The Child Next Door: An unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist Paperback – March 26, 2018

"Can it be true? Can I be living next door to a psychopath?"An old baby monitor picks up what surely sounds like kidnappers in the midst of stealing a baby. At first, our POV character Kirstie believes it to be her own baby, but upon further inspection, she realizes it has to be coming from another house in the neighborhood, except no other house on their small cul de sac is home to a baby.The mysteries surrounding Kirstie only broaden from there. Her next-door neighbor lives alone, and with all the extra time on his hands, complains about and digs into everything. The neighbor across the street is a divorced single mom with money problems and privy to Kirstie's past--they went to high school together. Another house on their block is being renovated and has workers coming and going. A young boy Kirstie used to teach has apparently been stalking the neighbor girl with a puppy-dog crush. It doesn't end there in this small island of suburbia.With so much going on around her though, Kirstie's main concern is her baby. She cannot be unconvinced someone isn't lurking around ready to snatch her. It quickly becomes an obsession that no one else takes serious, turning her into a crazy lady.This was a great read. Fast-paced with never a dull moment. Every character was likable and suspicious. And, of course, the double twisted ending was the perfect bow on top.

I quite enjoyed this book. It was well written and the characters were well developed and thought out. Ms. Boland seems to have found her niche, she writes psychological thrillers with such ease and brilliance. I was captivated by this story, I could not put it down! Every time I felt like I knew what was going on, Ms. Boland threw a curve ball. This book was suspenseful and full of intrigue. At times, I felt the internal dialogue of Kirstie was a bit much, it felt bogged down. I found myself skipping quite a few of her “rants”. Overal, I thought this book was well executed and I look forward to reading more of her works.

A solid 3 for psychological thriller, The Child Next Door by Shalini Boland. This book was my club's choice for our upcoming suspense genre meeting in July. It was definitely suspenseful. The publisher marketed the book as "unputdownable." While the jury is still out on whether that's a real word, I do have to say it's an accurate description. I devoured this mystery in about 2 days.New mother Kirstie Rawlings is the protagonist who hears someone planning a child abduction through a frequency on her daughter's, Daisy, baby monitor. Having the only baby in her neighborhood and monitors only picking up frequencies close by, Kirstie is sure that someone is out to get her baby. From there, the reader is taken on an emotional roller coaster, told from Kirstie's postpartum point-of-view, to learn who she overheard and what their plans are. The secondary characters add more intrigue to the story. I'm sure this was in an attempt to keep the reader guessing. However, I had it figured out pretty early on.I enjoyed that this book was fast-paced. I found that to be one of its strong points. I also think the story is very compelling and realistic. However, I did get bogged down by Kirstie at times. Her moaning about needing her husband so much and being so fearful of her neighbor without really any evidence seemed a bit of a stretch. Also, the epilogue seemed to take the ending over the top. I think we could have done without it, but maybe Boland is planning on writing a sequel later. We shall see!Recommendation: Overall, I found this book to be the perfect summer read. It was a page-turner that kept me, as the reader, engaged till the satisfying end.Until next time ... Read on!Regardless of whether I purchase a book, borrow a book, or receive a book in exchange for review, my ultimate goal is to be honest, fair, and constructive. I hope you've found this review helpful.

