The Neighbors

January 22, 2018
Nate Morris has no idea that Liam Jefferson, his new next-door neighbor in Bromley, England, shares an intimate history with his wife, Abby—and neither Abby nor Liam enlightens him in McKinnon’s enjoyable if flawed second novel (after 2016’s Time After Time). Twenty years earlier, Abby and Liam were in love and planned to move in together, but when a night of drinking resulted in an accident that injured Abby and killed her younger brother, she ended the relationship. Unexpectedly reunited in Bromley, the two confront their attraction to each other as Abby desperately tries to keep her teenage daughter, Sarah, away from Liam’s alluring son, Zac. The possibility that Liam, not Nate, might be Sarah’s father raises the stakes. Meanwhile, Liam’s wife, Nancy, pursues her own agenda. Ultimately, though, the plot falters, and a deus ex machina resolution and late revelation about the long-ago accident feel contrived. This sophomore effort works better as an exploration of personal relationships than a thriller. Agents: Cassandra Rodgers and Sam Hiyate, Rights Factory (Canada).

Starred review from March 1, 2018
Nate couldn't ignore the U-Haul van that pulled up outside the house next door. He and his wife, Abby, and their daughter, Sarah, had been friendly with their previous neighbor, until the elderly woman succumbed to dementia and had to sell her house. Happy to be neighborly and more than a little curious about the new owners, Nate introduces himself, and Liam, Nancy, and their son, Zac, seem perfectly pleasant. Meanwhile, Abby can't believe that Liam is back in her life. They'd dated before she married Nate, right before a terrible accident changed the course of her life forever. Now that the memories she's been suppressing for so long are literally and figuratively too close for comfort, she has to figure out how to keep the biggest secret of her life. But Abby's not the only one with a secret, and she's not the only one struggling to hold on to a happy marriage. An emotionally wrought and fast-paced domestic drama, The Neighbors will satisfy readers looking for something new after Paula Hawkins' or Liane Moriarty's latest. McKinnon (Time after Time, 2016) weaves twists and turns throughout and keeps readers guessing until the final pages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)