The Secret Next Door

By: Rebecca Taylor

Narrated by: Libby McKnight

It's the perfect neighborhood, filled with not-so-perfect people.

Alyson Tinsdale is giving her son the childhood she never had: a stable family, loving home, and a great school in a safe neighborhood. When they move into the home of her dreams in one of Denver's most sought-after developments, Alyson works hard to fit in and impress the other mothers.

Bonnie Sloan is the neighborhood matriarch. With her oldest son headed to Yale, and her youngest starting kindergarten, Bonnie is now pursuing her own long-held political aspirations. But it's her middle child, Elijah, and their private family struggles, that cast a shadow over her plans.

When the open space behind some of the most expensive homes gets slated for development into an amusement facility, the neighborhood becomes deeply divided. The personal pressures and community conflicts ratchet with every passing day, but it's when a 13-year-old is found dead beside the neighborhood lake that simmering tensions boil over into panic.

Gossip flows, lies are exposed, and accusations are made as cracks run through the community's once solid foundations. The neighborhood's faith in exterior appearances is eclipsed by the secrets every house keeps.

Rebecca Taylor, author of Her Perfect Life, returns with this fast-paced, engrossing novel that reminds us that nothing is ever as perfect as it seems.

©2021 Rebecca Taylor (P)2021 Recorded Books, Inc.

Not what I Expected

Kept me engaged. Even though as an introverted homebody I kept rolling my eyes hearing someone constantly acting so desperate for friends. Not really many twists but enough family and neighborhood drama to keep you tuned in.

Loved it!

This book was so good. I loved it! The ending shocked me
Everyone should give this a listen.

loved!

A great story about suburban motherhood and always more than you have. Loved all the characters, very easy to follow and always knew who was talking!

Like a Good Neighborhood? Look again!

There is so much going on in this story. Traumatic childhoods, child-abuse, murder, profanity, hidden dreams, mother-in-law conflicts, flirtatious neighbors, alcoholism, politics, social media issues, bullies, etc. Almost every societal event or issue is included in this story. While the main plot offers good reading, there are multiple problems and side stories that also require listener's attention. NONE of the characters are likeable. The adults are dishonest ignorant deployable individuals raising bratty, outspoken children. There seemed to be some incomplete character development or missing information about characters. Some readers/listeners express the use of the profanity as a dislike.

Surprisingly, I liked the story because it was fast-paced and the narrator was excellent! The story provides some insights into the real lives of people who live at a higher financial level than I. It reveals that their lives are not fairy-tale perfect and that they have concerns, needs, and problems like everyone else.

Looking for more from this narrator and author.

Very well written and the narrator was excellent.

I did not like the language,to many GDs. the book would have been just as good without it.

Performed well.

Was hoping for and expecting more suspense, reads more like family drama so not as engaging as I would have liked.

Good listen

The story kept my attention through the entire book. I enjoyed the suspense and story. The narrator was very good.

good listen

The story was good but the author put a lot of swearing in this story. It detracts a bit.

Narrator or mispronounced many words

Either the author doesn’t know past tenses, or it was something added by the narrator. Good story; not much of a mystery.

This was a great story!

Allison, who had just convinced her hubby to move into an elite neighborhood they really couldn't afford, was the typical "people pleaser. " She wanted to be accepted and cared about what the world thought-obsessively. Lol, she got on my nerves! But I love when a character does that.

The story follows the parallel journeys of Allison, a woman defined by her “people pleasing” nature, and Bonnie, a socially prominent figure whose approval was pivotal to Allison's social acceptance within the neighborhood. Instead of Allison forging the friendship she seeks with Bonnie to further her social standing, the two women become adversaries due to the awkward convergence of their lives through their children.

Down the line something unexpected happens in this pristine neighborhood-a murder. And it becomes a real page turner as you spend the duration of the book trying to figure out who killed Bonnie's teenage son and where Allison fits into the missing puzzle piece of the mystery. Who done it? There are multiple possibilities. I like this author and the stories she tells of upper middle-class socialites. Will be listening to more of her work. Bravo!