find away to get rid of Darren but when disaster strikes everyone is a suspect.
This was murder mystery about communities, families and relationships. I loved it.

This is a deliciously wicked look at smug, middle class surburbia and what happens when someone who doesn't fit the mould moves in.

Lowland Way in South London is a seemingly perfect model of surburban harmony where the people are pleasant and friendly, houses and gardens are large and well maintained, the children go to good schools in the area and on Sundays the road is closed to traffic to allow them to play games together in the street. But then loud mouthed, uncouth Darren Booth inherits his aunt's house and moves in with his girlfriend and the dark underside of the street emerges. Darren doesn't give too hoots about fitting in or keeping onside with the neighbours. He immediately knocks down a wall, cuts down a treasured tree and turns his front yard and surrounding street into a used car lot with numerous cars in various states of repair. He then starts on haphazard house renovations, running power tools at all times of the day and night and when he isn't doing that he's blasting the neighbours with loud music.

Em and Ant who live in the adjoining semi next door are tired and frazzled because their baby Sam is constantly being woken by the noise and no one is getting any sleep. Sissy, who lives opposite is divorced and makes her living running a B&B, suddenly finds her business dropping off due to the noise and construction going on. Although the other residents are not affected as much they resent the impact Darren is having on their pleasant street and band together to think of ways to get rid of him, especially as the police and the council have been no help, telling them in fill in forms and wait some months before action can be taken.

This is such a fun read and is formatted in short, snappy chapters from different points of view. Louise Candlish clearly has a keen sense of observation of domestic relationships and how they can be manipulative. Most of the residents are not very likeable and don't always treat their partners and relatives well. As their vindictive schemes to remove Darren fail, cracks appear in their relationships as their true characters emerge under the stress and many of them find that they don't really like each other. Eventually someone goes too far and the whole street finds themselves under suspicion. The plot does take a while to come to a simmer, but it's well worth waiting for it to boil over and enjoy the understated humour along the way.