The co-op bookstore for avid readers
Book Cover for: Good Neighbors, Sarah Langan

Good Neighbors

Sarah Langan

Reader Score

70%

70% of readers

recommend this book

Critic Reviews

Great

Based on 5 reviews on

BookMarks logo
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.

Welcome 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.

But 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.

Maple 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.

As 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.

Riveting 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).

Book Details

  • Publisher: Atria Books
  • Publish Date: Oct 5th, 2021
  • Pages: 320
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.10in - 5.20in - 0.90in - 0.55lb
  • EAN: 9781982144371
  • Categories: PsychologicalFamily Life - GeneralLiterary

About the Author

Langan, Sarah: - Sarah Langan, a Columbia MFA graduate and three-time recipient of the Bram Stoker Award, is the author of several novels including A Better World and Good Neighbors. She's got an MS in environmental health science, grew up on Long Island, and she currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughters. Find out more at SarahLangan.com.

Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"A sinkhole opens on Maple Street, and gossip turns the suburban utopia toxic. A taut teachable moment about neighbors turning on neighbors." -PEOPLE "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 "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 "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