Book Review: The New Neighbor by Carter Wilson

Okay I have no idea what just happened… And not in a good way.

I’m a big fan of Carter Wilson. Mister Tender’s Girl was the first book of his that I read and I absolutely loved it and I’ve been devouring his new titles ever since. He has a magnificent ability to write a creepy eerie tale that is dark and psychological and atmospheric and both supernatural and utterly natural at the same time.

This one started out every bit as magical and immersive as they all have for me, but as things were nearing the end it felt like it jumped the shark and went in a totally different direction. I really have no idea what was up and what was down and what just happened… Things tidied together in a very very short time frame, but in a way that felt disjointed and didn’t make sense to me. There were a million loose ends left hanging. Characters that had been introduced for no apparent reason other than as red herrings. Ditto entire plot lines. It felt unfinished as a result.

I don’t feel that I have any sense of what I was supposed to take from this one beyond a heavy sense of confusion. It was quite unlike any of his other books for me in this regard, and I must admit that on the whole I was disappointed and mightily unsatisfied with/by that…

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.