The Child Next Door by Shalini Boland is described as “an unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist.” Despite my belief that English is a dynamic language that should incorporate the variants of all users, I have a problem with “unputdownable.” I tend to avoid novels with such “cute” language in their titles. Google has no problem; there are several pages devoted to websites with “unputdownable” in their titles. I would download this novel anyway because of the author; I previously read and reviewed The Secret Mother.  . Shalini Boland novels are good.There are some unusual sounds coming from the baby monitor that woke up Kirstie. Two people are speaking of just taking the baby and going somewhere. Kirstie fears for her baby’s safety. But Daisy is safe in her crib. So, who were the voices on the monitor? Had they been scared off? Would they try again later? These questions will occupy Kirstie’s thoughts throughout the novel as the plot to find out who is trying to steal “the” baby wanders down very twisted paths. There will be more than one shocking ending.There are several interesting characters that will attract reader attention as suspects. Perhaps the only person who is not a suspect is Kirstie, the mother of infant Daisy. If a reader entertains the possibility that Kirstie is crazy, even she might be a suspect. That is what many of the other characters come to believe to include husband Dom. Following a favorite police belief that any trouble in the home might involve a spouse or relative, Dominic (Dom) is a suspect. He had an affair earlier with Kirstie’s frenemy so Dom’s fidelity is in doubt. Dom also works increasingly late hours and when he comes home it is only for a few hours or minutes before he is absent for triathlon training. There is a lot of unaccounted for time.When Dom comes home after work he makes a frequent stop at a neighbor’s home, the Cliffords. They are a younger couple and Rosa Clifford is quite attractive. For some visits husband Jimmy is not home during Dom’s visits. Dom does not tell Kirstie about the visits. Kirstie finds out from a creepy neighbor and neighborhood gossip, Martin. Kirstie would like to avoid Martin, an annoying person who needs the company of a doll while he works on his train or Leggo collection, but Martin craves company. When he has gossip to share, such as about Dom’s neighborly visits, he feels a need to tell Kirstie. While inside Martin’s home, Kirstie discovers that Martin’s house has a basement. No other home has a basement and Martin added his only a few years before. Kirstie spots a crib and toys near the entrance to the basement and she immediately suspects that he may be planning to kidnap and imprison Daisy. Her schemes to find out what is in the basement occupy a major portion of the novel.There is the mysterious character of Callum. Before going on family leave for the birth and care of Daisy, Callum had been her student but had dropped out and now worked for his father. Callum pops up throughout the story in several creepy ways. At times, Kirstie finds him in her kitchen. His rationale for appearing near Kirstie is Hannah, a neighbor fifteen-year-old girl that Callum loves platonically. Hannah’s parents hate Callum and forbid any relationship between the two so there is a lot of skulking around, secret meetings, and furtive scurrying in the dark. Kirstie is not aware of the depth of this relationship and mistakes Callum as one of the figures trying to steal Daisy. Hannah’s father was the principal at the school where Kirstie worked so there was the guarded relationship of employer/employee. Hannah’s parents, Hannah, and Callum were not Kirstie’s friends.There are enough subordinate characters to keep readers guessing about Dom’s fidelity and Kirstie’s sanity. Kirstie is either going crazy or is the subject of a clever gaslight campaign. If Dom is faithful, he continues to act in multiple ways with several characters that give Kirstie cause for suspicion. And there are a couple of surprise endings. I gave this five Amazon stars for the cleverness of the reader distractions that will make the surprise endings … surprising.And yep, it is an unputdownable, page-turner, fast-paced one session read.

I’m a sucker for psychological thrillers and really enjoyed The Child Next Door. From the first chapter, I was hooked. The plot was great, never felt a lull at any point. I did NOT expect the ending, it was a great read, would definitely recommend!

I don't like writing bad reviews because I know how much energy goes into writing a book. But maybe this will help someone to choose wiser than I did. I was propelled to buy this book because of the synopsis and all the great reviews it was getting. I was imagining a nail-biting, perched-on-the-edge-of-your-seat thriller, where I'd have to keep the lights on for a week after finishing it. Sadly it was none of that, and I was truly disappointed because the story starts off really good and the overall premise was very promising. Instead what you get is a boring story of a psychotic mother, who becomes more and more childish and erratic throughout the novel, when there was no real reason to be. And the big 'mystery' was not so big after all.I probably was expecting something different, so if you're not looking for a clever plot with twists and creepy moments, this could be something you could actually like.

Sehr spannend, gut geschrieben. Englisch leicht verständlich. Man tut sich schwer das buch wegzulegen und das lesen zu unterbrechen. Super krimi

This was an absolute gem of a book. Another that I read cover to cover, eager to know the final exciting outcome.Kirstie Rawlings is struck with utter terror when she hears what she thinks are voices in her baby's bedroom, talking of taking the baby. She races to her baby to be stunned to find nobody is there - is she going crazy? Did she just hear voices? Was any of it real? Does her husband even believe her?This is the start of a psychologically intense journey with Kirstie determined (obsessed) to find the truth. But the truth may not be what she was expecting. This book throws up some fantastic characters including those you will love to hate like the creepy man who lives on the street that seems to know everybody's business...and what IS in his basement? Who has a basement in a modern house anyway?The book is paced well, keeping the reader hooked in and it's really well written also. Shalini has created a brilliant mystery encased in psychological drama that really appeals and keeps you wanting more. The final reveals and outcome were totally unexpected and well worth waiting for. A highly recommended read! Five stars from me for sheer reading pleasure!I reviewed a copy of this book that I purchased from Amazon. All review opinions are my own and totally unbiased.

It was pretty long. Like someone tried to stretch a short novel into a long one to meet word count. Was very put downable.