The Killer Next Door

By: Alex Marwood

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Everyone who lives at 23 Beulah Grove has a secret. If they didn't, they wouldn't be renting rooms in a dodgy old building for cash - no credit check, no lease. It's the kind of place you end up when you you've run out of other options.The six residents mostly keep to themselves, but one unbearably hot summer night, a terrible accident pushes them into an uneasy alliance. What they don't know is that one of them is a killer. He's already chosen his next victim, and he'll do anything to protect his secret.

©2013 Alex Marwood (P)2014 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This tightly plotted story grabs readers from the opening paragraphs and will keep them up far too late at night. Highly recommended for fans of Laura Lippman, Tana French, and Gillian Flynn." ( Library Journal)

One of the best books I have ever listened too!

Which character – as performed by Imogen Church – was your favorite?

Cher, but Imogen Church is excellent with all characters!

Any additional comments?

I loved every minute of this novel. Great story build. Excellent characters inhabit this book. I really liked The Wicked Girls. This one is better. I am now a true fan of Alex Marwood, can't wait for what he brings us next.

Narration by Imogen Church is spot on. Wonderful voice. She is great and will look for her in other books.

A character study within a horror setting...

It's not really that often that you pick up a thriller to find out that not only is it actually on the edge of being a horror story, but that it is also a really strong character study novel as well. No cardboard characters here - they are all fully fleshed, for better or worse.

It says something about how the characters are written that I decided about 1/4 way through that the author had to be female (she is). The female characters are better written than the male ones - more believable, less stereotypical. There is also a very subtle thread of "men are bad" throughout the novel and, really, in this novel, they *are* all bad (except for the "foreigner", of course). I think the book is a bit too long for its content as well - there was just a bit too much digging into the psychological turmoil of each of the characters. It was useful to a certain point, but could have been trimmed back (aka edited) to be less rambly and more focused.

Okay, now that that's out of the way... this is a very good thriller with horrific overtones. Some very bad stuff goes on and it gets pretty gross and extreme, but it was still quite suspenseful. It's kinda hard to describe, actually... it's very much a character study (of several characters), but is set in a thriller/horror milieu. It took place in England, which might actually work toward helping its believability... a North American audience might "buy" that the landlord could be that bad, or the police that corrupt, etc. Personally, I didn't understand Vesta's situation (i.e. why didn't she call the police/council) long before the situation escalated. Sure, there was rationale provided for the other characters, but hers fell short - I just can't accept that she would have accepted the landlord's behaviour as it was, and then reacted the way she did after the "incident" .... (be a spoiler to give more info than that, but...)

As a thriller it's a solid 4 stars; the very good handling of the horror components might even bump it to 4.5 stars, though the overly long time spent in some characters' heads did detract from the suspense. The narration was very good. There was no sex or much swearing but there was some detailed gore/violence.

Performance took a great book to an EXCELLENT book

What made the experience of listening to The Killer Next Door the most enjoyable?

Great story with excellent narration

What did you like best about this story?

Narrator and the way the author developed each character

What does Imogen Church bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She makes you feel like the characters

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Everyone has something to hide

Any additional comments?

I loved every aspect

Enjoyed the fun!

I only wish at the end they would have taken all of the cash! Good fun! Nice twist to a nasty story!

Struggled to Finish

I didn't like the way the story flowed. It started out revealing part of the end of the stoty. Too much time spent on the individual characters and not really getting to the root of the story. I gave it 3 only because of the effort that was given in creating the stoty, and maybe partly because I just couldn't stay focused. I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I don't recommend the book.