Neighborhood Watch

Starred review from March 29, 2010
In this superb suburban thriller from McGovern (Eye Contact
), newly tested DNA evidence results in the release from prison of Betsy Treading (aka “the Librarian Murderess”) after serving 12 years for the bludgeoning of sexy divorcée Linda Sue Nelson, a neighbor in Milford, Conn. Betsy, a somnambulist, had confessed out of fear she'd done the deed while sleepwalking. Back home in Milford, Betsy determines to find out who really killed Linda Sue, who was having an affair with their married neighbor, charismatic author Geoffrey Steadman, who was a friend of Betsy's then husband, Paul. Now divorced from Paul, Betsy accepts temporary lodgings with an old friend and neighbor, Marianne Rashke, founder of the local neighborhood watch group. McGovern, a former Stegner Fellow at Stanford, seductively unreels Betsy's pursuit of the truth one shocking spool at a time. Fans of literary suspense fiction will be well rewarded. 4-city author tour.

March 15, 2010
In this psychological mystery from McGovern (Eye Contact, 2006, etc.), a former librarian is exonerated after serving 12 years in prison for a neighbor's murder and returns to her suburban Connecticut neighborhood to find the real killer.

Betsy explains that she confessed to murdering Linda Sue, not because she remembered committing the crime but because she didn't. When she found blood on her nightgown she assumed that she had bludgeoned Linda Sue to death during one of the sleepwalking episodes she'd been suffering ever since her troubled childhood. She was assured she would be found innocent on psychological grounds, but incompetent counsel and neighbors' unwillingness to testify in her defense sunk her case. Once she was in prison, the unexpectedly satisfying life she made for herself, complete with friends and a beau from the men's facility next door, showed her how hollow her marriage to husband Paul had been, and she divorced him. Now DNA evidence proves her innocence. With no home waiting, she accepts an invitation from her one loyal neighbor, Marianne, to revisit Juniper Lane. Trying to solve Linda Sue's murder on her own, Betsy is soon swamped by a plethora of secrets and possible lies. Is Paul gay? Why did Marianne's daughter Trish run away, and what experiments is Marianne's husband Roland conducting in Marianne's basement (where he and Betsy once shared a passionate kiss)? Why did Geoffrey, Paul's childhood friend—a flirtatious, award-winning author whose affair with Linda Sue was cited by prosecutors as one cause for Betsy's murderous jealousy—undermine her case? But as Betsy dribbles out pieces of information, it becomes clear that she is not exactly a reliable narrator. Not only is the extent of her pathologies troubling, she has always known more facts about that fatal night than she's let on.

It's hard to say who's more manipulative, the narrator or her creator, but TV'sDesperate Housewives would feel right at home on creepy Juniper Lane.

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May 15, 2010
In this lackluster suspense novel, librarian Betsy Treading returns to her suburban neighborhood after her murder conviction is overturned through new DNA evidence. A lifelong sleepwalker who is depressed over a series of devastating miscarriages, she turned herself in when she found blood on her nightgown the morning after a neighbor was murdered. Betsy knows that until the real killer is caught she will be viewed with suspicion, and she sets out to solve the crime on her own. Unfortunately, McGovern ("Eye Contact; The Art of Seeing") never makes the most of her premise. Betsy's story is intriguing, but the character fails to come to life. The mystery element also proves unrewarding, partly owing to some preposterous red herrings like a minor character discovering cold fusion. VERDICT This succeeds neither as a suspense novel nor as compelling psychological fiction. Purchase only where the author's previous books have been popular.Karen Kleckner, Deerfield P.L., IL

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2010
Newly released from prison 12 years after being wrongly convicted of murdering her neighbor, suburban librarian Betsy Treading is back in her old community, temporarily living with the only friend who has stuck by her through her incarceration. While grateful that Marianne has taken her in, Betsy is also justifiably wary of the woman whose inexplicable paranoia directly ignited the personal security vendetta that so dramatically influenced events leading up to Linda Sues murder. Betsys lawyer has encouraged her to use her return to her old neighborhood to dig for clues that could help put the real killer behind bars, but in reexamining her former life and relationships, Betsy uncovers some unsettling truths about herself as well as the people she thought she could trust the most. Although hampered by flawed logic and a meandering narrative voice, McGoverns engrossing tale of mistrust and deception is made all the more sinister by the false security portrayed behind its conventional white-picket-fence facade.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)