Review: The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood

The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I tried to start this one a few times but had trouble getting into it so I set it aside for a bit and came back later. I'm so glad I did ... once I got into it, I really enjoyed this novel.

I liked the intermix of action and character study that I found in this novel. I really like the character study piece and I think it made the story much more impactful overall. The primary reason for my 3 star rating is that I think the novel did have a bit too much action at times - in other words, how much can one group of people possibly encounter at one time!?!? It makes the overall story lose some of its believability, in my opinion. In addition, I think the 'killer' from the title is revealed a bit too early (and wasn't very difficult to figure out). With that all said, it's still a really good story with interesting characters. I think the pacing is great, the exploration of nuance was superb and the characterizations were fantastic.

This is definitely one I recommend if you enjoy a good thriller, especially one with a serial killer. There is quite a bit of violence in the novel so if that's not something you can stomach, you may want to avoid this one. Otherwise, I think this is a novel that is worth the read if the premise sounds interesting to you.

NOTE: Review copy provided by the publisher for an honest review.