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Customer Review
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 May 2013
There's no point in beating around the proverbial bush. This is an excellent thriller. I read lot and lots of crime novels and thrillers and can honestly say that this is the best I've read for some time. The plot is straightforward. Jamie, a software engineer, and Kirsty, a children's nurse, have just moved into their dream flat and the world is a rosy one. From that point on things go downhill. Their neigbbours one floor below in the "garden flat" while, at the outset, appearing a little strange but basically fine, turn out to be the kind of neighbours that one prays one will never eoncounter. The paranoia of Jamie and Kirsty grows and for a while they're not entirely sure how justified their concern is. Without spoiling, I would also say that there is a very effective sideplot centred on Jamie's best friend which serves to both crank up the tension and play its own role in increasing the paranoia. Perhaps the real genius of the book is that it is not just a simple story about having awkward neighbours. The position that Jamie and Kirsty find themselves is one of growing existential terror which it is clear cannot be resisted or defeated. The very different ways that Jamie and Kirsty have of coping with the growing stress are realistic in that it is easy for the reader to understand why each chooses the path he or she does.
Ultimately, this book shows what is really scary in this life. One neighbour is a writer of scary children's stories and Kirsty reads one of his books and is terrified. These books are firmly centred around imaginary creatures like vampires. But human beings turn out to be far scarier than any vampires. Humans can incarnate an almost unimaginable evil. And when such evil is found there is no way out; though discovering this can take some time.
So the young couple's idyll turns into an ordeal and the ordeal creates what is, in effect, a life-changing experience. Do read this novel. You won't want to put it down and you'll have your own views on what Jamie and Kirsty should so at each juncture. But you'll also feel their fear and this is what sets this thriller apart.
Ultimately, this book shows what is really scary in this life. One neighbour is a writer of scary children's stories and Kirsty reads one of his books and is terrified. These books are firmly centred around imaginary creatures like vampires. But human beings turn out to be far scarier than any vampires. Humans can incarnate an almost unimaginable evil. And when such evil is found there is no way out; though discovering this can take some time.
So the young couple's idyll turns into an ordeal and the ordeal creates what is, in effect, a life-changing experience. Do read this novel. You won't want to put it down and you'll have your own views on what Jamie and Kirsty should so at each juncture. But you'll also feel their fear and this is what sets this thriller apart.
