• The Child Next Door: An unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist

  • By: Shalini Boland
  • Narrated by: Katie Villa
  • Length: 8 hrs and 4 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (2,932 ratings)

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The Child Next Door: An unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist  By  cover art

The Child Next Door: An unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist

By: Shalini Boland
Narrated by: Katie Villa
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Publisher's summary

"Oh my. A captivating unputdownable evocative emotional twisted thriller. Oh that ending.... OMG that ending did NOT expect that. It blew me away...." (Read Along With Sue, 5 stars)

"Don’t take my baby."

Kirstie Rawlings is jolted awake by a child crying. Racing upstairs to check on her newborn, she is plunged into every parents’ worst nightmare. She hears an unknown voice in the baby monitor, saying: "Let’s take the child - and go."

Is someone trying to steal her little girl?

In the bedroom, her daughter is safe asleep in her cot. Is the voice coming from a nearby house? But there aren’t any other children living on her quiet country road....

The police don't believe her. And neither does her husband.

Kirstie knows something isn’t right. She thought she could trust her neighbours, now she isn’t sure. As she unravels the secrets of the people living on her street, Kirstie’s perfect life begins to fall apart.

Because someone is hiding a terrible lie. And they will do anything to stop Kirstie uncovering the truth. But is the danger closer to home than she thinks?

From the top 10 best-selling author of The Secret Mother, this completely gripping psychological thriller will make you wonder what really goes on behind closed doors. And will keep you guessing from the first minutes until the final shocking twist.

©2018 Shalini Boland (P)2018 Bookouture

Critic reviews

"Hooked from the very first page...I finished The Child Next Door in less than a day!.... I was left staring open-mouthed at the last page because I just couldn't believe what I just read...left me both speechless and wanting for more." (It's All About Books)

What listeners say about The Child Next Door: An unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

No action till the end

The storyline was so mundane. Nothing happened until chapter 40. The first 40 chapters were just a log of the daily minutia of an overly paranoid new mother.

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122 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not quite "Unputdownable"...

Not as gripping and brilliant as I had hoped. Decent writing, though a lot of "raking hands through curls" was done by many characters which led me to believe I was listening to transcripts of a shampoo or dandruff commercial and not a psychological thriller. Wasn't very psychological.

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103 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Waste of a credit

This whole book is about a woman fretting over the possibility of someone breaking into her house and stealing her baby. Meanwhile, you’ll find out in the very last chapters, that the whole reason for her fretting has nothing to do with her and there are things happening with the neighbors. This plot is so haphazard I’m shocked someone published this. Will be requesting a refund from Audible. The only reason this was at all “unputdownable” was because I was patiently waiting for something to actually happen. How this book has positive reviews is beyond me. On a separate note, the narrator did a superb job despite the lack of actual story.

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88 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Annoyingly long

The plot just drug on and on and on. It was annoying. Enough already. Yes, the end is a twist. But by the time I got to it, I was over this book. I do not recommend. The main character will get on your nerves.

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81 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • RG
  • 04-20-18

Less psychological thriller, more paranoia dud!

So disappointed! Not at all what I expected, and certainly NOT “unputdownable”! This story is not suspenseful, or even interesting, until somewhere around chapter 25. Sadly this point comes about 3/4 into the novel. Prior, it is a lot of paranoia on the part of the protagonist and simply dull, even frustrating, to read/listen to (narrator and her performance was great!). To compare this to Gone Girl or Girl on a Train is grossly unjust. The final pages are interesting, not thrilling, and not worth the slog through the first 3/4. I seriously considered discontinuing and returning this to Audible, but the review promised a “brilliant twist” which I held out for, much to my dismay.

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54 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Painful

Would you try another book from Shalini Boland and/or Katie Villa?

The main character is so unlikable. She's supposed to be paranoid, I get that. But she is annoying and whiney and overly dramatic. I felt like she was whining about the same thing over and over again. And the ending seems very disconnected from the story. Bummed after this book had gotten such good reviews.

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48 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Better and better

This writers books keep getting better and better. I've read all of her books and they're all quick easy to read books. All catch your attention right away and hold it throughout. Can't wait to see what she writes next. Highly recommended

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Author knows how to keep you interested

I did not want to put the book down. Thanks to S.Boland I will look for more books written by her. To be honest it is now 6 AM I started about 9PM.

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29 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Ending was terrible

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Well spent no, but time well spent while sick yes. The ending was extremely disappointing

What was most disappointing about Shalini Boland’s story?

The end.

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

It was well written and had me in suspense, I feel like the end was so disappointing that if you had not read the epilogue at the end, you would have felt completely cheated.

Do you think The Child Next Door: An unputdownable psychological thriller with a brilliant twist needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No please god, Id rather she write a book about the creepy next door neighbor through his eyes.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Yes, it was "unputdownable."

Wonderful story experienced by the characters, some of whom you liked and others not. Unexpected outcome.

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19 people found this helpful