Meet the neighbours from hell...

When Jamie and Kirsty move into their first home together, they are full of optimism. The future, in which they plan to get married and start a family, is bright. The other residents of their building seem friendly too, including the Newtons, a married couple who welcome them to the building with open arms.

But then strange things start to happen. Dead rats are left on their doorstep. They hear disturbing noises, and much worse, in the night. After Jamie's best friend is injured in a horrific accident, Jamie and Kirsty find themselves targeted by a campaign of terror.

As they are driven to the edge of despair, Jamie vows to fight back - but he has no idea what he is really up against . . .

A brilliant premise for a story (based indeed on the author's own experiences - scary eh?) but one which fell short of its potential to my mind.

A couple living above the neighbours from hell gives plenty of scope for dastardly dealings. In this case it starts with unsolicited mail, unordered pizzas, hoax 999 calls - all things that do indeed happen when someone has a perceived slight or grudge against someone else....but that was the trouble for me, there was no reason at all for this campaign of terror & that was something I just couldn't get past - I needed to know why someone would do this!

Despite my sense of outrage building at the miseries inflicted on the couple I never particularly felt any sympathy for them. Neither Jamie & Kirsty were endearing characters, I wanted to know how it was all going to end for them but I didn't much care how! In general I found the characters a bit lack-lustre, (Heather in particular was a bit of a non-person) with some of the dialogue being a bit cheesy. On the positive side, I thought Jamies's sense of paranoia built nicely & the rather vague ending seemed to finish things appropriately - despite being the sort of conclusion I usually dislike!

But just what was the point of the "shared" dreams? This was supposed to be a "gripping psychological thriller" not a mediocre horror novel. To me, these sequences were out of place, merely padding adding nothing of value at to the story. Although it made me wonder if things were going veer towards the supernatural what with a witch living in the building & after all the couple had an uncanny knack of knowing just what would unsettle their victims. How did they know about the song Jamie hated? Something else not explained.

Overall verdict? Disappointing as it didn't live up to expectations.....in fairness though, I was entertained enough to finish it.

Released as part of the 2018 SEPTEMBER SAPPHIRE CHALLENGE (#4)





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