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The Killer Next Door (2014)

by Alex Marwood(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0751550698 (ISBN13: 9780751550696)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Sphere

review 1: This is a quick and enjoyable read that I really liked quite a bit. The central characters, who come together in a rooming house located in a possibly gentrifying section of London, have all had to drop out for varying reasons, and in doing so effectively transcend class in an overly class-conscious country. In the middle of this thriller we get some overheard dialogue wafting over the fence from an upscale party next door that is almost shocking in its portrayal of the numbing reality back on the grid and in the class struggle. The shifting first-person perspective is driven by a lot of inner dialogue that is too well thought-out and crisply “voiced” to be true inner dialogue. To hear what characters really think of each other when juxtaposed with what they say to eac... moreh other can be fun is small doses, but that kind of omniscience makes it difficult to put the proper weight on what is actually spoken and done, which should matter a lot more than the private thoughts to which the reader is privileged. It’s a gimmick, but it helps move things along.
review 2: 3.5 stars. Was waffling betwen ratings, when I realized that I liked Alex Marwood's author bio on GR better than her book. Her novel takes place in a low income section of London, in a bedsit (boardinghouse), with the fringe-dweller tenants all seeking to escape something. The lead character Collette (Lisa), with a bag of stolen cash, is fleeing from her ex-boss and a London police detective looking to put the ex-boss in jail. The other tenants are interesting, but equally secretive: Cher, an underaged pickpocket and runaway from a dysfunctional foster care system; the handsome Hossein, an Iranian political refugee waiting for his residency; the reclusive ex-music teacher Gerard, who constantly plays loud music; Thomas, the odd duck who rents the attic; and Vesta, an elderly pensioner in the basement apartment who has always lived in the building. Their troubles are compunded by a slovenly, leering landlord, Roy Preece, who spys and preys on his tenants. But the real evil is the "Lover”, a killer who resides among them, and whose identity is concealed for much of the novel. Pretty gruesome and gory, the book spent too much time on irrelevant detail and mental meanderings, rather than suspense. less

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