'Mick woke up with a start,body trembling. He was staring at the floor, head hanging over the cot. He twisted over and sat up, rubbing his face,blinking to bring the room back into focus. Tears in his eyes, a fading scream sinking back into his throat.'

Plot

The Nash's are an ordinary family, leading ordinary lives. Next door to their house, a huge eyesore of a house has been erected, and the occupants are a mystery to everyone.

It isn't long before the Render family move into the house. The Renders appear to be perfect, but deep down they're hiding a dark secret, and by the time Mick realises, it's too late.

Mick must uncover the terrifying truth about the people next door in order to save his family, but truly shocking secrets are about to be uncovered.

My thoughts

I bought this book a few months ago in a 3 for £5 deal in The Works, and thought that October would be a great time to read this, as I'm taking part in a Halloween Horror book challenge. My first impression of this book was that it's fairly long, at 488 pages. I'd seen a few bad reviews for this after I bought it, but I'm not often put off by negative reviews, as I like to form my own opinion.

The way the book was written was very interesting, with many different points of view. The majority of the story is told through Mick Nash, but there are also several chapters told from the point of view of Amy Nash, Mick's wife, and even the children, Kyle and Briela. I really enjoyed this aspect, it was great to see how each character perceived the developments in the story, especially the children, as their thoughts can often be overlooked.

There's another point of view that is at first a mystery, but as the story develops we discover who the mysterious narrator is. This was very interesting, as it appears to be telling a different story, but as you read on, the different points of view come together and the mystery is cleared up.

This was my first Horror book, and while it wasn't terrifying it was definitely creepy and as I have a vivid imagination I got chills a few times while reading this. The book is long, but once I got into the story the number of pages soon became irrelevant as I was hooked and waiting for the mystery to unfold. I also think that the length of the book was necessary, as it really gave me time to get to know the characters and it made the twist even more shocking for me. So overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a creepy book with an unexpected twist. ( )

I feel cheated. Although intriguing in places enough to keep me reading, the story is patchy and badly thought through, with random scenes that don't fit in or match the story. It seems padded out, like the writer got bored in places, and towards the end of the book it seemed he'd given up altogether. I'm still waiting for this 'shocking', unforgettable 'twist' ending that never materialised. The blurb is misleading, and builds you up for a jaw dropping moment that just never happens. It reads like cheap, soft, teen horror-fiction. Not what I'm into at all, and not what I was expecting. ( )

I really love the cover that Steve C. Gilberts has done for this book. Great job.

The story is good. I really liked reading this one. Smooth writing, interesting plot, intriguing characters. I just followed along to see where this was all going to end up. I think the ending could have packed a little more punch, but it was still satisfying enough that I didn't feel cheated after reading 400 pages.

I checked out Christopher Ransom's web page and see he has written many other books -- I would definitely commit time to reading his other writing. ( )

While this book has a great start and a really impressive nicely tied up surprise ending that you won't see coming the middle does drag some but not enough to stop you from reading at a furious pace to see what happens. ( )

A PERFECT FAMILY

Mick and Amy Nash are an ordinary couple leading ordinary lives. And then, into the house next door move the Renders - beautiful, charming, perfect ... and not at all what they pretend to be.

AN EVIL SECRET

Too late Mick learns that something is deeply, darkly wrong with the neighbours. Who are these people? Where did they come from? And what are they hiding in the basement?

A SHOCKING TWIST ENDING

As death and darkness descend on the neighbourhood, only Mick can save his family and expose the horrifying truth about the people next door - a secret already hailed as the most electrifying twist ending in years.

My Thoughts:

I had given up on ‘The Birthing House’ as I thought it was hopeless ad possibly one of the worst books I had read. When one of my fellow book readers at work was given for her birthday ‘The People Next Door’ I did think well can it be as bad as that !

Well not as bad as, but not very good either. I really couldn’t understand the book very well and when it is tea break today at work I am hoping that my two fellow book readers who have both read it can explain it to me. I think I got the gist but I feel like I have missed something. This book has not inspired me to read anymore by this author. The book wasn’t scary at all and I feel like I have wasted a whole Sunday afternoon when I could have read something which I would have enjoyed.

Awful ! ( )