For a thriller, there were no thrills. I do not think The Mother Next Door is worth your time. There are quite a few appealing aspects of this read: It contains well-written POVs, you will continuously be shifting your opinion on who the antagonist is, and it is an easy read but, the story contains weaknesses which I feel overpower the strengths making this a so-so read. The story required more engagement, as a reader, you never truly feel captivated and just like having thrills, I think engagement is critical to a good thriller book. And yet, if you want something easy, this is worth a deeper look. If you want something with more thrills, I would check out The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen. As always, it is up to you to decide if The Mother Next Door is worth an hour of your time.

The Mother Next Door's plot alludes to thrills but I feel it was more aligned with analysing how interpersonal relationships, decisions, and secrets impact lives. The relationships are what drive this story and as the story progresses, this drive declines in quality. The plot is told from three POV's: Theresa's, Kendra's, and an unknown narrator. The switch between viewpoints is seamless and it is always evident who is speaking as the tone is distinct for each character.

Like the viewpoint transitions, the plot is done well. It is ambiguous and leaves you wondering what will happen on the next page. Is it the most intense plot? No. Is it an intriguing plot? Yes. The premise is strong but the character's actions polarise the plot and make The Mother Next Door a mixed read, one maybe worth your time.

The characters are complex at the beginning and then slowly transform into lacklustre and one-dimensional individuals. I do not have much to say about them, that is all.

I found the ending to be a massive disappointment. In the context of being a thriller, the ending did not fit with the genre and not in a good way. It is an ending you will not expect and like me, could be disappointed in. You may love it, who knows? Is The Mother Next Door worth an hour of your time? Maybe. You must decide.

The Mother Next Door contained an intriguing storyline that I was rapt by until the bridge scene. How anti-climatic could a near death experience be? Theresa not being able to pull up her child was absolutely ridiculous; there are too many real life stories of humans doing inhumane things during times of crisis, actions they could never ever replicate again, and I feel witnessing your child be pushed off a bridge only to find her holding on for her life to be one of those moments. Maybe if Theresa had a broken arm it would make sense that she couldn't pull up her daughter. Let's say even in the moment of terror that she couldn't pull Lily up, that the adrenaline coursing through her body was useless, what we witnessed because of her inability to pull Lily up was anti-climatic. I was bored during an almost death scene and that is a red flag for me in a book.

Also, she didn't allow Kendra to help? Even if Kendra was a murderer, I still feel shock/desperation would overpower any emotion she had towards Kendra and the desire to save her kid would prevail. It felt ridiculous to me during this terrifying moment that Theresa had time to note how Kendra looked like a fox and couldn't be trusted because of her similarities to an animal instead of her thinking "my daughter, my daughter, my daughter." For a character written as a hovering and loving mother, her lack of focus on her daughter was ridiculously off base especially during a life or death situation.

From that moment forward, the story disappointed me. Nothing was absolved and no revenge occurred. Kendra remained a nasty person who got away with manslaughter. Alice was an intriguing sob story whom I wish I had seen more of. Pia and Bettina were boring. And Ellen, Ellen's POV was cringe-worthy and disheartening. I enjoyed Greg and Adam as they were realistic and even though they didn't influence the story greatly, they at least had more depth than certain members in the Ivy Five.

The big question I have is - where was the drama? There was nothing to these characters which was so frustrating as I adored them up until the bridge scene when their personalities crumpled. I wanted Theresa to do something. Also, for the amount of times they mentioned her allergy to bees, why wasn't it used? It was ridiculous how many times her allergy was mentioned, like an abnormal amount of times - just bring an Epi-Pen with you. Stop thinking "Oh, I should of brought my Epi-Pen, I'm super allergic to bees" and still never bringing it! Nothing came from her allergy. There was one snippet that played into the story relating to the allergy but for how often it dominated conversations, I expected more from it.

The ending disappointed me. The bridge scene really angered me and the longer I pondered this read, the more I realised I wasn't a fan of it.  For a thriller, there were no thrillers and I wish there had been more to this novel. This wasn't my cup of tea and that's that.