Good Neighbors: A Novel

Product Description
Celeste Ng and Liane Moriarty’s
enthralling dissection of suburbia meets Shirley Jackson’s creeping dread in this “
wickedly funny, unnerving puzzle box of a novel” (Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will)
about the downward spiral of a Long Island community after a tragedy exposes its residents’ depths of deception.\nWelcome to Maple Street, a picture-perfect slice of suburban Long Island, its residents bound by their children, their work, and their illusion of safety in a rapidly changing world.\nBut menace skulks among this exclusive enclave. When the Wilde family arrive, they trigger their neighbors’ worst fears. Dad Arlo’s a gruff has-been rock star with track marks. Mom Gertie’s got a thick Brooklyn accent, with high heels and tube tops to match. Their weird kids cuss like sailors. They don’t fit with the way Maple Street sees itself.\nMaple Street’s Queen Bee, Rhea Schroeder—a lonely professor repressing a dark past—initially welcomed Gertie, but relations plummeted during one summer evening, when the new best friends shared too much, too soon. By the time the story opens, the Wildes are outcasts.\nAs tensions mount, a sinkhole opens in a nearby park, and Rhea’s daughter Shelly falls inside. The search for Shelly brings a shocking accusation against the Wildes. Suddenly, it is one mom’s word against the other’s in a court of public opinion that can end only in blood.\nRiveting and ruthless,
Good Neighbors is “a chilling, compulsively readable novel that looks toward the future in order to help us understand how we live now” (Kevin Wilson, author of
Nothing to See Here).
Amazon.com Review
Langan gives her novel a tantalizing spin as readers watch a shocking crime unfold both in real time and from the beguiling vantage of hindsight. To the Wilde family, Maple Street appears picture perfect, but beneath the surface their new neighborhood is as dark and fetid as the sinkhole that suddenly appears in the park. An emotionally palpable novel about classism, herd mentality, and crushing loneliness that kept me glued to the page.
–Seira Wilson, Amazon Book Review
Review
"A sinkhole opens on Maple Street, and gossip turns the suburban utopia toxic. A taut teachable moment about neighbors turning on neighbors." —
PEOPLE\n"Langan’s sharply observed novel is a study of mob mentality with a healthy dose of dry humor and, of course, a generous side dish of murder." —
CrimeReads\n"One of the creepiest, most unnerving deconstructions of American suburbia I've ever read. Langan cuts to the heart of upper middle class lives like a skilled surgeon." —
NPR\n"A modern-day
Crucible,
Good Neighbors brilliantly explores the ease with which a careless word can wreak havoc and the terrifying power of mob mentality. Beneath the surface of a suburban utopia, madness lurks. The veneer of civility among close neighbors disguises hypocrisy, envy, and hatred. Langan deftly unveils the psychology behind her character’s actions with blistering prose and spot-on depictions. She is a writer to watch!" —
Liv Constantine, bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish\n"There's a monster in each of us, in all of us, and there's a sinkhole in our hearts, too.
Good Neighbors will walk you right up to the lip of that cavity, and make you look in, at your own monstrousness." —
Stephen Graham Jones, acclaimed author of The Only Good Indians\n"A creepy standout for readers who want an extra kick to their suburban dramas."
—Booklist (starred review)\n"An incredibly dark (and surprisingly fun) page-turner."
—Kirkus Reviews\n"Where the hell has Sarah Langan been? Because she suddenly pops up again after being MIA for eleven years and shotguns everyone in the face with an all-American horror novel about friendships—deep, shallow, toxic, true—that's unpredictable enough to make every page-turn stomach-crampingly stressful." —
Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vamp