Awful narration

Good story but almost ruined by Tuppence Middleton’s regular and unbelievable mis-emphasis. I have lost count of the number of times she has completely misunderstood the sentence she’s reading. It would be comical if it wasn’t so annoying and distracting from the story.
If you’re too dim to understand the book, you shouldn’t be narrating it.
Louise Candlish is brilliant though - buy the book, and use your token on one that’s not ruined by Tuppence Middleton.

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3 people found this helpful

Just ok

It was just a bit… meh. Not good or bad. No twist really and no characters I really liked.

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Great listen!

Excellent narrator.

Very gripping book, the characters were nuanced and well written. I enjoyed this a lot. Makes you think about society.

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Neighbours from hell

Having read the brilliant Our House last year I was really looking forward to this new book by Louise Candlish. It deals with the subject we all dread – nightmare neighbours. The residents of Lowland Way live in a suburban paradise – a nice community minded area of London, with nice neighbours who all get on. Until Darren and his girlfriend Jodie move into the house on the corner. Then they all have to deal with his loud music day and night, his noisy home renovations, and the used car business he runs from his house. Until one day a horrific death shocks them all.

This is a slow burner, and although I didn’t enjoy it as much as Our House, it is still a really interesting story, the writing is superb and I would urge everyone to stick with it. There’s quite a big cast of characters to get your head around, and to be honest I don’t think there’s a likeable one amongst them! I’m quite glad I don’t live on Lowland Way, even though some of the houses sound fabulous. In the end I even felt sorry for Darren and Jodie. The setting is painted so well and you can imagine the gorgeous houses, and then the eyesore on the corner with the sound of power tools throughout the day and loud rock music into the early morning.

I listened to the Audible version and the narrator was just right for the book and made it even more enjoyable.

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12 people found this helpful

OK but long winded

Started well and was set up well. But it was too samey. Lots of repeated phrases and storylines (well it felt like it). I didn't like the characters and felt the whole story dragged and was long winded.

I guessed the ending.

I had listened to Our House (which was brilliant) but this was not up to that standard. Really slow and just not gripping.

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1 person found this helpful

Slow Burner

Like others I found this story to be a little slow going. Perhaps it just wasn’t as pacy and plot driven as I was expecting. You can see the nightmare unfolding and people’s lives slowly coming apart but a lot of it just felt like waiting for something to happen. I didn’t feel any sympathy for the Booths. Prepare to cringe with recognition at the snobbery of some of the characters though

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Excellent.

Brilliant story, narration and twists. Really enjoyed this book very much. Defo recommend this audio book.

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Enjoyable!

I enjoyed this. The narration is excellent. The characters adequately developed. It’s a situation many of us could imagine ourselves in, albeit we may act differently. I found the ending rather sudden and flat.

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1 person found this helpful

Neighbours at war!

Intriguing.... An enigmatic, intriguing and real page turner. Simple story but one where you want to find out what happens next...

Read in just over a day. A tale of revenge - the privileged versus the every day labourer. Good characters and wholly realistic.

Would recommend and read another of hers. Brilliant.

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Rather Pointless, but still engaging

So, we get the proverbial "Family From Hell" on one side Vs a bunch of apparently decent neighbours on the other. Quite a simple story really, not many characters, does not take much concentration. Despite the simplicity it was engaging and I wanted to listen right to the end.

This is not an "edge-of-your-seat" psychological thriller, it just plods along comfortably. It's really a study in human behaviour. The odd death here and there, then it comes to and end., There is some comeuppance, but not the kind of comeuppance we might have been expecting. One of those not completely conclusive endings that just leaves you thinking.

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