The Good Neighbour

Published: 2015
Author: Beth Miller

Fascinating and scary – an intriguing book

I found out a couple of days ago that one of our lovely neighbours has put their house up for rent. I’m sorry that they are leaving because they are nice people but it’s worse than that – we’re now stuck in the hellish situation of not knowing who our new neighbours are going to be. Will they be nice? Will they be quiet and keep themselves to themselves? Will they contribute to the general parking madness? Relationships with neighbours can be some of the most fraught that we’ll ever have and everyone, no matter what area they live in, dreads having a bad neighbour.

In Beth Miller’s second novel, The Good Neighbour, Minette is delighted when her grumpy and complaining neighbours leave and are replaced by Cathy, a woman who quickly becomes her friend. Cathy appears to be a godsend to Minette, always willing to baby-sit or offer some advice despite having a disabled son and poorly daughter of her own to consider. As time goes on, Minette becomes suspicious about her new friend, who has been keeping secrets about her past, but Cathy’s knowledge of some of Minette’s own secrets makes it almost impossible for the truth to be uncovered.

The story switches character viewpoints from Cathy to Minette to Cathy’s son Davey and through each of their perspectives a disturbing story emerges. I worked out what was happening in Cathy’s family before it was revealed, but that may have been because I had prior knowledge of the issues involved. I’m finding it a little hard to discuss much of The Good Neighbour as there’s so much scope for spoilers and it’s a book that I really recommend that readers come to as fresh as possible. The story unfolds brilliantly and with great pace and it was a novel that I found difficult to put down. Even though I kind of knew what was happening I was still desperate to see how it would play out.

The (adult) characters weren’t portrayed as simply “good” vs “bad” although that would have been an easy road for Miller to take. Each of the characters have their flaws and do things that can be judged harshly but beneath that there are also positives and psychological reasons for bad behaviour. I must admit to disliking one character intensely and wasn’t willing to give this person much benefit of the doubt. I disliked the character before the unfolding of the bad behaviour so was never inclined to be understanding of their actions.

I had a few little niggles with The Good Neighbour – the main male characters were fairly stereotypical (the liberal, understanding wimp and the good-looking cad) and I was a bit disappointed with the ending. I like things to be wrapped up nicely and it wasn’t here. I’m sure other readers will have loved the ending and it does open up many avenues of discussion which book groups will adore.

I really enjoyed The Good Neighbour, it’s exceptionally well-written and the story explores genuinely disturbing issues. It’s also terrified me to my very soul about what will happen when my lovely neighbours move house and we will be faced with something and someone very new and very unknown.