The Woman at No. 3

Our dream home. A fresh start. But the house comes with secrets — and so do the neighbours.

The moment we moved in, I knew something was wrong. A cracked stove. Scribbles on the wall. The lights flicking off every evening — always at the same time. Our daughter crying in the night, pointing at the corner of her room. "She has no face."

Then I met Josie, the woman at No. 3.

Pale. Polite. Smiling. Obsessed. She knows things she shouldn't. Offers to babysit my daughter again and again. And when I told her no — she didn't like that.

Now the gifts are arriving. Notes through the door. A bottle left in the kitchen with no explanation. And my daughter won't stop screaming in her sleep.

Everyone thinks I'm imagining it. But I know what I saw. What I heard.

We finally found our dream home. But what if the nightmare lives next door . . . ?

©2025 Rebecca Collomosse (P)2025 Audible Ltd.

Eh

Why do the husband’s always treat their wives/girlfriends/SO’s like they’re insane?! The way the wife is made to feel like she’s crazy was a theme throughout the book. It drove me crazy!

The narrator’s voice for the 2.5 yr old girl is cringey. I have 2 kids and they never talked the way this character does.

Not sure if I’ll be able to finish the book, but we’ll see. Will update if/when I do.

Good narration

Take this with a grain of salt. Writing novels even after being a journalist is hard and something I’ve never been able to do yet so - again - what an accomplishment! But the voice of the child was annoying and unrealistic. But the hardest part for me to get past were all the adverbs which is a pet peeve. Don’t tell me she sat on the toilet gloomily. Show me. Don’t tell me. It’s an easy solution but take the harder one. It’ll make the stories come alive more. Loved the tension. I kept asking myself as a mother why she didn’t put cameras in the child’s room at a minimum or why she didn’t tell the police what she knew to spare the next one. Just odd choices. But a good storyline and it did keep me interested to the end. Well done!

It Was Too Long

I was interested and enjoyed this book until about halfway through. The story was so typical and I kept waiting for the big reveal. It could have been cut down by a few hours.

Story Drags On

This story is intriguing in the beginning and by the middle it’s infuriating because I wanted the protagonist to stop whining and being scary and take action already 😅

Clara is dumb

The main character did everything wrong, but then again, there would be no story if the protagonist was smart. I liked how you knew from the beginning who the antagonist was but the author still managed to throw some twists in there. It was a good story, and well written, I’m just frustrated by the actions and inactions of Clara.