The Woman Next Door by Cass Green

The Woman Next Door by Cass Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Woman Next Door by Cass Green is a book that I had high expectations for. I couldn't wait to delve in and see what the fuss was all about. Sadly, I was a bit disappointed. I try not to read all of the reviews before I read a book because I may inadvertently form a bit of prejudice one way or another. However, this book sounded so consistently good, I had to give it a try. The story is about neighbors who have lived next to each other for a while. They each have their secrets, their good and bad points, and their respective histories. Melissa, the youngish, perfectly coifed neighbor has a bit of a sad background; one which she has been determined to overcome, and Hester, who appears to be written as a shrewish, over-involved pensioner. I felt these characters were stereotypes and not terribly original. Anyway, the story begins and we have a murder on our hands, and the protracted lengths the characters go through to deal with said murder. The story at this point drags on and on. The disposing of the body could have been handled in a few pages, but went into utterly needless detail and took forever. The car ride that never ends so to speak. There was a small twist to the storyline that was not totally unpredictable, but good enough. I would call this novel more of a bizarre character study than a psychological thriller.

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