Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

“They seem the perfect couple. But what are they hiding?”

As someone who is due to get new neighbours in the next few months, I am now very concerned about who we will get living next door 😅 Claire has done it again (as expected) and brought us another masterpiece of a thriller! A brilliantly paced, chilling and clever read with all those twists we’ve come to expect from Claire over the years. I cannot get this one out of my head! I’m so thrilled to be sharing my review of The New Neighbours!

About the book

When Lena helps her teenage son gather sounds for her media studies project, she doesn’t expect her boom-microphone to pick up a conversation between her neighbours, the Morgans.

And she’s certain they are planning a crime.

Her family and friends tell her that she must have misheard. After all, the Morgans are a well-respected, upstanding couple in their early sixties. They’ve never been in trouble with the law.

Yet Lena can’t stop thinking about it. Because what if she hasn’t misheard? What if she can prevent something awful happening?

After all, stopping it could help ease her conscience about her own dark past . . .

The beginning

Claire never fails to hook me in from a first chapter, and this one was just as good as the rest! We’re introduced to Lena who lives with her teenage son, Rufus – two characters I instantly loved. And it isn’t long before we meet Lena’s new neighbours who have quite literally just moved in next door. Marielle and Henry seem utterly lovely as first impressions go. They’re friendly, kind, welcoming, happy to help a neighbour in need. Late sixties. A new grandchild. Perfectly normal. But when Lena picks up one of their conversations on an old boom microphone her son uses for college, it makes her question who they are and what they could potentially be involved in. Just the idea of having new neighbours with a dark secret sets me on edge and I could not stop thinking about what it was they were hiding, and whether they knew Lena had heard some of their discussion… After this overheard conversation, I definitely began to view this couple in a whole new light. I was so excited by where this story could go! Claire’s words pulled me in from the start and I was already hooked.

“Is it even possible to love and hate someone at the same time? To desire someone yet be repulsed by them?”

I feel the need to do a quick blast of intros for other characters here – Lena is separated from her husband, Charlie, and despite this, I didn’t even hate him – he’s a great character, and they were civil with one another. It was a mutual breakup agreement. The stories of their relationship had me smiling and it seemed sad that they were no longer together, no longer the happy family of three that they once were. There is also Drew, a guy who regularly visits Lena at Citizen’s Advice where she works. Aside from Lena and her life, we also read chapters from a character named Natalie, who is on the run. These different perspectives contrast so well, and at the start, we aren’t sure what she is running from, nor do we understand just how much danger she is in. Over time Natalie’s character becomes more clear, and there are quite a few character connections that come together in a very interesting way. Yes, there are a lot of characters in this book to keep on top of but each are introduced in the right way so it doesn’t get overwhelming. And all of these characters are SUCH integral parts of the plot… 👀 I was so excited for everything to come!

The middle

I had a weird feeling about Drew as we meet him properly. He talks to Lena about his sister, Sarah-Jane, who is missing – but it isn’t long before we learn his sister has links to Henry – Lena’s new neighbour. Things began to feel quite unsettling. Did Henry know something about her disappearance? As is always the case with Claire’s books, you have that constant feeling of intrigue. I was always finding myself trying to work out where Sarah-Jane was – had she changed her name to Natalie? Was this the person who we were following on the run? The tension building was already off the scale, and to make things even more interesting, curiosity gets the better of Lena and she enters Henry and Marielle’s home. What she finds is not only very interesting, but also incredibly creepy… There are some seriously brilliant cliff hangers that make you desperate to squeeze another chapter in, and even though there was so much more to discover about Henry and Marielle, I was desperate for Lena and Rufus to stay away from them. I felt so protective of these two and I could feel that their new neighbours were bad news. How much worse could it get?

“I walk into the kitchen and then freeze in shock. Someone is standing at my patio doors… The evening sun has cast the figure in shadow.”

Claire writes characters and their relationships so bloody well. I’ve always thought this in all the books I’ve read by her. You really get to know them, feel every thought and feeling alongside them. You feel some sort of sympathy for all of them just as much as you suspect them at times. It’s just pure magic. I especially loved Lena’s best friend, Jo, her voice of reason, the person she can count on to ground her and someone to discuss all the strange goings on with. After a bit of her own research, Lena finds a connection to her past, something that is touched upon briefly at points but isn’t really significant until now. I was so interested to see where this would go, just how much of her past would come back to haunt her… I loved the feeling of such a complex plot, and when the reveals started to appear, that was it. Everything started to build momentum and so many of the puzzle pieces began to slot perfectly into place. I will never understand how Claire manages to make everything fit, but she does it so well. As we read chapters from the present day and from Lena’s experiences in 1999, we make shocking connections; my theories were all wrong!

The end

Dark secrets are revealed and there is consistent suspense throughout the ending of the book. I completely adored it. I devoured page after page after page in wide-eyed shock and was just floored by Claire’s ability to create a story so unpredictable and addictive. Absolutely wild. Connections between characters become so clear and solid, and Lena finds herself in one hell of a predicament. I feared for her safety and also for the safety of her loved ones. The pages are filled with imminent danger, the hold-your-breath kind of terror. As well as all this, there is also a layer of sadness, so many truths having a really gutting, emotional edge that made everything feel so much more impactful. Having so many feelings running through me made this plot one of the most unforgettable for me, and I’ve read a lot of books! There’s a strong theme of motherhood in this book, which obviously starts with Lena and Rufus, but at this point, there are some stronger, more emotional scenes, each written with such care and attention. I couldn’t predict the ending at all, and it turned out to be just as brilliant as I thought it would be.

“It makes no sense. But then, nothing about any of this makes sense. Nothing at all.”

With more little twists in all the right places, even more reveals and a shocking end for one character in particular, the ending of the book was so utterly brilliant. Even the characters you think you know well may surprise you! Not only has Claire absolutely nailed the tension from beginning to end, but we’re left with such a brilliantly spine-tingling ending chapter. It filled my imagination, making me think of all sorts of ways the future could alter for some characters. My favourite kind of ending! I really loved the change in so many characters by this point. How Lena rethinks her life and who deserves to be in it. And I just wanted to give Rufus a massive squeeze! The character development with every single character was excellent (as it always is in Claire’s books) and it felt quite sad to be leaving them behind. I always wonder how Claire will top each book when the new one arrives and after this one, I have SUCH high expectations. But I know she will continue to nail it with each and every release. Bring on the next! Another perfect read from one of my auto buy authors!

Overall thoughts

The New Neighbours is certainly the most chilling of Claire’s books I’ve read so far! Split into three parts, this book felt so relatable at the start, and then so very thought-provoking. We’ve all had new neighbours move in at some point, but who are they really? Who are they under their kind, warm and friendly exterior? The story explores a deep, dark secret through multiple POVs which, of course, are written and intertwined to perfection. Lena is an exceptional main character, her desire to get to the truth mixed with her curiosity for what her neighbours were hiding had me on tenterhooks the entire time. It was anxiety-inducing, so incredibly suspenseful and had the best twist! Will there ever be a book from Claire that I won’t rate five stars?! You need to read this one, you will adore it! Engrossing, tense and as addictive as ever!

The biggest of thank yous to Claire Douglas and the brilliant team at Michael Joseph for my proof copy of The New Neighbours! You can grab your own copy right now on Amazon or wherever you buy your books. Make sure you’re following Claire over on Instagram and X/Twitter for more updates!

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